The following two weeks he kept bumping into Casper. The first time was on his way home from mowing someone’s lawn, the one thing Oliver didn’t mind doing to earn money, that and walking dogs. He was sweating from the last summer heat and wore a soaked tank top, a pair of knee length black shorts, and pair of black sneakers. He was covered in grass on his legs and shoes and he was drinking from his bottle of water when suddenly Casper appeared in front of him. It wasn’t because he had just teleported in front of him, but because Oliver weren’t paying attention as he emptied the bottle of water, like his life depended on it, which technically were true in some way. Oliver choked on the water as he got surprised and started to cough like crazy.
“Oh sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Casper apologized, looking both embarrassed and worried. Oliver glared at him as he wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "But I saw you as I turned around the corner," he explained.
“Sure,” he replied, dragging the word, doubting that was true but didn’t say anything else, as he sidestep Casper, doing whatever he could to avoid getting near him.
Casper turned to face Oliver, “hey Oliver, let's talk, please?” Casper said but Oliver just flipped him off as he kept walking, picking up the pace a little.
Casper turned to face Oliver, “hey Oliver, let's talk, please?” Casper said but Oliver just flipped him off as he kept walking, picking up the pace a little.
The next time he saw him was three days later, when Oliver and Zack was at the mall. Oliver had to buy new shoes because he worn down his shoes to a point where it wasn’t going to handle any more skating. When Oliver came into the shoe store and looked around, he spotted Casper doing just the same. Their eyes met and Oliver frowned, immediately regretting coming in the store, so he turned on his heels and left the store with a puzzled Zack.
Then two days later, Zack and Oliver were going to a party by the cabins, and when they came, there were several others already drinking and having fun. A couple of campfires were lit and they joined the others, and started to drink beers and whatever else the others had brought with them.
They were getting pretty tipsy, when Casper appeared along with some other guys. Oliver almost told Casper to leave, because he was getting tired of keep meeting him. He wanted to have at least one place where he could just relax and not ending up in a bad mood. Casper went over to sit near them and he looked at Oliver and gave him an awkward smile. Oliver didn’t smile back as he furrow his eyebrow and turned to look away, before chugging the rest of his beer, which were over half of it, before he got up, ready to leave.
“Hey, just ignore him,” Zack said, trying to make Oliver sit back down again but Oliver pulled his arm away from Zack.
“I don’t want to stay here when he is here,” Oliver answered and didn’t care if Casper heard him. Zack frowned a little, then sighed before he got up, which Oliver took as a sign to leave and they went away to hang out at the scrapyard, some distance away, where a few other people were.
He also met Casper at his favorite pizza place (guess he didn’t need pizza after all), but where he didn’t expect to see him was at home, specifically on the couch in the living room. Jake and Casper were talking, each with a beer on the table but they both stopped talking when Oliver came into the living, where he stopped in his track and just stared at them, first at Casper then at Jake.
“The hell dude?” he asked annoyed. Jake looked at him confused, but his expression quickly turned to annoyance too, as he furrowed his brow.
“What?” he asked, a bit harshly.
“What is he doing here in our living room?” Oliver gestured at Casper, not caring that he could hear him.
“Casper and I are in college together and have classes together” Jake shrugged, still frowning, not understanding why Oliver was reacting that way.
“And you just happened to invite him here, to our home?” Oliver asked, since he couldn’t believe it. Casper didn’t say anything, but he rolled his eyes and frowned while crossed his arm. Jake on the other hand was getting pissed.
“I can invite whoever I want to, I don’t need your permission, little brother,” Jake said sternly, emphasizing the last bit.
“Whatever! I’m too sober to deal with this shit!” Oliver flipped them both off before heading upstairs.
“Oliver!” Jake yelled and Oliver could hear him stomp after him up the stairs. When Oliver reached his room, Jake had caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder, forcing Oliver to turn around.
“The hell dude?!” Oliver growled and smacked Jake’s hand away from him.
“Don’t give me that crap! What the hell is your problem?” Jake said sternly, but without raising his voice. He was good at that, like an authority, whereas Oliver were the type to get all emotional and yell from the top of his lungs.
“You do know how much shit I went through as a kid because of him, right?! If you do, then you should know why I’m angry” Oliver yelled, not caring if Casper heard it, actually he hoped he would, then maybe he wouldn’t want to come here again.
“What are you talking about? Is it really about when we were kids?” he asked in disbelief. “We were kids! Kids fight! Get over it and grow up,” Jake rolled his eyes; he couldn’t take Oliver seriously, which only fueled Oliver’s temper.
“Kids? Sure, we started when we were kids, but even when I was, what, thirteen years old and he was fifteen, he didn’t stop bullying me!” Oliver threw his hands up in the air. Jake looked frustrated and shook his head.
“I don’t know what you are on about, but people grow up. Casper is no longer the same as he was back then, though I can’t say the same with you” which was a low blow for Oliver. He knew he hadn’t changed much from when he was a kid, since he still had a bad temper and he was equally just as bad at everything, as he was back then, minus the skating and the photographing, but to hear it from his own brother somehow hit harder.
“Oh, because knowing him for what, a couple of weeks, suddenly makes you know everything about him?” Oliver questioned with a roll of his eyes, though he didn’t care to hear about Jake’s answer. Oliver had kind of lost the will to fight, he rather just get stoned and drunk out of his mind to forget everything. He turned around, entered his room and just before he slammed the door he heard Jake yell, “at least I know him better than you.” True, Oliver didn’t know Casper, not any more than Jake did, but the memories of Casper taunting Oliver, picking a fight with him whenever he could and laughing mockingly when he won, were enough to make Oliver keep hating Casper.
For the rest of the day, he just stayed in his room, drinking the booze he had hid away in his closet and getting pretty drunk. His dad had bought him pizza and deliver it to him, but other than that he left him alone. Apparently, Jake had told him, that Oliver wanted to be alone at the moment. By the time around midnight, he had crashed and when he woke up the next day, he felt horrible, his head pounding with every movement and his stomach forcing him to empty the content of everything, that was left from the day before.
When he came down to get breakfast, no one was home, and he knew why. They were already at work, which meant Oliver didn’t have to worry about anyone as he made breakfast for himself, then he went up to his room to smoke a cigarette. He looked at the grey sky, it was threatening to rain and Oliver kind of hoped it would. He picked up his phone and texted Zack, asking if they should go to the mall which Zack immediately replied yes to.
They met up at the front exit, Zack was wearing an orange t-shirt with a prints of famous architectures and country names under and dark blue skinny jeans, his sunglasses hanging on the collar on his shirt, though Oliver wasn’t sure why since it wasn’t sunny, while Oliver was wearing yet another black outfit like normal, but this time it was a tank top instead of a t-shirt, but with a thin black jacket over it, since the weather was surprisingly warm, even though it was in the beginning of October.
They went inside and headed towards the arcade games, where Zack beelined for the Pac-man game, sure he was going to win this time and Oliver looked around, seeing which game were unoccupied and chose Asteroids. He played it for fifteen minutes, before moving on to a pinball machine, but checking on Zacks progress and seeing he had started over.
It wasn’t like they had any plans for the mall, but there weren’t many places they could be with rain outside, cause as Olive had predicted, it did start to rain the moment they met up. Beside going to the mall, they could go bowling, but Oliver didn’t have the money at the moment, since he hadn’t had much work to do, and the money he had already gotten, he had used on booze and drugs, and a single video game. They could also have gone to watch a movie, if they had money, so because of the money situation, they settle with a few arcade games, then stroll through some different stores before they would end up getting a milkshake.
The diner had delicious milkshakes, where they could choose between 20 different types of flavors, depending on the ice cream choice, and Oliver were craving a rocky road milkshake, and he knew Zack would pick cookies and cream. Oliver loved going through the different types of milkshakes and each summer, he would make it his mission to try at least half of the flavors, but chocolate was his go to milkshake, when he just wanted one.
As they had gone through three different clothes stores and the thrift store, where Oliver found a new t-shirt to add to his collection, which was so cheap that, even though he was poor and didn’t have much money, he could still buy it and have money enough for a milkshake, they headed towards the food court, when Zack mentioned he had applied for work at the cinema, just for a couple of shifts a week.
“Really? What happened to your work at the gas station?” Oliver asked curiously, since he didn’t know Zack had applied for work anywhere else.
“Well I quit, to many late-night shifts and I didn’t feel safe, so I rather work at the cinema, where there is a chance to watch free movies!" he exclaimed exciteded, "I can even bring you for a really good discount!” He grinned and fist bumped Oliver.
“Dude, sick! Then we can see the newest movie and split my ticket between us!” Oliver grinned too and wrapped his arm around Zack’s neck. Zack tried to hit Oliver with his elbow, but Oliver just laughed and tried to ruffle Zack’s hair, but he avoided it and they laughed as they reach food court, then headed towards where the milkshake was being sold.
Oliver’s hangovers were almost completely gone, but when he saw Casper, he swore that he could feel a headache starting again. Not only was he there, but he was also wearing a uniform, which meant that he was working there too. Another place on the list that he could cross off. Oliver groaned in annoyance and was ready to turn on his heels, if it wasn’t because of Zack. He wasn’t going to let Casper stop them from getting a milkshake, so he dragged Oliver with him, his arm around Oliver's neck, even though he protested.
“Listen, I’m tired of always having to change our plans or your mood getting sour, every time Casper is there, it’s starting to ruin our fun,” Zack complained but had lowered his voice, so only Oliver could hear it as they moved closer, but Oliver didn’t want to listen to him, his mood was ruined even though, he knew Zack was right, but he didn’t want to deal with Casper, right at that moment, and wanted to just leave, but because of Zack, he stayed nonetheless and did his best to ignore Casper.
“What can I get you?” Casper asked, but faltered a little when he realized who he was talking to.
“Two medium milkshakes, a rockey road and a cookies and cream ” Zack said indifferently, as he ignored Oliver shifting on his feet, like he was trying to distance himself without moving away, and the way Casper was looking at them. Casper nodded and typed in their orders, glancing up at them as he did.
“Sure it’ll be 14 dollars” Casper said and Zack paid, but Oliver could feel Casper's eyes on them as they walked to the side, waiting for their order. Oliver had been ignoring Casper, but he couldn’t help but glance at him, as he prepared their milkshake.
When their order got called up, Zack took his milkshake first, while Casper finished the other one. He placed the milkshake on the counter, and Oliver went to take it, but Casper was still holding on to it so their fingers brushed, which made Oliver involuntary flinch and pull his hand away with a jerk, almost tipping over his milkshake, if Casper hadn’t still been holding onto it.
“The hell..?! Don’t you dare touch me” Oliver hissed, glaring at Casper, even though technically it was Oliver who touched him. Casper looked back confused and furrowed his brow. He let go of the milkshake, before shaking his head while rolling his eyes and walked off, though he glancing back at him. Oliver stared after him before taking his milkshake and walked over to Zack, who had watched it all and looked slightly anooyed.
“Dude,” Zack started, “what was that?” Zack asked confused but also judgy.
“What? I didn’t like him touching my fingers,” Oliver frowned. Zack rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“Dude, could you chill. It’s not like he did it on purpose,” he sighed, almost sounding slightly annoyed. Oliver rolled his eyes and flipped him off before he went towards a table.
“Fuck off, dude” he said as they sat down, Oliver sitting sideways on his chair, elbow on the table and cradling his head in his hand.
“You guys should talk. I mean, I get why you hate him, but that was like, what, four years ago?” Zack said, and Oliver wanted to correct him , but opted not to do it, and Zack continued. “We aren’t kids anymore, hell, maybe he even feels bad about back then” Zack said while pulling his straw, ajusting it before he sipped his milkshake. Oliver glared at Zack and made a ‘what the hell’ expression.
“What? You think just because it’s been some years, everything will be all fine and dandy? As if!” Oliver scowled before taking a sip of his milkshake.
“Dude, that’s not what I’m saying” Zack tried to say in his defense, but Oliver rolled his eyes and looked away.
“Whatever, dude, just forget it” he said coldly, taking a sip of his milkshake.
When Oliver came home, he went straight for his drawer in his bedroom and dug through some stuff, until he found some pills and quickly popped two of them and swallowed them dry, then he went to lay down on the bed. He was looking through his phone, waiting for the buzz to hit before he turned on the tv and started to binge watch a series. It was early Sunday morning before he went to bed, and he didn’t get out of bed before three in the afternoon, where he spent the rest of the way watching the last of the series and staying cooped up in his room.
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