“Mylo!”

I spin my head around to face Korey, who is looking at me in concern.

“Are you ok?” Korey questions after the fifth time that I’ve kicked the camera stand within the last hour. My toes are not appreciating it. “You’re really out of it today.”

“I’m fine,” I lie with a smile that Korey doesn’t seem convinced with.

She knows me too well and can sense when something is up. Normally at work I am focused, prepared, and hard working. Today though, I can’t seem to remember when I am meant to do something. I’ve nearly dropped our camera’s, twice. If that doesn’t say something is wrong, I don’t know what else would.

“Are you sick? Do you need to head home early?”

“No way.” Because if I go home I won’t have any distractions. “I’m fine, seriously, Korey.”

Korey hums, tapping her foot for a moment before giving a shrug. She instructs me to start setting up for the next shoot, which will be some baby pictures. I’m all for that and quickly make sure there’s nothing around the kiddo can get their paws on. While I’m off my game at work it still helps me through the day.

Ever since last night I’ve been out of sorts. My mind keeps veering off to think about Jace, the mystery caller, our relationship or lack thereof. There’s a childish hope in my chest that I’m overreacting. Maybe this mystery caller is actually a relative or perhaps it’s just a personal matter that he’ll one day feel more comfortable discussing with me.

Each time I consider it I roll my eyes a little further into the back of my skull. Please, I’m being naive. Considering what Cierra told me, his history with girlfriends and those phone calls it’s obvious Jace has an important person in his life and it sure as hell ain’t me.

I snap the pencil in my grasp, the top of it falling to the floor where it rolls just before Korey’s feet. She stares at me with wide eyes before asking, “What’d the pencil do to you?”

“It was the reason my teachers constantly bitched at me during class. Why didn’t you bring a number two pencil? You can’t fill in the circles without it,” I grumble, glaring at the thing that I don’t even know why we have sitting around the office.

Korey rolls her eyes and picks up the broken piece to toss in the trash. When the day comes to an end I actually kinda wish to do some overtime. Sadly, Korey isn’t in need of it and I head home, the lack of work making it hard to calm myself. Since it’s clear I am in need of a good talking to, I call up Olivia the moment I get home.

“Come over.”

“Sure, uh, you ok?” Seems my tone clued Olivia in that something is up.

“No. We need a therapy session. I’m out of ice cream and forgot to pick some up, please bring a whole tub.”

Olivia giggles. “I’m on it. I’ll be over in a bit.”

Nodding, I hang up with Olivia, ready to change into some comfy sweats when my phone lights up. Seeing Jace’s name flash on the screen makes my heart skip. Once again, it reminds me of the absolute shit storm I’ve gotten myself into.

It’s not surprising that he’s messaging me either. I’ve been ignoring the boy all day. As usual, Jace sent a text when I woke up, Buenos días, to which I did not reply. Next were some are you up, did you get to work ok, how are you, what are up to sort of texts that, again, I never replied to. The most recent one he has sent is a picture.

The photo he took of us at the park.

Seeing it makes me tempted to delete Jace from my contacts yet all I end up doing is saving the picture. With a chuckle that’s a mixture of annoyance and exhaustion, I slip my phone into my back pocket and continue to ignore Jace. It’s a bit hard to do but once Olivia arrives I feel capable of breathing freely.

“Why are we eating away our sorrows today?” Olivia asks, coming straight to me with a tub of ice cream. She knows what’s up and I grab that tub before she can even sit down. All she does is giggle.

“I have problems.”

“Believe me, I know.”

I whack her over the head for that. She only laughs before heading into the kitchen to retrieve some spoons. When she returns we’re both digging into the ice cream without care. I’m not quite ready to talk yet so I keep eating and Olivia knows well enough to wait.

Instead, she talks to me about her day, which consisted of her and Sonya being absolutely adorable pieces of garbage. I voice this and all Olivia can do is squeal happily. I’m glad to see it, the blush on her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes. She deserves it.

“You two are perfect for each other,” I say, slinging my arm over Olivia’s shoulders to bring her closer to my side. She happily lets me and snuggles right up.

“Thanks,” she whispers out of the blue causing me to give her a curious glance. Seeing my confusion, she smiles and goes on to explain, “You always made me tag along to parties, get togethers or any event that she was a part of. I never had the guts to do it myself and...if-if you didn’t agree to our deal, I wouldn’t have even asked her out so, y’know, thanks.”

“You should give yourself more credit than that. It was your choice to come along to all those things and you were the one who asked her out. All I did was support you.”

“You’re good support.”

“I know.”

I smile when Olivia playfully punches my chest.

“So, what’s up?” She inquires after I’ve finally taken a break from shoving my face with ice cream. It’s currently sitting on the coffee table and I’m sure we’ll jump right back into in a minute, especially after what I want to talk about.

“Is it about Jace?” And Olivia hit the nail right on the head.

I snap my fingers at her. “It is.”

Olivia hums, showing that she isn’t surprised. She shouldn’t be, what else would be the problem?

“Jace kissed me yesterday.”

Olivia’s eyes go wide, more so when I hold up two fingers.

“Twice, actually, one of which was in public.”

“Mylo, that’s a good thing!” Olivia presses her hands against my thigh and starts to shake it. “He kissed you, like, he initiated it?”

I nod.

“That’s great! I mean, Sonya and I were a bit worried he was just testing the waters or something but-” Olivia’s excitement dies down when she notices that I am not following suit. Slowly, her smile fades to be replaced with a frown of concern. “But you don’t think it’s great?”

“The kiss was great, sure. I would have liked some tongue in there though.”

Olivia groans.

“But now it feels like too much.” I try to hold out my hands like that’ll somehow show Olivia what I mean by “too much.” It doesn’t based on the tilt of her head.

“What do you mean?”

My hands are actually starting to shake a bit. Olivia notices this and only grows more concerned. I’m not really the type to get all bothered about a guy. Maybe when I was in middle school, first dating and all that but now I tend to be pretty confident. I’ve had my fair share of shitty dates, bad arguments with “boyfriends” and experiences that leave me feeling ready to face whatever’s next.

However, right now I don’t feel ready, not at all.

“I feel like I’ve crossed that line,” I whisper, my voice actually trembling.

Olivia presses her arm against mine while asking, “What line?”

“You know, when people start dating there’s usually that interval where it isn’t that serious. You may be all cute and cuddly puppy dog love but that doesn’t change the fact that if you broke up it wouldn’t be that hard to get over it. Give yourself a few days, a week and it’s like it never happened. That’s where I’ve been with Jace the last few weeks, right there, where it’s comfortable.”

Olivia takes my hand in hers. She gives it a reassuring squeeze to remind me that she’s listening and, with a shaky breath, I go on.

“I don’t feel like I’m there anymore but Jace still is...and I need to end it before it gets worse.”

Olivia bites her bottom lip, her thumb rubbing the back of my hand soothingly. A moment of silence passes between us while Olivia takes in my words. After a second, she nods and asks calmly, “What makes you think Jace doesn’t care as much as you do?”

“I know he doesn’t-”

“Mylo.”

“Seriously, it feels like a big experiment with him. I mean, is he even into me? We don’t know! I can kiss someone without caring so that means he could too. One second we’re having fun and it feels like a normal date then the next that stupid caller ruins it. You should see his face, Olivia.”

Thinking about it makes me ill.

“Whatever is going on, Jace isn’t actually serious and I don’t want to get to the point that I won’t be able to handle it when I really realize that’s true.”

I look to Olivia for support now. Earlier she said I was the good support but so is she and I need that right now. Someone to tell me that they agree or what the hell I’m supposed to do. I’m not used to this shit and it’s freaking me out.

Olivia takes a deep breath then asks, “Before you break it off, don’t you think you should ask about it?”

“I did! He said it was his grandmother calling.”

“And I bet you just ignored him afterwards.”

Well, sort of. I got pissy about it but that’s not odd.

Olivia shakes her head and pats my hands. “Listen, Mylo, you’re awful at serious conversation. You always try to brush it off with jokes...particularly about sex.”

I nod in agreement, which makes Olivia smile. Seeing that makes me smile a little too.

“But you need to have a real conversation, a real serious one, with Jace. Let him know that the calls are making you uncomfortable. If he cares, he’ll discuss it with you. If he doesn’t, you’ll know something is up and you can end it without any regrets. I-” Olivia hums like she’s not sure how to phrase her next words. “-I just don’t want you to break up then realize it was over something that could easily be fixed. It seems that you really like him-”

That’s the problem.

“-If you like him that much, I want you guys to be happy.”

“Keep saying sweet things and I’m going to make Sonya very jealous and kiss you.”

Olivia ignores my “threat” and stands up, grabbing the ice cream as she does. I shout after her not to ignore me but she does exactly that while waltzing into the kitchen to put the ice cream away. I chuckle and spin around to face her.

“Thanks for listening.”

Olivia looks back at me with a smile. “You know I always will.”

So, while Olivia is still here and my mind isn’t in total chaos, I turn back around and bring out my phone. For a moment I hesitate to respond but, after a mental pep talk, I send Jace a rather telling text, short but not so sweet.

We need to talk.