Page 181 of The Young & the Sinner

Olivia

I hadn’t seenMason in more than five weeks. It was just too painful to be anywhere near him.

But I knew Max had been to see Mason. I knew they were talking again. I supposed it was easier for Max to forgive his brother than for me to forgive my boyfriend.

Christmas and New Year’s passed by in a blur. I spent a part of it with Max, but left early because, as mad as I was with Mason, I didn’t want him to spend the holidays alone, which was what Max told me he was planning on doing, despite the fact that their parents had invited us all to their estate for a family dinner.

Mason didn’t go, and I didn’t know what excuse Max gave his mom for why we weren’t attending, but that was that. I was sure Max went over to Mason’s for the rest of the holiday, though I didn’t stick around to confirm it.

It was in the last week of December that I officially moved out of Max’s house, out of the neighborhood I had come to love and think of my own, and into the residential neighborhood of Hyde Park with other college students.

There were about twenty other students all attending the University of Chicago in my apartment building and, I supposed, knowing we were all in the same place in life made living on my own for the first time not feel so isolating.

Lizzie was a lot closer to me than before, just a three-minute walk from my apartment to the small bungalow she now shared with Sam. Sam’s dad had gotten it for them a week before school ended last semester. It made commuting to school easier for both of them, and it provided more than enough room for when the baby came.

So that was a plus.

My first night at the new place, I interrupted their dinner, and Lizzie and I spent the evening watching a scary movie, like we used to do when we were kids.

I ended up confessing the entirety of my relationship with Mason to her halfway through the movie and cried well after it ended.

That was the last time I uttered his name for the rest of break.

Before I knew it, the first day of my second semester was here. Unlike any other first day of school, Max didn’t drive me, and he wasn’t around to take my picture.

I must really be growing up… and the thought just about depressed the hell out of me.

Only one thing was looking up: I had finally decided on a major. I was going to study Directing and Theatrical Production. It was a mixture of the theater world and the business world. I got to study what I loved and still be practical about it. If anything, the business aspect of it would hopefully make me appealing to future potential employers once I graduated.

I was pretty happy with my decision, and when I told Max, he had smiled wide and told me he was proud of me. It should have made me feel over the moon, only all I could think about was how I couldn’t share the news with Mason.

For the rest of that first day, I went through the motion of going to class and listening to the professors discuss what was on the syllabus. I met with Lizzie. She was wearing a loose-fitting sweater that hid her pregnancy well.

But to me, she was glowing.

I placed a kiss on her head when I neared, taking a seat across from her. “Hey. How are you feeling?”

She rolled her eyes. “You know, you’re just as bad as Sam?”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Being pregnant doesn’t make me an invalid. You can both relax.”

I didn’t realize my worry about her was so obvious. “Right. I know that.” She raised one eyebrow, as if to say she didn’t believe me. I grinned. “Okay, so you’re pregnant. Not a big deal. You’re only carrying a foreign life force in your body, whose main goal is to suck all of the nutrients from your body so that it can grow and thrive.”

She frowned, and I know she couldn’t decide whether or not to laugh or be offended. I bit my bottom lip to keep from laughing, only to lose it when Lizzie did.

She threw a piece of napkin at my face, and it bounced off my cheek and onto the floor. “Hey, don’t throw your disgusting used napkin at me.”

“That’s what you get for suggesting my baby is some sort of alien. What kind of godmother are you?”

“The kind that will love this baby so much, alien or not.”

She leaned back against her seat and patted her stomach, a content smile on her face.

“Seriously. How are you feeling Lizzie?”

“Happy. I know I didn’t plan on it, but I really love my baby. I can’t wait for him or her to be born.”

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