Pieces of Olivia by Unknown Read Free Book Online

Kara’s and my room Saturday morning. My mind replayed his bare chest, the way his pajama pants hung low on his hips. Suddenly, the room felt hot. “So, I’m guessing Ethan doesn’t have one?”
    She sighed. “He
didn’t
when we got together. He does now. He got it on Saturday, just after he moved into his dorm. I haven’t seen it yet. God, I hope it’s not huge and horrible.”
    I fought back a grin and changed the subject back to Preston. I could tell Ethan’s new tattoo wasn’t something she wanted to talk about. “Okay, so Preston has a tattoo and a truck. What about the baby of the family thing? What does that mean?”
    “He’s the baby of his family. He has an older brother. I can’t stand that attitude guys get when they’re the babies of their families. Their mothers end up doing everything for them, and we girlfriends suffer the results. Nah-ah. Not this girl. Only middle children or the eldest for me.” I grinned. I guessed that was mark two for me. Just like Preston, I was the baby of my family. I had two older sisters. I started to tell Kara that, when she checked her watch and nearly screamed. “Crap, I’m running late.” She took a final bite of her sandwich, downed a gulp of her Coke, and grabbed her bag. “See you later?”
    “Yeah, sure.” I waved to her, before finishing up and diving back into the rest of my day. Two more classes to go. Hopefully I could make it through my last two without offending anyone or making a complete idiot of myself.
    My phone buzzed as I was leaving the dining hall, and I glanced down to see
Mom
flashing across the screen. My thumb went first to
Answer
and then to
Ignore
. I didn’t want to talk to her right now. She would want to talk about my therapy session this morning and then ask me if I was ready to transfer to Columbia. In my mom’s mind, my coming to Charleston was just a vacation, a little getaway for a few weeks, and then I would get back on track. She didn’t realize, or didn’t care, that (a) I chose to come to Charleston, and that (b) you couldn’t exactly transfer in the middle of a semester. I was here now, like it or not.
    I hesitated over
Answer
and accidentally clicked it. Damn hesitation!
    “Olive?” Mom said.
    I lifted the phone to my ear, cursing my stupid thumb. “Hey, Mom,” I said, a little too enthusiastically, but it was that or get a thousand questions I didn’t have time or the energy to answer.
    “Hi, sweetie. I just wanted to check in with you. How is your first day going?”
    I waited for the real question she had, but it never came. “Good. I’ve only had two classes. I’m heading to my third now.”
    “That’s great. Are you enjoying it so far?”
    What? Had an alien inhabited my mom’s body? “Uh, yeah. It’s great.” Pause.
    Pause.
    Pause.
    “So, how was therapy this morning?”
    And there it was. The real reason for the call. At least she had the decency to go through the niceties. “It was fine, Mom. Look, I’m running late for class. Can we talk about this later?”
    “Sure. Yes, of course. I’m glad it’s good and that you’re enjoying your day. I—”
    “Mom, I really have to go.”
    I could almost feel the hurt coming through the phone. I hated this. I hated making her feel bad. I wished she would just focus on Cameron or Lily, my older sisters, and leave me alone. I would be fine. I just needed everyone to leave me alone.
    “Sure, honey. Have a nice day. I love you.”
    “Love you, too, Mom.”
    I ended the call and stuck my cell back in my bag, a giant helping of guilt now packed on my shoulders.

Chapter Eight
    I stepped into class and slammed down my bag beside the desk closest to the door, so distracted that I didn’t realize I was five minutes late—or that the professor had stopped talking. The entire class had turned to stare at me.
    “Thanks for gracing us with your presence . . .” She pulled a clipboard from the desk she was leaning against and traced a finger down the