That next morning, Oliver woke up pretty early, as he only slept about three hours. The couch definitely wasn't ergonomic and he had a good idea why that married couple tried to throw it out in the first place. He laid in bed for probably an hour or so before he got up. But after a quick breakfast of mini wheat's and some tea, he went to check his email. And... well...
"Motherfucker! Goddamn it!"
Yeah.
Oliver had checked his email, hoping to hear back from some of the people he had lined up to help him in some fashion. And he got some news from Mark that the voice actor they had to play the main character has bailed on the project. And they can't do anything about it, as the contract they had him sign stated that even if he didn't work, the money they paid him upfront is still legally his. In other words, their douchey employee ripped them off. He fucking hated lying, cheating bastards like that.
Oliver was running his hands through his hair, "Fuck him, man. That was four hundred and fifty dollars out of my own goddamn wallet right there. If I ever see that fucker around this campus I swear to God-"
"Uh. Hey?"
Oliver turned his head back to look at April who was standing in the doorway. And his heart rate picked up for a few moments. Her hair was ruffled around, her low-collared t-shirt revealing quite a bit of cleavage, and her pajama pants clung to her skin. With her little smirk, he thought she looked so tired and sexy without even really trying to. She definitely didn't make this short stay at his house easy on him, he could at least say that much. So he spun around and sat forward.
"Hey."
April leaned against the doorframe and cocked one of her eyebrows, "So... I take it something's got under your skin."
Oliver used his head to gesture to his computer, "Work."
"School stuff, huh?" As Oliver got up, April began walking to the living room as he followed close behind.
"Nah. Game stuff," He said as he went into the kitchen.
"Oh, I didn't know you still did that kind of stuff. Sort of thought you stopped after highschool or something," April sat down on one of the chairs at the kitchen counter.
"Why? Because it's childish?" Before April could retort, he chuckled, "It's fine. No, no I didn't stop. This is something I sort of live for, you know. This is most of what I do every single day."
"Oh. So you're majoring in game design?"
Oliver gave her a short nod then followed with, "So, uh, do you want some breakfast? I could make some eggs."
"That'd be nice. You don't have to though."
He didn't even respond, he just grabbed the eggs out of the fridge along with some PAM and a frying pan to get started. April observed him closely for a little bit, trying to figure out what exactly was different about him, because there sure as hell was something. But she couldn't put her finger on it.
"So... do you want to talk now?" April asked.
"No, let's wait until after you've eaten. I assume you've got plenty to talk about, huh?" Oliver broke open the eggs over the heated pan and watched it sizzle for a moment. He took a deep breath in; the nice warm air of his apartment calmed him down, as he kept tensing up every time he looked her way.
"Okay."
April sat in silence and watched him cook for her. She kept trying to pinpoint this 'something' about him. He definitely did look older, his face was growing a beard at this point and she didn't remember him ever having one. He looked more tired, but she could imagine that college life plus working with games must have brought him down some. But it wasn't any of that, exactly. Maybe he seemed a lot less volatile. She didn't know at this point.
"I don't know what to talk about," She admitted.
"Me neither," Oliver watched the water droplets form upon the glass cover over the pan.
"How are you, I guess? As a person?" April tapped her fingers on the counter.
But Oliver didn't answer. To be honest, he didn't really know the answer to that question. He didn't know what to tell her, he just was.
"Eggs are ready," He murmured, putting the eggs onto a white plate and, along with a glass of juice, handed her the food he made for her, "Let's go sit on the couch."
"Thank you."
Oliver just let her eat for a little bit and tried to think about how to start this conversation. He really was never good with talking to women, especially about sentimental shit. Well, assumedly. He knows she got kicked out of her apartment, so it's gotta be over something bad. You don't just walk over to your roommate one day, shake her hand, and tell her to get the fuck out and everything's peachy. And why is she standing for it? Like, doesn't she have a legal right to her place as well?
He didn't notice as he was deep in thought, but she had already finished her eggs by the time he had finished his thought. But when he did come to, he noticed her fidgeting with her hands, and cleared his throat.
"So. Um. What happened?"
April sat there for a few seconds and then took a deep breath, "Well... as I said it's a long story."
"And as I said, I got time."
April smiled weakly, "Yeah. You did. Okay well... phew..."
Oliver watched on as she turned herself toward him, "When you left... I didn't really have anyone to be with. I was very lonely... I... so I met this guy. His name's Lee Robertson. He was really nice to me, cause I'd always come by the music store he worked at."
"The one on 11th?" Oliver interrupted.
"Yeah, that one. I came by a lot, so much so that it became obvious that I just wanted to see him. And he was pretty into me as well. So eventually he pulled out these tickets to a concert in town and... well, obviously you can guess we started going out."
Oliver felt a sharp pain in his chest at that. He tried not to react at all and he was sure he did a good job of playing it off, nodding slowly at what she said. He didn't want to hear about this kind of stuff. It hurt him to know that April was happy with someone else. That someone else got to hold her at night, caress, and touch her in ways he had only dreamed of doing. He remembered feeling like this all the time in highschool whenever he heard that April was going out with this guy named Jack, who frequently picked on him and tried to pick fights. And he knew what the pain was. It's simple. He was just being jealous.
"And uh... he was great. Jack never really gave a shit, so, it was nice that someone checked on me regularly, who did things because he liked me, and who genuinely just cared about me. There are not a lot of people who have been sincere with me like that before. I was head-over-heels for him, you know?"
April began to play with her pajama pants with one hand as she continued, "Lee was a musician. He was super talented as well. He knew how to play the piano, the electric guitar, and to sing. He would write songs for me whenever something big happened or whenever he felt like it. At least once a week, I got a mini-concert where he played a song or two that he was working on for me."
Oliver nearly frowned, but stopped himself. When did this story take a turn for a worse? Cause it has to, right? Oliver's seen this story enough times from his friends before: they meet someone, that someone is awesome, that someone gets comfortable with them, that someone stops trying, and then that someone becomes emotionally abusive. It seems to be a formula with most relationships nowadays. So at this point he was bracing himself to watch her cry, as he had done too many times, and to comfort her through this.
"I ended up getting into the same college as you when I graduated. Lee and I were pretty serious at that point, so he decided he'd come with me, as there was an opening at a local music store around here. You know it? It's called 'The Bomb'," Oliver nodded and she went on, "Yeah. So we were pretty excited. But my family wasn't. They thought I was going too fast with this guy I met a year ago. I was pretty angry then. Like, how dare they say that, right? They weren't around for pretty much all of my teenage life in highschool, so where do they get off trying to tell me what I should do in my adult life, you know?"
Oliver stayed silent. He honestly didn't know how to respond to that. The only time he's ever had a real argument with his mom was over his philosophy on fighting, which was pretty simple - "If those jackasses mess with me, I'm going to hit them in the mouth." Obviously, he was messed with quite often, so his mother despised the idea that he was going to come home every day with a new wound or scar to show off. But regardless, when he told his family he was going to college to become a game designer, they were all in support for him. Hell, his brother already worked in the business as a voice actor, so it ran in the family.
"So I uh... I told them to fuck off and I ran away with Lee to college," April admitted, pinching the loose cloth at her knees.
"Wh-what?" Oliver raised an eyebrow.
"It wasn't really like... running away, I guess. I was just going to college, I would've done that regardless if he came with me or not. But he did. I haven't really... spoken to them since then. Daddy on occasion but like, yeah."
"Jesus, April," Oliver rubbed his forehead, "You could've told me about this, you know? And then I could've-"
"Could've what, Oliver?" He stopped talking immediately as the slight, but sudden raise in her voice, "Could've fixed what had been broken for years? I don't think so. You're not Superman. And how could I have told you, Ollie? You cut yourself off from everyone when you left town. I texted you so, so many times to try and get ahold of you after that and you just didn't respond. By the time I got here and I saw you 'round campus, what difference would it have made for me to come talk to you? You would've just... I don't know what you would have done. Probably nothing."
