Olivia didn't know how she made it home or even how she got ready for bed but at the moment she could care less. As she hugged her favorite pillow and inhaled the soothing aroma, she couldn't stop herself kicking the the air and mattress like a mad woman.
"Eeeeeeee!" She screamed into the pillow. Olivia rolled in her bed as she internally debated with herself whether to call her friends or not. She looked at her phone and checked the time. It was almost midnight, she was torn, she wanted her friends to know the news but she didn't want to wake them up either. On the other hand this all could have been a really vivid dream and she needed to have someone tell her tomorrow it was all real.
"Ahh" she yelled. What was she supposed to do! This was all new to her! Maybe it was better to text Eli, if she was really dreaming then he would never get the text message but wait what if she was sleep texting and sent him something embarrassing and caused a huge misunderstanding. "Why can't this be easy?!" she thought.
There was a knock on the door "Olivia?" Avery called. "Come in." Olivia answered as she straighten herself up. Avery cautiously walked into the room, scanning the surrounding area, keeping an eye open for any sort of movement before he got closer to Olivia. "You ok honey?" he asked slowly. Olivia gave him a curious look and asked "Ya... why?"
"I could hear you rampaging in your room from down the hall..." Olivia flushed from head to toe, completely mortified that her father could hear her. "I'm sorry dad... I will be quiet now and try to go to bed." she said as she gave him a very exaggerated yawn. Avery could tell that she was trying to hide something.
He narrowed his eyes, sat down on the edge of her bed and crossed his arms "So how did the do over birthday celebration go with Eli?" he asked nonchalantly but the aura that he was admitting gave away his true intentions. Olivia could feel the sweat starting to collect on her back and tried to keep a poker face. She knew what her father was trying to do and she was determined to not let him win.
'Ready... Battle Begin!' flashed through her mind. Father vs. Daughter, old vs. youth, the person who didn't crack under the pressure of the other's interrogation would win. Last time Olivia had no energy to go against her father but this time she was determined to not cheat and call on Edmond.
"What's wrong Livy? Did something bad happen and you can't confide in your father?" Avery asked coolly. Allowing the words to snake around Olivia's body, Avery was biding his time wanting to play with his prey before killing it with his fatal blow.
"It was good, had a great time actually. He treated me to a few things considering it was his birthday do-over but then again he has always been the gentleman type" She answered straight faced, as she tried to build up tensing in the air "What I want to know is why did you need the twins to go with me so badly... don't tell me you needed some 'quality' alone time with Ms. Masama or did you need to 'talk' to her urgently about a 'secretive' matter." Avery could feel the slap Olivia had just given him but didn't back down.
"I needed to know Agni's true feelings and we didn't need a show. It's called being a gentleman but then again by what you had just told me about Eli... I would believe that he has given you the same type of respect even though your just 'friends'." His grip was getting tighter, trying to squeeze what ever truth he could get out of her. Olivia started to sweat around her temples but was determined to keep her poker face.
"You make a fair point father, Eli is a fine example of gentleman, 'friend' or not but what I would like to know is how would a gentleman take responsibility for mistake that was not his own, just to appease a woman." This time it was a punch into Avery's gut, he felt the wind knock right out of him and tried to regain his steady breathing. Olivia was really giving him a run for his money this time.
He needed to end this battle quickly or else he would lose this round. Avery flashed her a sinister smile while he looked down on her, shadows covered half his face as the temperature around them dropped well below zero. Olivia felt a chill run down her whole body, "This is it" she thought, she knew her father was ready to strike his final blow.
"When a person is in love they will do anything to make the other's pain go away. It's part of being in a relationship Livy and 'one day' you will come to experience the same thing. On another note though... my little Livy, when you walked through that door tonight did you think I missed your grand entrance? You were dazed, cheeks were blushed, lips slightly swollen and a your smile radiated every corner of the room, to put it simply it was blinding..." He leaned closer towards her face making sure that to lock her eyes with his "Would you mind explaining what kind of occurrence could have made you so l-o-v-e-ly?"
Avery won, the snake ripped off her mask and showed her true feelings. Her faced turned crimson while her lips opened and closed like a fish in water. Avery gave a dark laugh "You need to work on that poker face sweetie or people will grab onto your weaknesses ."
Olivia snapped out of her stunned state, determined to make a rebound "Well father, even though you won this round I did make a chink in your armor tonight." Olivia said coldly. Avery rubbed the top her head affectionately with his big hand "Ya you did sweetie... ya you did...'
"Dad?" Olivia said as she peeked out from beneath his hand "Yes my princess." he cooed. "Eli is my boyfriend now." She said proudly with a wide grin across her face. Avery paled at her words, his hand dropped to his side like a ten pound bag of potatoes and zombie walked out of the room. He was unable to say a single thing, Olivia gave a small laugh as she watched her dad close the door behind him "Looks like I won."
.....
The last two weeks of July flew by, there where dates with her friends, boyfriend and family by the end of it. Olivia was delighted to find out that no she wasn't dreaming that her and Eli were now dating as they tried to see, talk and text each other as much as possible. However Olivia never let go of her priority mission and the counted down to the final days had started. "One week" she thought. There was only one week left till the debutante.