Atria (Chapter 8)

Chris walked towards her, with a cheeky grin on his face. “Hey baby,” he whispered, pulling her towards him and into a tight embrace. “How have you been, I missed you” he finished, looking down at her. “I’m ok I guess” said Olivia, she wasn’t about to disclose anything otherwise while her father was there, he liked Chris, he thought that he was a good catholic role model for his daughter and the he might me the one to succeed in taming her. Chris let go of Olivia and she stepped back, he turned to her father and shook his hand vigorously. “I suppose you are ready to get out of here” Chris said, “How long have you been waiting?” “Not long” Olivia replied quietly. She turned quickly, “oh look, these must be your bags, lets get going” she said in a voice so matter of fact that one might have thought she was talking to a five year old.
“Is everything ok baby?” Chris asked under his breath. “Fine thanks” Olivia replied loudly, “I just want to get going” Chris looked confused, but against his will, turned, waited for his bags to come through, picked them up, and lead the way out of the airport without another word. All the while, Olivia’s father tried to make mindless conversation and rambled on as if he was asking Chris if he enjoyed his holiday.
Half an hour later, they pulled up at Olivia’s apartment and Olivia and Chris got out. Chris waved politely to Olivia’s father and Olivia planted a kiss on his cheek, before hauling all of Chris’s bags out of the boot and walking, hand in hand, into the house as if nothing was wrong. When they got inside, Chris dropped his pack and webbing and such onto the lounge room floor and Olivia walked around the house, turning lights on and opening doors. After hesitating as much as she could without seeming obvious, she returned to the lounge room. “Natasha isn’t here” she said coldly “She must have gone out” “Ok” Chris replied, sitting down on the couch. Olivia started pacing again, thinking, until Chris interrupted her thoughts. “I want to know what is going on” he demanded, “We are acting like complete strangers, not like people who have been sleeping together for a year!” This was all it took to release all of Olivia’s emotions that she had felt since she first saw Chris at the airport. “THAT IS ALL THIS IS ABOUT FOR YOU ISN’T IT” she raved, “YOU DON’T CARE IF I AM HAPPY OR COMFORTABLE OR EVEN IF I LOVE YOU! YOU ARE JUST WORRIED THAT YOU MIGHT NOT GET LAID TONIGHT AND THAT WOULD BE A TRAGEDY, WOULDN’T IT!” She finished, panting slightly. Chris stared at her in shock and put his hand over his mouth. “Livvy! Where did that come from?” he said softly, “You do know that isn’t true don’t you” he finished, his eyes glassy with tears.
“I don’t know what I know anymore Chris” yelled Olivia, starting to sob. “A-all I-I k-know-w i-is that-t I-I d-don’t l-love y-you any-m-more.” Chris looked as if he had been punched in the face. He stood up, picked up his things off the floor, turned and walked out of the front door without a second of hesitation. “CHRIS STOP!” Olivia screamed, “WE CAN WORK THIS OUT!” Chris stopped and turned around, and for a moment, Olivia thought that he was going to come inside. “No Livvy” he said quietly, tears streaming down his face “You said what you wanted to say, I am going to visit my dad now” he finished. Olivia stood at the doorway crying until Chris was completely out of sight. She stepped back inside and slammed the door behind her, collapsing on the floor of the lounge room. She lay there and sobbed for what seemed like hours, she felt like an idiot, but in a way, she knew that she had done the right thing, the chemistry had gone, anyway, her father didn’t realize the true person that Chris was. Not that he was a bad person, but he certainly wasn’t the catholic role model that Olivia’s parents thought he was. Olivia was almost asleep when she heard the front door creak open. For a second, she thought that Chris had come back and she became suddenly alert, ready to spin around and give him another mouthful. Then she heard a giggle. The light flicked on and someone screamed. Olivia sat bolt upright and turned to look at the front door. Natasha was standing there with a girl that Olivia had never met before. “Thank God!” cried Natasha “** Livvy, what were you doing, I thought you were dead for a second there” Natasha released the hand of the girl beside her and ran her hands through her hair. She really had become a lot prettier since graduation. She was now as thin as Olivia, her skin had cleared up and she had beautiful long red hair that sometimes reminded Olivia of her mothers. The girl beside her was pretty as well, she had spiky blond hair and blue eyes, she was about Olivia’s height and was wearing a vintage tartan skirt and a chocolate brown blazer. Olivia squinted, the light was incredibly bright after being in the dark for that long. Once her eyes adjusted she looked at Natasha expectantly. Natasha remained silent. “Well?” Olivia started, “Are you going to introduce your friend?” 1