02 | Surprise

"Well, that was very awkward," I say as Olivia leads us into her house.

She laughs and leaves the door open for me. I follow her inside and shut the door behind me. Her house looks the same as it always has. Spotless and clean. I kick my shoes off at the front and walk towards the kitchen, knowing that's where Olivia's already disappeared to.

Sure enough, when I walk into the kitchen, Olivia already has the double doors to the refrigerator open. Watching her, I sit on one of the barstools that surround part of the white island.

"So why didn't you tell me Axel was part of the fire department?" I blurt out, needing an answer from her.

Olivia's eyes widen as she sets a container of prepackaged watermelon on the counter. "When I called Jaden to tell him that you were stuck in the tree, I didn't expect him to bring the whole fire department out."

I watch my best friend carefully, knowing something's up.

Footsteps pound the stairs and head towards the kitchen, stopping me from asking my next question.

James, Olivia's brother, walks into the kitchen. He smiles, showing off his now perfect teeth. He had to get braces his sophomore year of high school and had them on until the beginning of his senior year. "Vienna!" he says with outstretched arms.

"Hi, James." I laugh and accept his hug, noticing that he'd gotten taller since the last time I saw him. My head now only comes up to his chest. "Did you grow some since last Christmas?" I ask.

He chuckles and lets go of me, reaching for a piece of watermelon. "Yup."

I look at him now, knowing he's grown into a fine young man. He's come a long way since his middle school days.

"You're coming to my graduation this weekend, right?" he asks as he looks back at me.

"Wouldn't miss it." I smile at him reassuringly.

He gathers a couple of pieces of watermelon in a napkin and gives me a side hug before heading back upstairs. "See ya, V."

I watch him go and look back at Olivia who's smirking.

She has a mouth full of watermelon, but still tries to talk. "He's still in love with you," she says, slurping the watermelon juice.

"You're ridiculous," I say, meaning it in more than one way.

She gets what I mean and shoves my shoulder, laughing. "You're a turd, but I am right."

I tilt my head to look at her. "Mhm."

"Come on, V. He's acting like he doesn't like you because that's what cool big eighteen year olds do. I know he's my little brother, but you could give him a chance." She pleads with her eyes.

To avoid her gaze, I look down at the counter and grab my necklace. "Olivia, you know I won't do it."

"I know, but at this point I'm desperate for you to date anyone. Even if that means my little brother."

We both laugh, but there's no humor in it. After Axle broke my heart, I've had a hard time trusting any guys. Sure, I've been on dates, but I haven't had a boyfriend since Axel. I'm too scared to get my heart broken again.

"Is Elea coming to the wedding?" I ask to break the silence.

Olivia looks at me, seeming uncomfortable. She grabs the container holding the watermelon and puts the lid back on. "Yeah," she says, putting the container back into the fridge. After she closes the doors to the fridge, she comes to sit next to me. "You don't think that's going to bother Hudson right?"

I play with my necklace some more, trying to find the right words to say. Truth is, Elea coming to her wedding is going to be awkward for both Hudson and me. Elea and I stopped being friends after she broke up with Hudson.

It isn't that I blame her for breaking up with Hudson, but Hudson's my brother and my best friend. I'm always going to pick his side no matter what. And the reason she broke up with Hudson was because she was going to be traveling France with her mother for a year.

She didn't want to do long distance with Hudson, which ended up breaking his heart. Plus mine.

"Vienna?" Olivia asks, gently squeezing my forearm. "It's not going to bother you too, is it?"

I force a smile onto my face. This is my best friend's wedding and if she wants Elea there, Elea will be there. "Hudson and I will deal. This is about you and Jaden. If Elea being at your wedding makes you happy, then I'm happy."

Olivia wraps her arm around my neck and pulls me in for a hug. "Thank you," she whispers.

We lean away from each other and I take the opportunity to ask the question again that's been bothering me and the one she easily avoided. "So, when were you going to tell me that Axel joined the fire department?"

Olivia bites her lip and taps her nails rhythmically on the white marble island top. "I wanted to tell you but half the time I bring him up, you shut down."

She had a point there.

"Yeah, but you could've told me him and Jaden are working together now." I look down at my lap. "I didn't even know Axel wanted to be a firefighter."

"Well, you know how Jaden took a year off to work and then figured out he wanted to try the fire academy?"

Looking up at my friend, I can tell she's nervous about something the way she jitters in her seat. "Yeah?" I ask confused.

"Jaden knew that Axel wasn't going anywhere for college so he figured he'd ask him to join the fire academy with him. He wanted to see if it could work out for either of them and it ended up working out for both of them."

"That's good I guess." I knew Axel didn't know what he wanted to do for college after we graduated, but he broke up with me before he even told me he wasn't going to go to college. Last thing I knew was that he wanted to play basketball somewhere and he had some offers, but after he broke up with me I just assumed he picked one and went there. Never did it cross my mind he'd become a firefighter.

Olivia fidgeted some more in her seat.

"I know you have something else to say, so just say it."

"Um." She starts."There is something else you should know before the wedding happens."

"And what is it?"

"So Jaden and Axel got close working in the fire department together, right."

"Okay," I say, unsure of where she's going with this.

"Well-" She plucks out a twig that has been stuck in my hair, gracefully dodging my question again.

I smack her hand and take the twig from her. "Olivia, spit it out."

"Axel's going to be in the wedding," she blurts out. "He's going to be a groomsman."

"What?" I yell, standing up out of my chair.

"Surprise," Olivia says meekly.

A/N: Sorry chapter two is so short and sorry it's taken me so long to get it done. Hoping to do a better job of updating from now on. Hope you enjoyed!