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December 16 - December 17, 2023
"Olivia Finnegan is the last person on earth who could be an unnecessary temptation.”
it. It’s something that makes me feel like I can’t breathe on the rare occasions I see her smile. It’s that last part that worries me.
"You're attractive. That's all I was saying."
"I'm attractive, huh?"
"Don't worry, your personality ruins it."
“So what's your grand plan, Will?" she scoffs. "You gonna tie me to the bed? Because I'll warn you in advance I really, really like that."
“That’s my girl,” he says proudly, and for a moment I sway in the air, stunned by how happy that statement makes me though I’ve got no idea why.
“I’ve been vandalized,” I say when he picks up. “Someone broke into my apartment and furnished it.” “That’s an outrage,” he replies. “There are some sick people in the world.”
The entire fucking world is full of guys who can take her away from me, and one day one of them will.
I wanted to tell her that I want all the same things, and want them only with her. I want a thousand boring nights in, sitting on a ratty sofa listening to her malign newscasters and make fun of their guests. That I want to spend my entire life keeping her safe, even if it means sleeping on the couch outside her room to do it. That I’ve never wanted anything in my entire life the way I want her, and the idea of giving her up makes giving up climbing pale by contrast.
“We all want you there. You filled a hole we didn’t even know we had and now you’re gone and it’s all any of us can see.”
I lower my head, thinking about the climbs I’ll never climb and the girl I’ll never have, and worry I’m going to explode in a fit of rage, right here, at the unfairness of it all.
“Will,” she says, “you’re so in love with that girl you can’t see straight. Something has to change or this is going to turn ugly fast.”
By Saturday night, the night of the banquet, I think I’d cut off a limb just to lay eyes on her again. I crave her like a drug. It won’t solve anything and I don’t care. I just want to see her.
She is more real to me than anything in this room or out of it, the only thing I can see.
The best sex I’ve ever had and the biggest mistake I’ve ever made just occurred simultaneously.
“And it made me realize a lot of things. Like you know how I was so sure I didn’t want to get married soon?” “Yes,” she snaps. Olivia is walking toward me now with a little sway to her hips and a knowing smile. I want to see that smile every day for the rest of my life. “I was wrong,” I reply, and I hang up the phone.
