47: So It's Working?

Countdown has ended. Zero.

Today's the fateful day. I roll out of bed and look to the couch, empty. I frown at the sight and look up to the window that's behind. A dark landscape greets me, the rain pouring down. It hits the window in uneven beats and I follow a drop snake it's way down the window. The ambiance Mother Nature has created is perfect.

I go to the bathroom and give myself a once over in the mirror. God, why do I look like her so much?

I splash my face with water, trying to wash away the similarities. It's no use, can't change your features. I sigh at my reflection and go about my daily morning routine. I slide on a hoodie and sweatpants, unable to fake any sort of happiness today. But for the sake of the twins, I slap a smile on my face.

The smell of cinnamon hits me when I open my door. I follow the smell to the kitchen and find a sight I never thought I would find in my kitchen. The twins are seated at the table, changed and ready to go. They're munching on cinnamon rolls and talking about how cool it would be to be born on February 29th, tomorrow.

"Good morning."

I look away from the twins to the voice that spoke up. Oliver is standing by the coffee maker with two mugs filled to the brim. He extends one to me with a small smile. I walk up to him and take the mug from him. I wrap my hands around it, letting the warmth fill my body.

"You did all this?"

He gives me a nod, "Time to rewrite some memories."

I smile at his words. He's keeping his promises. And apparently they begin with cinnamon rolls and steaming coffee. I take a small sip and no, not it.

"We'll work on the coffee," I smile to Oliver and give his arm a small pat.

He takes a sip too, not convinced that he could possibly mess up coffee. Oliver spits it back out and nods, taking the mug out of my hands and placing both back on the counter. With my hands free I wrap my arms around Oliver torso. He takes a while to react, his body stiffens before he relaxes and hugs me back.

"What's this?" He asks.

"Rewriting memories."

Oliver hands me a cinnamon roll when we let go of each other. I rip a piece off to try it. My eyes widen at the sweet taste icing and the gooey feeling cinnamon rolls. I look from Oliver to the roll and then back to Oliver, my eyes still wide in surprise.

"How long have you been hiding this talent?"

He shrugs, "My mom taught me. Only useful skill I bring to the kitchen."

I push Oliver back a little, giving him a nudge at the shoulder. He smiles down to me, noticeably sad about speaking about his mom. I give him a side smile, only lifting the left side of my lips up.

"So, she taught you how to be a ladies man."

He gives me a small smirk, "I taught myself that one."

I roll my eyes at him and pop another piece of cinnamon roll into my mouth. Oliver's eyes are on my lips. He follows them as I munch on his delicious cinnamon rolls. I want to moan out of delight, but I know he's make an inappropriate joke out of it. He won't care that the twins are in the same room.

"Food is the way to a woman's heart."

"So it's working?"

I'm slightly surprised by Oliver's flirtatious question. I'm always caught off guard when he says something sweet like that. It's out of character for him, or maybe too much into his player persona. I never know which, he makes everything sound so genuine. It makes my stomach twist and my heart flutter.

I give him a small nod. Ripping another piece of cinnamon roll, I bring it up to his lips this time.

"You try."

He opens his mouth and takes the piece. My fingers graze his lips lightly when I feed Oliver. They're as soft as I remember from my other interactions with his lips I've had. I visibly blush from the memories of all our little moments we've shared together. When did Oliver Grey become such an important part of my life?

"Mmm, orgasmic."

I hit Oliver's shoulder and roll my eyes at him. He might be right, but he doesn't need to be sharing it with the world. Specifically, my nine year old brothers that are now staring at us.

"Are you two dating?" Ben asks again.

"Not yet," Oliver answers before I can.

I only give a small smile to Ben, not adding anything. Ben gives us a large smile, it's open mouthed and filled with joy, and some pieces of cinnamon roll. Ben turns to Braden and shakes his arm, making Braden almost drop his cinnamon roll.

"Did you hear?! Not yet!" Ben smiles to Braden.

"Ooooo, cooties!" Braden laughs.

"Let's not forget about you and your mystery lady," I say, walking up to the kitchen table.

Oliver follows along, sitting beside me at the table. He steals another piece of my cinnamon roll and pops it in his mouth before I can do anything about it. All I manage is a look of surprise in Oliver's direction. Not enough to get my cinnamon roll back.

In English, I sit in my spot in front of Oliver as always. He messes with the teacher a couple of times, making me laugh in the process. It's always funny when a teacher misplaced their textbook for twenty minutes.

In my other classes, or whenever I wasn't close to Oliver, he'd send me a text or manage to make an appearance in my class just to make me smile. It makes my day every time I see his face or his name pop up on my phone. Oliver makes me forget about all the negativity that surrounds February 28th. His bad boy antics and silly pranks make me actually enjoy the day.

During lunch, I sit with Levi and Emma. Levi knows the whole deal with my mom, how terrible of a day it is. He's surprised to see me in such a good mood, a genuine smile on my face. I may still be dressed like I rolled out of bed without a second thought, but my face tells a different story. One of rewritten memories.

"You look happy today, Hazel," He points out without bringing up anything from my 'dark past'.

I give him a small shrug and smile at him, "It's been a good day."

"How so?" Emma asks this time.

I smile at them, "Oh, I had a good breakfast, really set the mood for the day."

We spend the rest of lunch talking and laughing. Levi got the memo that I wasn't in the mood to reminisce on the ugly memories of my mother. He jokes around with Emma and I, but something sticks on his mind. He keeps looking at me oddly, trying to read between the lines. At the end of lunch, he says goodbye to Emma so he can walk alone with me. Her class was in the opposite direction anyway. We both start walking together on our way to our next class.

"Oliver did this?"

I furrow my eyebrows at him, "Hmm?"

"Hazel, we both know what today is. Does Oliver know too?"

"Yeah, he knows."

"Which means you trust him enough to tell him and," he emphasizes, "He's somehow making you all giddy."

I shrug my shoulders, keeping my eyes straight ahead.

"I hate remembering this day, living it over and over. I've found someone that takes my mind off it all."

Levi grabs my arm, stopping us in the hallway so that we can face each other. He loves us over to the side of the hall so we don't get run over by teens with tunnel vision and no fucks left to give.

"So Oliver did do this?"

I nod in response.

"He's perfect, isn't he?" He says with a little humor to his tone.

I shake my head, "He can't make coffee."

Levi furrows his eyebrows, a small smile on his face, "Coffee?"

I nod and start walking again, I didn't exactly want to be late and earn myself detention. That's the last thing I needed on a day like today. Things are going well, I want it to stay that way.

"Oliver Grey isn't perfect," I tell him.

During Chemistry, Oliver makes out lab quite the challenge. He grabs my hand under the table, intertwining our fingers and locking them in place so that I can't let go. Not that I wanted to anyway, my hand fits comfortably in his. But trying to do a lab with only one hand, and my non dominant one at that, is not easy. We're like conjoined twins trying to figure out who grabs the beaker while the other pours the chemical. At some point we finish, after more than a few mishaps.

"Teamwork makes the dream work," He tells me before letting go of my hand.

The bell rings right after he says that and we make our way out of the classroom. I want to say something to him but he's pulled away by the football coach. Something about seniors and college is mentioned before he's dragged off.

I wait for Oliver inside the school so I don't get soaked from the rain outside. It hasn't stopped raining all day and the front lawn of the school looks more like a large puddle than a grassy area. Oliver sneaks up from behind me and puts half a cinnamon roll in front of my face, his arm reaching over me from behind.

"Grayson might have eaten the other half."

I smile and take the cinnamon roll from his hand. Ripping it in half, I give a piece to Oliver. He takes a large bite out of it, closing his eyes as he savors the taste of his homemade specialty.

"Still orgasmic?" I ask him.

He opens his eyes and looks at me intently, "Very."

We're making our way back from the diner. Oliver and I went to go pick up food for the four us to eat at home while watching my favorite movie. Oliver easily convinced the twins with his charm that I be allowed to pick the movie. The influence Oliver has over the twins has finally swayed in my favor. Usually I end up getting attacked by the three of them that gang up against me. It feels good to win one and watch Tangled. I left the twins with Sarah, since she lives in the neighborhood, for a quick second so that they wouldn't be left at home alone.

The rain is still pouring and there's more darkness now that the sun has started to set, not that we would know since it's been cloudy all day. But I know where we are, it's a street I hate taking. It feels like there's a magnetic pull forcing my eyes to look at the fateful spot on the side of the road.

"Stop the car!" I yell.

Oliver listens, doing what I ask, but unsure as to why. I jump out once the car is stopped on the side of the road. Oliver follows me, still confused as to what has gotten into me. The pouring rain envelops us both. My clothes soak through to the point that my bones feel cold. I have to blink rapidly to keep the rain from poking my eyes or blurring my eyesight.

"Haze."

I ignore Oliver, leaving him by the car. I go to tree that's still standing tall on the side of the road. Although it's hard to see from the rain, I know exactly where I'm going. There's a mark on the tree 'A + T'. Amanda and Tim, my mom and dad. Not only that, the large indentation from a car running into the tree is still noticeable.

My moms love declaration and final breath all happened at this spot. On a date, my dad's car had broken down here. While they waited on some help, he carved their initials together in the tree. When our family fell apart and my mom said goodbye, she came here at full speed. It wasn't an accident. She purposefully slammed the gas pedal and swerved off the street. She ended things where everything started.

My fingers trace the initials. A + T, A + T, A + T. What a lie. I crouch down when I can't bare the sight of their love forever engraved in the tree. I place my hand over the broken trunk, destroyed just like our car had been.

I hand falls on my shoulder and I turn to be greeted with Oliver's face at my level.

"Hazel."

A tear falls down my face. I didn't think I'd be noticeable through the amount of rain, but Oliver cups my face and brushes my cheeks. Why is it that every time he says my full name I'm falling apart? I want to be able to enjoy the warmth that comes from my name leaving his lips. It sounds different, more strong than I ever feel.

Oliver brings me up from our crouched position back to standing. He brings me in for a hug, kissing the top of my head has he does so. I wrap my arms around him, letting myself fall apart in his hold.

"This," I sniffle, trying to push through the tears, "This is where it happened."

Oliver doesn't say anything, he's just looking at the tree while he restricts me from doing so. He doesn't want me to keep looking at the tree that holds all the memories Oliver has been trying to rewrite. He may be trying, but all these ugly memories have been documented on this tree forever.

"The letters are my parents initials," I continue, "That missing bark at the bottom is where my mom hit the tree."

Oliver stays silent, holding me even tighter than before. I grow anxious at what he'll say, what he's thinking right now. Probably that I'm too much to deal with. All the dark history that surrounds me. All the sadness that I bring. Oliver Grey shouldn't have to deal with someone so broken. Yet, he's here, holding me and protecting me from the sight of my family's ugly truth.

"Please say something."

"Your parents don't deserve your tears."

I pull away from Oliver slightly so that I can look at him. It's difficult through the rain, but I manage to lock onto his eyes. They're looking back at me, still bright in the darkness of the pouring rain. I lean forward a little, urging him to do the same. He does, following my lead.

"Rewrite this memory for me," I whisper to him.

"I can't, it wouldn't be fair to you."

"Please, Oliver."

Oliver looks at me. An internal debate going on through his head. One of the sides finally wins when he leans down to give me a quick kiss. It's short, but powerful. His lips fill me with warmth as they connect with mine. I go up on my tiptoes to reach him better. As quickly as it came, his lips leave mine. The cold from the rain filling me up again. I look up to Oliver's eyes, he looks torn between his two selves. The one that wants to give in completely and the one that winning, the gentleman side.

"Don't make me do that again. It pains me to take advantage and it pains me to not be able to keep going."

I nod, understanding his conflict. I'm an emotional mess right now. We're at the spot of my mothers death and at my parents' broken promises. I hug him and continue nodding into his chest.

"I'm sorry."

"Come on, let's go."

He grabs under my thighs, forcing me wrap my legs around his torso. I bring my arms to their around his neck and let my head fall into the nook of his shoulder. He starts walking back to the car. I look up one last time to the tree.

"Goodbye, mom."