Olivia and Shayne suffer from a miscommunication in College
"Hey babe" Olivia said entering Shayne's dorm room.
He looked up from where he was lying down on his bed and pushed himself to seated so she would have space to sit.
"Is everything okay?" She asked.
"Hey" He said.
Shayne greeted her with an expression on his face that she couldn't place and she raised an eyebrow and leaned down to press a kiss to his lips, not lingering like she usually would because he looked distracted.
"Your text just said you needed to talk" She said when all he did was pull her down next to him on the bed without saying anything else.
"Where's the roomie?" She asked making a face.
It wasn't that she didn't like Shayne's roommate it was just that he weirded her out and she avoided him if she could.
"He has class till 6 ... Olivia" Shayne said.
He started twisting his lips as if unsure how to tell her what was on his mind.
"I've been thinking about our situation a lot and I thought I would be okay with it but it hasn't even been a year yet and I'm not, I'm not happy anymore" He said.
Olivia narrowed her eyes slightly and shook her head disbelievingly, her heart was beating so hard it felt like it would beat right out of her chest, there was no way he could mean what she thought he meant. Her mother had always told her that Shayne would be her undoing and with the way her heart was beating at the grave look on his face and those words she thought her mother was right and also she was going to faint or throw up. He wasn't happy, with her, she just needed to hear him out, maybe she was missing something, this could not be happening.
"Olivia?" He asked when she didn't respond breaking her from her internal turmoil.
He didn't look like he was going to tell her that he wanted to break up, his face was much too serene for that conversation and his hand was still holding hers, so she took a breath and tried to smile at him to push that fear out of her mind.
"Why aren't you happy, Shayne?" She asked in what she hoped sounded normal to him.
"It's just... how much of time do we spend together anymore?" He said turning to her and she frowned.
They didn't spend as much time as she would have wanted together but it's not as if they never saw each other.
"Since the start of term I only got to see you on two days when our schedules lined up but then after campus there's tutorials and study groups and actually studying and trying to spend time with friends and your sorority sisters because they 'demand' it ... this isn't working out anymore, Courtney and Damien were right" He said.
He said the last part with a resigned sigh more to himself than to her and leaned back on the couch heavily, his hand slipping out of hers to rest on his face and Olivia felt the tears start to prickle at her eyes and the familiar lump in her throat telling her that she was moments away from tears.
"They were?" She asked blinking rapidly.
Her gaze fixed on her hands twisting in her lap. She knew that Damien was always weary about their relationship but recently they had become friends and he started trusting her more and Courtney was supportive once she got over her fantasy of being with Shayne, so much so that she would play peacemaker if they were ever at odds with one another.
"Yeah, they bet we couldn't last six months like this, well Damien thought two months" Shayne said with a chuckle and Olivia frowned.
Her pain turned into anger, he was breaking up with her, not only was he breaking up with her he was laughing about the bets their 'friends' made about how long they would last once they left High School. What happened to him saying he loved her? What happened to him wanting to be with her forever? Was it all just a lie? Did he meet someone else in all that time they couldn't be together? Is that why it was so easy for him?
"Well we lasted eight months, nice to know they were so supportive of us," She snapped.
Shayne's face twisted a little in confusion but he carried on without really considering her response.
"I told them how stupid they were being since they were single, so it's not like they could talk," He said with a roll of his eyes and it was Olivia's turn to stare up at him completely confused.
"What I mean is that they would never have lasted as long as we have, especially if they have schedules like ours" He said.
"Shayne, I am having a very hard time following exactly what you are trying to say so I need to you tell me what you need to say and say it quickly" She said harshly.
She stopped him from going off on a nervous tangent and immediately felt some of that anger ebb away when she saw him wince and look apologetic.
"Oh yeah, I haven't actually told you my solution" He said meekly and she frowned.
If he had to drag out this breakup any longer she was going to make a total fool of herself and end up being a crying mess on the floor of his dorm room.
"I know it's not something you wanted to do, but I think it would be good for us" He said.
"And what would that be Shayne" She asked.
Her voice was still hard and his face was still confused. She saw his hand reach out to hers again but he thought better of it and set it back in his lap.
"Because if you say take a break or that we need to see other people, I will kill you and they will never find your body" She said.
"What?" Shayne said.
He actually looked horrified at her suggestion and she frowned and sighed, right now all she could think was that he called her here to break up with her and he was going to make her say the words, why couldn't he just say it and get it over with instead of making this moment more painful than it needed to be.
"Why would I say that?" He asked.
"Shayne honestly, that's a line guys use when breaking up with a girl, Jessica's boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend told her it would be best if they saw other people and Mary's boyfriend told her they needed to take a break five months ago, that's a break up, so if you're going to break up with me just say it" She said.
She hated the way her voice hitched and hoped he would hurry up because the tears were prickling at her eyes now and the lump in her throat was making it hard to speak.
"I can't deal with you beating around the bush" She said.
"Olivia, God no, that is the last thing I want" He said firmly.
This time his hands grabbed hers without hesitation and he twisted himself to sit almost at the edge of his seat so that he could face her fully.
"What made you think that?" He asked.
"You said we need to talk, that is like code for I'm going to break up with you or hey, guess what, I got another girl pregnant" She shrieked.
The tears the was fighting so hard to force back now blurring her vision and Shayne's eyes went wide like he hadn't thought about what she would have assumed from the text he sent.
"It means that whatever you're going to say is bad news, that's why you didn't just say it over text or wait until the next time you saw me" She said.
"Oh, I never thought about it like that, I didn't mean to make you think it's bad news" He said softly, dropping his eyes to their joined hands and frowning deeply.
"Well I hope you don't think what I'm going to say is bad news" He said.
"I ... Shayne what are you talking about?" She asked.
Her fear now settling into irritation as she waited for him to tell her what he wanted to tell her so she could get rid of that nagging feeling that he was going to drop some kind of bomb on her that she was going to hate, even if he looked as horrified as she did about the prospect of them breaking up.
"I want us to move in together" He said looking sheepish like he just realized now how that entire conversation sounded to her.
"You do?" She asked with a slight gasp.
Her eyes darted between his as she searched Shayne for a lie because she didn't expect him to say that.
"Yes, I know that you really wanted us to have our independence from each other while we were here and you want to be in a sorority and live with them but like you said it's been eight months, I don't like this set up, it feels like I never see you, so I thought living together would at least force us to be together after we're done being independent people, instead of having to find times in our schedules" He told her.
He looked so miserable that Olivia wanted to cry for a whole other reason.
"I don't want to have to find time to see you, I want to see you everyday, even if it's just for a moment ... I miss you" Shayne said.
"You are such an idiot" She choked out.
She launched herself up into his arms and held onto him as tightly as he seemed to holding onto her, the tears she was trying to keep in pouring out now.
"But you're my idiot and I love you" She said.
"I love you too" He said his voice muffled by her hair.
"I almost lost it when you said break-up, I can't bear the thought of not being with you, that time we were apart were the worst weeks of my life, I never want to feel that again" He said.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again" She scolded him.
She pushed herself away just enough so she could look into his eyes and let him know how truly terrified she was that she was losing him, her soul mate.
"I promise" He said nodding his head.
She nodded satisfied and then buried her face into his shoulder again, holding onto him as her heart finally slowed down to it's normal pace.
"You still haven't told me if you think this is a good idea or not, I mean it hasn't even been a year yet" Shayne said.
"Yes, I would love for us to live together" Olivia told him.
She brought a hand up to caress his face, bumping her nose against his when she kissed him, properly this time.
"Your shirt is wet and there's just mascara everywhere" She said.
"I don't care" He said shaking his head still pressed against hers and then kissing her again.
"We're almost a month into this semester, did you think about where we're going to move to?" Olivia asked once they broke apart.
She reached out for her handbag and dug around for the make-up wipes that she kept on hand for situations like these.
"Do you happen to know anyone willing to rent out a flat close to campus?" Shayne asked with a chuckle as she wiped her face but only succeeded in smudging the black mascara over her cheeks.
He shook his head and took the wipes from her telling her to close her eyes so he could wipe everything away.
"I only got as far as we need to move out without thinking about the rest, this place will kick me out if you had to stay over and I highly doubt your housemates will like me living there" He said.
"I think I have the perfect place Shayne" Olivia said.
She checked herself in her phone camera when he was done and then kissed the tip of his nose as a thank you.
"There is an apartment very close by, let me make a few calls and we can be out of here within the next week" She said.
"You're serious?" He asked after an amused moment smiling widely at her.
"Yes, being in a sorority is fun and the girls are lovely but I would probably like it a lot more if I didn't already have my soulmate right here" She told him leaning in to kiss him again.
The fear of them breaking up was still fresh in her mind and she needed to keep reminding herself that all was perfectly fine, not that he was complaining about the extra kisses.
"The best thing about having our own place, is that we don't need to worry about roommates returning at inopportune times" She said.
"You're just lucky he didn't walk in five minutes earlier" Shayne said with a laugh.
In the middle of their exams during the last term Shayne and Olivia were de-stressing the best way they knew how when Shayne's roommate walked in, lucky for them, they were done, under the covers and half way to sleep but it was still too close a call and Olivia refused to get over it.
"I can't believe you thought I was breaking up with you" He said.
"Shut up" Olivia grumbled with a pout.
"Love you" Shayne laughed kissing the pout off her face.