Page 28 of Possession

I know it’s not worth interrupting him to explain the chaos of that hallway. I don’t need to tell him that Tim was in agony and that I had Bax call 911 immediately. I believe eventually, Bax could have procured one of the doctors from in at the banquet, but pandemonium would have ensued in that hall. I stand patiently, biting my lip and listening as Justin yells at me until I hear him utter the unthinkable.

“Get your things and get out,” he says at last. “You’re fired.”

“What?” The word falls out of my mouth unintentionally, and I see a vein tick in Justin’s neck.

“I said you’re fucking fired, Olive. Get. Out.”

I’m proud of myself for not crying in front of him, or even when Emily hugs me in the hall as she hands me my bag and a note card with her cell number on it. I don’t start crying and shaking until I get out of the building. Losing my position was not even something I considered when I jumped into action while Tim was hurting. But now, faced with the reality of losing my work study job, I realize that I’m a third of the way into my senior year and have no way to cover costs. My scholarship depends on keeping this job.

Three years and change are about to have been wasted if I can’t figure out what the hell to do.Ok,I tell myself as I cry while I’m walking.We need to figure out a plan.

When I get back to my dorm, I see that Tia and Elyse are in their room with their door open, and I practically fall into their room, relieved to see people who care about me. “Oh,” I sob, as they spring up to hug me.

“Olive!” Tia shouts, rubbing my back. “What happened? Come here!” They pull me in and wrap me up tight and I tell them everything.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Bax

THWACK.I FEEL a sting on my leg as someone flicks me, and I crack open one eye as I’m lying on the table getting my deep tissue massage. “Kev, dude, if we’re going to be friends you have to stop fucking flicking me.” He interrupted me daydreaming about my night with Olive.

He stands next to the table looking exhausted, like he sat up all night.The hospital,I realize. “Oh shit,” I say, sitting up. “Hey, can we end a few minutes early.” I raise my eyebrows to the trainer who smiles and pats my leg.

“Sure,” she says. “Everything looks great, Bax.”

“Thank you,” I say, walking to the hall with Kevan, who proceeds to slump against the wall. “How’s Tim?”

“He’s home,” Kevan says. “Looped up on oxy. His family knows everything, by the way. It went about as well as he feared…”

I run my hands across my chin. “That fucking sucks, dude.” I think about how my family treats me like shit, too, and my mom in fact drove right out of my life forever. “Does he know this is on them, and not about anything he did?” I always try to remember Olive’s words to me about my parents making their own choices, about them not dealing with their own shit. It feels like the right thing to say.

Kevan shakes his head. “I don’t know. But listen, that’s not why I got you out of your massage.” He looks around the hall and lifts up on tip toes to see something in the training room office. “Olive got fired this morning,” he whispers. “Word is she’s pretty upset.”

I run directly to Olive’s dorm. This is such bullshit. I can’t even believe this is happening after the best night of my life. I have to sign in as a damn guest and wait for someone to escort me to Olive’s room since she’s evidently not in there to open the window and she locked it before the banquet last night.

“Are you Baxter?” A girl I’ve seen around Olive’s dorm stands in the hall. “I’m Tia,” she says. She nods her head at the doorman. “He’s with me.” I walk over to her and she takes my arm. “Olive’s pretty torn up,” she says. “But she keeps pausing to apologize about my clothes getting ruined. Seriously, tell her to stop worrying about the clothes, ok?”

I smile. I like this girl already. When we get down the hall I see Olive curled up on a bed in their room across the hall from her own. “Hey,” I say, crouching down beside her. “It’s going to be ok, baby. We’re going to fix this, ok?”

“Oh, Bax,” she sobs. I haven’t seen her this upset in years. Not since her huge fight with her parents when they tried to prevent her from coming to school in the first place.

“Hey,” I tell her, scooping her off the bed and into my lap. I just keep repeating the only truth I know. “We’re going to fix this. You’re going to be ok, because I love you and I’m not going to let anything happen to you, all right?”

I feel her nodding and I let her cry for a bit. Tia and Elyse are staring at us with wide eyes, like this is some breaking news. Whatever. I know they knew I loved Olive this whole time. Her breathing slows after awhile and I look down. “I think she fell asleep,” I whisper to the girls. “I’m just going to take her across the hall.”

They nod and help me get the door open. I carry Olive to the couch and sink into it with her on top of me. I run my fingers through Olive’s hair as she sleeps. I should be exhausted after everything that’s happened, but I feel a sense of calm.

It felt like the biggest risk of my life and simultaneously the easiest thing I ever did when I kissed Olive in that shower, when I told her I love her.

I spent so many years feeling scared of letting her know how I felt. So long worried that making this leap would mean the beginning of the end of having someone I can rely on. I guess it might be too early to know that things are going to be all right, but her getting fired? This is just going to be a blip.

I wish I knew what I could do to fix it, though, because I know Olive being here at college is tied to that job—she got her tuition paid for partly from a federal work study program. I never had to learn anything about that shit because me and all the guys are here on a full ride.

She’s really out, which makes sense because I fucked the hell out of her last night after we had a huge ordeal. I smile, happy I wore her out enough that she can get some sleep.

I lean my head back on the couch and shift Olive so I can reach my phone in my pants pocket. Keeping her tucked in one arm, I scroll through my contacts until I get an idea.

“Finnegan,” I whisper into my the phone when he picks up. “Weren’t you banging some chick who worked in the financial aid office?”

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