Waking Olivia (The Langstrom Brothers #1)

by Elizabeth O'Roark

Olivia Finnegan is so pretty that you feel compelled to look at her even when you don’t want to. You want to memorize the delicate structure of her face, her full rosebud mouth. She’s so pretty that pretty isn’t even the word for it. It’s something that makes me feel like I can’t breathe on the rare occasions I see her smile.

"I'm attractive, huh?" He walks away. "Don't worry, your personality ruins it. Let's go. You're gonna make us both late."

theyre cute

I see him standing by the bleachers, watching, and I don't look around me. I don't even look at the finish line. I pass it, and I am first, and the whole time he is the only thing I see.

swallow. "Your mom is going to think I'm some kind of freak." "And she'd be wrong to think that because ...?" he asks with a grin.

My shoulders sag. It’s hard to stay pissed off when he says it like that. “You could at least suggest that she shut the fuck up occasionally.”

“You hate horseback riding,” he says. Brendan grins. “Under the right circumstances I don’t.”

"Keep giving me something to prove, Finn,” he says with his wide grin. “It's just going to make it that much better when you're screaming my name." "Only thing I'd be screaming for with you is a magnifying glass," I reply.

And then I hear Betsy. Fucking Betsy, being intentionally loud, making sure I hear. "Why do your parents never come, Finn? I guess they must like you about as much as everyone else does." "I'm surprised your parents bother," I retort. "Seeing as how you've never placed."

“I would do anything to fix this for you,” he says quietly, “and it kills me that I can’t. Tell me what to do.” It takes me a minute to reply. “You already make everything better,” I tell him. “And you’re the only one who ever has.”

“That’s just the problem, Will. You can get past it. I can’t. If you wanted me enough, you could have had me. Or you could have asked me to wait until I graduated. But you didn’t, and you won’t, and do you know how hard it is to have to look at you?” My voice grows raspy and I pause because I refuse to cry over him again. “To look at you and know that you made your choice and you didn’t choose me?” He

“I’ve been far from honorable for a long time,” I tell her. “And I’m not being honorable now either. I’m here because I love you. Because I’m so in love with you, I can’t see straight.”

“There is one way tonight will be like the first time you stayed,” I warn her, putting the key in the lock. “Oh, what’s that?” I set the bags inside and pull her in behind me without bothering to turn on the lights. “You’re not seeing anything but my bed until daylight.”

“You’re not actually saying you want me to talk about, like, physical stuff, right?” I ask. She looks at me blankly. “Of course I am. You think I want to know what he eats for dinner?

LMAO PLS

“Then you should probably try it while you have the chance, Olivia,” he says softly, his mouth pressed to my ear, “because I’m going to be the first and the last.” I want to not smile at that but I can’t help myself. “The last, huh? Pretty sure of yourself.” He rolls us over until I’m on my back and looms over me, clearly no longer sleepy. “Yes,” he says. “I’ve never been more sure about anything.”

He smiles. A sweet, sheepish smile that makes my heart flip over in my chest. “Because I’m wooing you.” “I’m already wooed,” I say. “Take off those jeans and I’ll show you just how wooed I am.”

“Do you trust me?” he asks. His face is earnest as he waits for my reply. It’s a question I don’t even need to contemplate. I trust him more than anyone alive. More than I trust myself. “Yes.”

im so lonely

There is something desperate in his voice, something I feel too. He’s as scared to lose me as I am to lose him. And gratitude blooms in my chest, because I’m not sure anyone ever felt like this about me until now. For the first time in my life, I feel safe.

And when Will turns to me, at Peter and Dorothy’s wedding, and tells me he wishes it was us up there at the altar, I tell him I wish it were too.

And I love the boy behind me, the one who’s closing in fast. I love him so much that I slow my pace, realizing that, for the first time in my life, I want to be caught.