44: At Least Ask First

The 'no Oliver' rule. Broken.

But rules were made to be broken. And right now, the butterflies in my stomach are definitely agreeing. I hadn't seen him all day. He'd been at practice, it's easy to tell. His sweating hair was stuck to his forehead. He was dressed in his normal outfit of leather jacket and jeans. He looks smoking, and that's coming from someone who refuses to become an Oliver Grey groupie.

"What are you, how?" I stumble, trying to decide on a question to ask, "Oliver?"

"Haze," He gives me short nod, "Didn't we?"

I blink a couple of times and then look to Emma and Levi. They look just as, if not more, confused than I am. Emma's jaw is halfway to the floor and her eyes are about to pop out of her sockets. Levi, however, looks surprised that Oliver Grey is here rather than out partying. He looks to me and furrows his eyebrows like I had an answer to all his questions.

"Oliver!" Braden speaks up.

"Boys, how was school?"

"I sat by that girl today!" Braden smiles, proud of himself.

Oliver smirks, "Oh, so you've got smooth moves."

Braden and Ben both furrow their eyebrows at Oliver's comment. Clearly confused at what a 'smooth move' is and how Braden apparently has them.

I give Oliver a slap on the arm, "Why are you telling my little brother he's got moves."

Oliver's eyes fall to mine and he gives me a small smile, "You're just jealous of him."

My mouth falls open but I'm quick with a comeback, "Actually, I think you are."

Oliver raises an eyebrow, "Really? Cause I could've sworn they were working," He leans in closer with every word, his tone filled with amusement.

I don't lean back, but I go resist the urge to lean forward the finally inches that would make our lips meet. I look into Oliver's eyes, his shooting down to my lips every once in a while. My breathing is shallow as I feel his own hit my face. It feels like we're like this for minutes, but in reality it doesn't last more than a couple of second, if that.

He pulls away and smirks at me, "My point stands," is all he says and he picks up the milkshake.

He takes a long sip and sets in down again. Emma and Levi are still staring at Oliver with their mixture of shock and confusion. Oliver smiles at them before looking back to me.

"You even got me a milkshake."

I roll my eyes at him and turn back to the shocked couple in front of me.

"So how was your New Year's?"

Emma reacts first and answers, "We had the best time, we went up to the city."

I nod and smile at them, "To see the fireworks?"

Emma nods and Levi, finally boing the world of the living again, nods as well.

Every year, the big city that was 30 minutes away would put on a New Year's show. They even have their own ball drop, a live orchestra, and the big fireworks display that started at midnight. It was the off brand of the off brand New York New Year's celebration. Most people from around would go there to enjoy the food trucks and the frost bite.

Oliver, thinking I'm distracted by my conversation with Emma and Levi, reaches out to grab a fry from my plate. I, however, never take my sight off my precious food and notice his wandering hand. My hand shoots out and grabs his wrist to stop him. He looks to me and frowns.

"At least ask first," I tell him.

"Please?"

I narrow my eyes at him and shake my head, "No, I don't think so."

I lower his hand so that it's under the table and away from my fries. I'm loosening my grip to let go of his wrist, but his hand flips over and grabs my own. Oliver manages to quickly intertwine our fingers and leans the back of his hand on my thigh. His thumb brushes over my hand.

My breath hitches but I don't make it visible to Emma and Levi, who are talking about their fun New Year's adventure. Nor do I let the twins see, though they're distracted sword fighting with their fries. I relax when no one seems to realize what happened and rub one of my fingers around Oliver's knuckle.

I look to Oliver to see him munching on something. Then, I see his other hand is holding a half eaten fry. Oliver catches my eyes and winks before giving my hand a small squeeze. I just roll my eyes at him, but push the plate between us so that we can both eat the fries. He wins this time.

The rest of the evening we stay like this, his hand resting on my thigh with our fingers intertwined. Emma and Levi are holding hands and laughing with the twins about some inside joke they now have. Something about milkshakes, but I wasn't really paying attention.

"You ready to head out?" Oliver asks, reading my mind.

I nod and look to the twins, "Ready boys?"

"Already?" They whine.

I nod at them and ruffle Ben's hair since he was closer. They're frowning at me and I feel bad for ruining their fun. But sadly, tomorrow is a school day.

"Yes, we'll do this again though. Alright?"

They look from me to Oliver and then back to me. Some silent conversation must have happened between the boys because the twins nods their heads. I look to Oliver but he's stone cold, not revealing any of his secrets.

"Okay," They reluctantly agree.

I give Oliver's hand a squeeze before we both let go and stand up. The cold fills my hand and then the rest of my body as his touch leaves me. He gives me a smirk before turning around, starting his way to the door. We all follow along and stop once we're standing outside.

"We can take you home, Hazel. Right, Levi?" Emma says.

I'm about to speak up, give her some excuse. I didn't want Emma knowing I lived in the poorer part of town with no parents yet. That is still something I keep private from most people. Except those that know everything, cough cough, Oliver, cough cough. No one, except Levi, knows the living arrangements Oliver and I have either.

I look to Levi to find his expression full of shock. He knows how private I am about my living situation, my family problems, and basically anything that isn't my grades. I could tell he was running ideas through his mind, excuses as to why I wouldn't be going with them.

But Oliver beats us to it, "I'll take them home."

"Oh," Emma says, and looks at me to make sure I'm okay with this arrangement.

"Yeah, Oliver's got it. Thanks though," I give her a smile to reassure her.

She nods and gives me hug before walking off with Levi to his car. I turn back to Oliver who's already making his way to his own car, Ben and Braden following closely behind. I walk up to the passenger side and slide in.

"Take me home, servant," I smile to Oliver.

He looks at me but doesn't say anything. Starting the car, he backs out and starts driving the four of us home. I think back to how Levi and Emma were acting during the drive to the elementary school. I place my hand over Oliver's knuckles, drawing oddball patterns over them to get him to relax. He shoots me a glance before returning his eyes to the road.

Oliver speaks up in a quiet whisper, "Thigh."

I look from his face down to his thigh and then to my hand that's on top of his. I follow the swoop of his arm, gliding my hand over it, until I reach his elbow. Then I let my hand drop to his thigh. I resume my drawings there with my thumb. He looks at me and gives me a quick smirk.

I just listen to him unconditionally, don't I?

We finally arrive home. I take the boys to bed and Oliver comes in, changed into sweats, to help scare off the shadow monsters with me. The twins seem to believe it more when Oliver is here to scare them off. Must be the extra muscle power. But let's be real, I could kick some shadow monster butt.

"Good night, sleep tight, don't let the shadow monsters fright," I tell them as I close the door to their room.

I turn around only to be met by Oliver's chest in my face, "Why, hello there," I smirk.

Oliver steps away from me and gives me a smirk back, "Hey."

We make our way to my room. I go to the bathroom quickly to brush my teeth and change into my pajamas. When I come out, Oliver is laying on my bed. His feet are crossed at the ankles and his head is leaning against his hands. His shirts off and I can see the ripples in his chest as he breathes in and out. He's not asleep, but his eyes are closed.

"You're on the wrong side."

He peaks his eyes open, "Wrong side?"

"I sleep on the left, not you. Now, move over."

Oliver doesn't move. His eyes closed again as he snuggles down into the bed again, getting comfortable. I cross my arms and glare at him, but Oliver is unbothered. I walk up closer to the bed. When he doesn't move, I try to roll him over. But I'm too weak to do so, especially when he's fighting against it.

"Oliver, move."

He puckers his lips in thought, "Mmm, no."

"Fine, then."

I flop down, belly side down, on my side of the bed and land on Oliver. He lets out a breath when I fall on his chest and his eyes shoot open. My legs sprawl to the outside of Oliver's. I let my head fall on his chest, on top of his fast-beating heart. He gasps for a breath and looks down to me.

"Excuse me?"

I look up to him and smile innocently, "If you won't move, you become the bed."

His hands move from behind his head and snake around my waist. His warmth envelopes me as his arms do and I relax my head back on his chest. Oliver glides his hand up and down my back.

"I knew I had smooth moves."

"Dimwit," I slap his arm.

He chuckles and tightens his hold around me so that I can't move off of him. I don't try to move though, his body being a comfortable replacement to my bed.

"So you had a plan?" I ask him.

"Moves, Haze, I have moves."

He reaches down and is able to grab the blanket that's at the bottom of my bed. He expertly throws it over us and covers us perfectly in the first throw. Oliver Grey, the dude is even good at throw blankets. His arms wrap around me again when he's done.

We stay there in silence for a while. Appreciating each other's presence and soft touches, but not speaking nor even looking at each other. My curiosity gets the best of me, and I look up to meet Oliver's eyes.

"How'd you know I was at the diner?"

"I'm Oliver Grey, I know,"

"Everything," I finish his sentence, "But why'd you come?"

He tries to shrug his shoulders but it proves difficult since he's sandwiched between the bed and me. I laugh at his little power struggle against gravity and friction. Oliver doesn't change his stone cold face though after his failed shrug. Finally, something he does wrong. He can't beat the laws of physics.

"You were there."

He leans forward the final inches, letting out lips finally meet. I willingly kiss him back, finally getting the much wanted kiss from the diner. It's short, cute, nothing more. Only a couple of second. To separate, Oliver pushes me over to the right, making me roll onto the bed.

"I sleep on the left."

I look at Oliver in shock as he snuggles into the bed. I refuse to sleep on the right, but I know I can't use force against him. He'll snap me in half, or worse, I'll break a nail. Wow, like I have nails after all my nervous biting.

I come up with an alternative plan that'll get me my side of the bed back. I quickly pull the blanket off of him and bring it to my current side of the bed, the ugly right side.

Oliver sits up and glares at me, "Give it back."

"Give me my side back."

He shakes his head, "No."

"Fine, then freeze to death."

He looks at me and his eyes wander to the blanket behind me. There's a plan forming in his head, I can tell. The calculated look in his eyes gives him away. But I'm also too dumb to realize what the plan is before Oliver takes action.

He lifts up the covers and gets in, getting comfortable once more. Oliver smirks at me when he's comfortable again.

"Oliver one, Haze zero," He glances to me.

I roll my eyes and drop the blanket on the floor before getting into the covers myself. I grumble under my breath, pissed that he one-upped me in my own home, my own bed. I grunt as I finish getting comfortable on the ugly right side of the bed. It felt so awkward.

"I've told you, don't roll your eyes," He says.

I glare at him and cross my arms across my chest. I return my eyes to the ceiling, sinking into the bed. Even the ceiling looks weird on this side of the bed.

"You stole my side," I grumble.

Oliver turns to face me, resting on his side. He looks at me with a small smile on his face. I roll my eyes at him and cross my arms, staring at the ceiling. Oliver moves around, I can hear him shuffling around, but I don't dare break my petty resolve.

"Oh, just come here, Haze."

I give him a quick look and see that his arms are open so that I can easily slide in. He's moved enough so that if I were to cuddle up with him we'd both fit on the left side of the bed. I don't want him to win this little insignificant fight. But the left side of the bed is unarguably the best side of the bed. So, I roll my eyes and slide over and cuddle agains Oliver's chest, letting his arms wrap around me. I relax into him, living the left side of the bed.

He gives the top of my head a kiss. I return the gesture with a kiss to his neck that's right by my face.

"Oliver two, Hazel zero," I whisper.