Olivia
As Blake promised this afternoon, he called me again at night. Asking me how my first day was. What I was doing. Just a couple of simple questions and he said that he was doing alright in the office too. Even he said John asked me to buy some souvenirs but he shut him off and told him that he gave me money not for him but myself. It made me think that I should buy something for Blake and John as well. The pouch that I gave to Blake before; the one I got from the chemical challenge from Josh’s class. Blake loved it and he always brought it to the office which made me so happy.
“So, what are you going to do tonight?”
“Well, no plan at all, and maybe I should rest and ready for tomorrow.”
“What’s your plan tomorrow?”
“Brad invited us to visit the Santa Monica Pier. That’s the place where he works as surfer instructor on the beach,” I told him and he went silent for a few seconds. Did I say something wrong?
“…Be careful there,” he said.
“Um, why?”
“Well, sometimes surfers can be rather, ah, flirty.” I smiled at his words. This was one of Blake’s traits that would never change. Over-protective.
“I’ll be fine.” And he went to silence again. “Blake? Are you still there?”
“I’m here. It’s just…nothing.”
“What? Tell me.”
Blake sighed before he continued. “Olive, do you still remember what happened to you when you were still in sixth grade?” My heart jumped when he reminded me of that. The memory that I didn’t want to remember. The disaster. The humiliation.
“You might not tell me but eventually I know everything. Good thing I didn’t face the girls directly or I might snap. I don’t want that to happen to you again.”
“It was the girls who bullied me, Blake,” I tried to calm him down.
“It doesn’t stop me to worry about you. Just…please, don’t make me worry too much or I might…lose control.”
“What do you mean losing control?”
“I have a bad temper, Olivia. I don’t want to lose control over myself and do something that I might regret. Just like what I did to you at our first fight. Even now, I still regret that. I feel…disgusted. How could a father kiss his own daughter? Even if he’s just pissed off at her.”
My face slowly warmed.
I almost forgot about it and Blake just reminded me again.
“You shouldn’t feel disgusted about it. I was shocked, obviously. I felt like…you have become a different person but I don’t want to remember it anymore. Please, can we talk about something else?”
“You’re right. This wasn’t my intention of calling you.”
“So, you didn’t call me just to check on me?”
“That was too but I wanted to talk about our holiday together.” I was immediately excited to talk about it. This was what I waited for.
“Tell me about it.”
“I’m going to tamp up all my schedules this week so on Friday night, I will go to Malibu to pick you up and we can go to Las Vegas.”
What?
Las Vegas?
I was…speechless. I couldn’t believe he wanted to take me there. I never think about it.
“Olivia? Are you there?”
“Y-Yes. Um, are you serious?”
“Yes,” he said almost immediately. “We can go with my car and even though it’s quite far, almost five hours trip I can drive that long.”
“What time you will pick me up?”
“Probably around nine in the evening.”
“Wait, that’s too late and you need rest.”
“I already booked a room for us at Four Seasons and we could check in the next day in case we arrived there around one at midnight. And by the way, you can’t drive, and please don’t worry about me.” That wasn’t the problem here.
“Blake, I’m grateful to you because you wanted to have a summer holiday with me but I don’t want you to faint during our holiday together and got sick.”
“Stop, Olivia. I’m going to be fine. This will be our first holiday together and I already have everything planned. I already asked John to not bother us for two weeks.”
It was no use. Blake was difficult to be argued with. He left no room for it.
And in the end, I gave up. “Thanks, Blake. I can’t wait for it. But please, get some rest too.”
“I will, sweetie.” Okay, is this normal but why my heart just jumped when he called me that?
That was just a normal nickname from a father to his daughter. Is it?
“Well, I’m going to sleep now.”
“You should, honey.” There. I can feel it again.
“Thank you, Blake. For…everything.”
“Please be careful there.”
“I will. Bye.” And I ended the call. I turned around and walked back to the room where Karen has waiting for me. I stared at her and she was smiling innocently at me.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on you but I was so damn curious about your holiday.”
I sighed at her and chuckled slightly and sat on the bed. Looking at her sleeping clothes; merely wearing a black tank top and sweatpants. But she still looked stunning as always. As expected from a model.
“Well, he wants to take me to Las Vegas on Friday so he will come to pick me up and I will not be going home together with you and your family. Blake already booked a room at Four Seasons and we will go there by car which I disagreed with the idea because I know Blake is going to be tired as hell,” I explained.
I looked at her and she was only looking at me. Probably amazed by the information and didn’t say anything. Until she finally opened her mouth, “That’s amazing, isn’t it? Holiday in Las Vegas, are you kidding me? You could probably come out from Vegas and not a virgin anymore.”
“Karen!”
“What? Come on, Liv. Blake is just your step-father.”
“Stop it, Karen. Blake is not interested in me that way. Although he already kissed me—”
“What?” Karen stopped me as I immediately regretted myself for saying that out loud. I forgot I never told Karen about this.
“Oh. My. God. You haven’t told me anything about the kissing part! Spill it out, girl!” she forced me while slightly jumping on the bed.
I finally told her everything.
I told her that we had a fight after PTC and Blake snapped and he kissed me. Assuming that I chose Oxford because of a boy. I was shocked and ran away from him where Blake almost destroyed my bedroom door and I bumped into Josh.
“Wow, did he kick Josh away because you were at his house?”
“No. He came in peace without any drama and I was grateful for it. I never saw him that way but he asked for an apology and since then, well, he changed. Maybe he just realized what he did to me was a mistake and he became caring like before.”
If I remembered it again, Blake was like a different person when he was mad at me. To be honest, I was so scared back there. If I didn’t run away from him, what Blake might do to me?
“Liv? Have you ever felt suspicious about him?” Karen asked which made me confused about it.
“Well, normally a stepfather, like you said before, won’t touch his daughter to the point of kissing her, but Blake did. Even for a punishment, fathers will not do that. Have you ever wondering of why Blake adopted you?”
“He…made a promise with my mother before they divorced.”
“Anything else?”
“That’s it, I guess.”
Karen looked away from me and bite her lips. She turned her gaze back to me again. “I think there’s something more behind his reason for adopting you.”
“Well, Blake told me that was his only reason and I’m going to believe him. For now. He also told me that he still had other things that he hadn’t told me.”
“And what is that?”
I was silent for a moment until I let out my courage to tell her. “About my father. Blake said he’s not ready to tell me yet.”
“Is he…dead or something?”
“No. I have no idea why Blake hasn’t told me yet and I asked about it before, he told me that I’m not ready. Maybe it’s something bad or worse. I have my own thoughts about my father. Proven when my mother died and he never showed up.”
“My guess is he’s probably dead but Blake didn’t want to tell you,” Karen suspected.
“I don’t know, Karen. My gut is telling me that my father is still alive.”
“What are you going to do if you ever meet your real father?” Karen asked.
What would I do?
I already had a bad idea about him. I never asked about him to Blake before until he was the one who brought it up in the conversation.
“I don’t know. I never met him in person. My family only consists of two people; my mother and Blake. I’m curious about him, I’m not going to lie. But I honestly don’t know how I will react if I meet him. Especially when I already had a bad impression about him because of my mother.”
When Karen listened to my answer, she pulled me close into her hold. I was holding back tears when I remembered my mother. “Your father doesn’t deserve you,” she said while rubbing my shoulder. “Just like Emma said before. Fathers won’t do that. No matter what, he should be protecting his little girl. Not abandoning her. I won’t force you to look for him because maybe the impression you got for me is already bad enough. But if you want to see him, I won’t stop you either.”
Karen pushed me away gently and wiped the tears away from me. “He is still your father and no matter what, I will support each of your decisions.” I smiled at her and we hugged again.
“Thank you, Karen. I’m so lucky for having you as my best friend who always stays by my side.”
“My pleasure, babe.”
At that moment, I still had no idea that I will meet him…really soon.