Fix You: Bash and Olivia by Christine Bell Read Free Book Online Page A

prize, bro."
    That had been the McDaniels boys’ mantra ever since we'd been on our own and had one another to count on and no one else.
    And tonight was the first time I questioned for even a second what the prize was.

Chapter Five
    Olivia
    The next morning came way too early, but considering I’d slept for maybe two hours, that was no surprise. Not that I had to get out of bed. There was literally nothing for me to do except think. Not ideal, since that’s what had kept me up until the sun had starting peeking through my window.
    I lay in bed for another hour before giving up. There was no more sleep to be had for me whether I stayed in bed or not. I was too on edge. I didn’t have to face Andy for another five days, which was a relief, but my brain was still in overdrive. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I let out a long yawn. My phone rang before I’d even had the chance to rub the sleep from my eyes, and my stomach did a loop-the-loop.
    Bash?
    “Hello?” I sounded out of breath, but it couldn’t be helped.
    “Hey, kitten.”
    My pulse leveled off as I recognized my mom’s voice. Okay. So not Bash. No biggie. I’d said I would call him to talk about lessons before I started bawling and hung up the phone like an idiot. The odds of him contacting me for any reason were slim to none. All that remained to be seen was if I had the sack to contact him .
    Again.
    My ears burned at the memory of the night before and my humiliating string of text messages, but I managed to turn my attention back to the conversation with my mother. I should’ve glanced at the caller ID before I picked up. Now I had to either lie about being in Cabo to buy some more time, or tell her the truth.
    “Hi, Mom.”
    She let out a long sigh. “You didn’t go, did you?”
    Leave it to my mother to smell a rat when I’d barely said two words to her. Either she was the next Sherlock Holmes or I was so bad at keeping a secret that she was able to sniff me out from a two-word sentence.
    “No. But it’s okay. I have a huge paper due next week for my psych class, and I can really use the solitude.”
    She didn’t buy it.
    “Baby, you didn’t have to do that. A couple thousand dollars one way or another isn’t going to change anything. You should’ve gone with your friends.”
    I wasn’t even sure I had any friends. Not here in Boston, at any rate. I thought of my bestie from high school, Cara, and made a vow to call her and make plans for over the summer. I missed her and although we e-mailed from time to time, she went to school on the West Coast. The distance made it hard sometimes.
    “Really, Mom. I don’t want you guys worrying about anything. I’m doing great. I didn’t even want to go that bad. Andy and I have been arguing a lot lately anyway, so it’s probably for the best.”
    It was a risky move. I didn’t want her to feel responsible for my missing the trip, but my parents were close with Andy’s family, and bringing up our troubles in order to support my decision to stay home could do more harm than help. Regardless, it was better to start easing her in now and prepping her for the breakup than to drop it on her cold turkey. There was no need to cause trouble by getting into the details. They had enough on their plates. Better to let them think we’d grown apart.
    I made a mental note to tell that to Andy as well. If he agreed to talk to someone about his issues, and help Bash get his job back, I’d keep the rest to myself. Maybe that would placate him enough to make our breakup an amicable one.
    My mother’s gasp of dismay made me second-guess the decision to mention him at all. “Oh, Olivia, don’t tell me that. You guys are perfect together. Promise me you’ll try to work through this. Becketts never quit.”
    The last was said with a pride that rang false. Whatever front she was trying to put on, my mother wasn’t the best of liars either, and I could tell she was ready to quit herself. Quit what, I