Page 52 of To Love Jason Thorn

Olive: I’m about to scream for Mercy for thesecond time tonight.

Me: What?!

Olive: LOL! Not that kind of screaming. Unfortunately,it’s only karaoke night and Lucy wants me to celebrate the movie deal bysinging my heart out. We’re doing Charlie Puth’s ‘Marvin Gaye’ in ten minutes,for the second time… I believe it’ll happen a few more times before the nightends.

I was back at home, but the longer I triedto relax and read the mostly complete script Bryan had given me, the more I wasstarting to feel like a trapped animal in my own damn home—which soon enough wouldn’teven be my own home. I would be sharing it with an unknown roommate.

Trying to forget about my own life, I’d decidedto text Olive to see if she was free to talk about the script. After all, nobodyknew Isaac better than her, and even though I’d read the book thoroughly,twice, it would help if I could get deeper into Isaac’s head. Maybe ask whatshe was thinking when she was writing from his point of view. She could give medetails about his past, things that only she could know.

As for Isaac’s unfiltered sex scenes in thebook…I didn’t think I was ready to go there with Olive. After reading the book,I understood why Olive didn’t want Dylan or her dad to read it. Both of themwould either have a heart attack, or simply have trouble looking into her eyesagain, which would be a great tragedy. Her eyes…they were one of a kind, alluringand intriguing in a way that made you want to get closer to her just so youcould study and memorize the depth of the colors, find those hazel speckshiding in the bright green and watch how they sparkled when she smiled at you.

The night she came to my house to meet withTom, I found out that I had no trouble at all looking at any part of her body,including her eyes, which probably made me a complete bastard.

Reading her last text again, I realizedwhat I was feeling was disappointment. I’d been eager to talk to her, to pickher brain, to see her again. Wasn’t that why I had invited her to sit in on thescreen testing? Hadn’t I felt happy when I’d seen her standing in front of thebuilding, smiling at me as I jogged to her side? And in that brief moment,hadn’t I completely forgotten about Dylan being my friend, and Olive being hislittle sister?

Not liking where my thoughts were heading,I tossed the script aside and shook my head. Maybe not having sex was gettingto me. My phone pinged with a new text from Olive.

Olive: What are you up to?

I smiled and walked outside as I texted herback.

Me: Enjoying my freedom while I can.

Olive: What does that mean?

Me: Nothing important. I have part of thescript so I was actually thinking of calling you to see if you were free todiscuss Isaac. Pick your brain a little.

Olive: I’ve been with Isaac for almost threeyears. He’s been my day and night. He is so broken, but still perfect just theway he is. Let’s talk about him. Let’s talk about him for hours.

Me: Are we still talking about the sameIsaac?

Olive: There can only be one Isaac in myheart. Though he gave his heart to Evie, he’ll forever be in mine.

Me: I’m thinking you’re a little on thedrunk side, little one.

Olive: It’s Long Island Iced Tea night!!!And I don’t want to be the little one any more, Jason :( I want to be bigOlive. I’ve grown up, I’m not clingy or sticky anymore.

Not having a clue what she was talkingabout, I hesitated for a short moment before calling Alvin.

“Hi Alvin.”

“Hey, boss. What’s up?” There was arustling sound in the background.

“Sorry man. Bad timing?”

“It’s fine. Did you need something?”

“Yeah. I need you to find me a…a collegebar, probably. They are having a karaoke night.”

I could hear his laptop come to life.“O-kay. Is there any way we can narrow that down? Otherwise the list will belonger than you’d want.”

“It should be somewhere near USC. I’ll textyou her address so you can check the bars around the apartment, too.”

“And this ‘her’ we’re talking about isOlive Taylor?”

“Yes,” I replied distractedly as I walkedback into the house. If I was going out, I would need to change.

“You’re not considering going out to findher in a bar, are you?”

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