FicWad

The next few weeks went by quite well. The atmosphere at home improved more and more everyday. James had kept his word and had made Ron a makeshift bed to sleep in on the couch. I was very glad that I no longer had to put up with his loud snores all night. But truth be told, I was much happier that he was out of the bedroom so that I could have James all to myself. An invasion of privacy in my bedroom was just something that I couldn't handle.

James had stopped giving Ron more attention than me as well. The three of us were sort of becoming a family. We would eat all of our meals together and after dinner, Ron and James would practice for band while I cooked in the kitchen. Occasionally, James would ask me for help on song lyrics or Ron would ask me to give my opinion on a song they were playing. I had to admit that at first, I had thought Lars' little band wouldn't go anywhere. But now? My opinion on the subject had definitely changed. Ron and James were both amazing guitarists and James' voice was the one thing I could never get tired of listening to. When he sang, his voice was deep and powerful. It spoke straight to the core of my being.
Ron and I no longer hated each other either. As a matter of fact, we had actually become friends. If James was busy or was out doing something, Ron and I would sit and watch TV together or play a game of cards together. I blamed myself for dismissing Ron as a friend before. I had been way too judging of him. I would have to learn to control my temper more.

James had also completely turned around personality wise since I talked to him about feeling left out. Now, he could barely take his eyes off me. The two of us were definitely falling more and more in love everyday. We really were the perfect match. We spent every moment we could together and had a hard time paying attention to anything besides each other. The best times of my day were when the lights went out. Now that James and I had the bedroom all to ourselves, we slept together every night and pretty much made love to each other every night unless one of us was extremely tired.

At this point, I didn't see why I had been so nervous about having sex with James at first. Now, I was literally a sex addict or something. Having James make love to me was literally what got me through the day. James was always gentle and never gave me more than I could handle. I tried to give him the same love back, but I didn't think that I'd ever deserve him no matter how hard I tried. James had pretty much saved me and turned my life around.

My job was going pretty good as well. I continued to work as Marty's assistant everyday, helping serve drinks and doing dishes. I started to get to know some of the regulars at the club and even made a few casual friends. Working at the club had certainly helped me come out of my shell a little bit more. Before, I couldn't even get myself to look people in the eye. Now, I could easily smile at people, look them in the eye, and start conversations.

I got to know one person in the bar very well. That person was Dave. He came around the bar at about the same time everyday, just before I got out from work. Dave would then sip his drink until I was dismissed for work. After that, he would walk with me out the door and drive me back to my apartment. No matter how concerned or suspicious I had been of Dave at first, I now found us to be very good friends. As a matter of fact, Dave was probably my very best friend. I liked Ron, but we never talked about anything personal. And James was my lover, not really a friend. Dave was someone I could pour my problems out to when I was upset and the kind of person who would let me lean on his shoulder in times of trouble.

Today was a Friday, and I was just getting ready to head out to the club. Dave was sitting on a stool in the corner sipping his beer and looking outside the window thoughtfully. Tonight, we were having a "band meeting" at James' and my apartment. Well, I guess it was Ron's apartment now too. But anyways, the four band members were going to have a meeting to discuss getting an album together. Somehow, James and Lars had managed to write ten original songs and now they were just trying to get their first album made. I didn't understand why Lars wanted the meeting at our house, but I didn't really mind having the company. I liked James, Ray, and Dave. Lars made me nervous for some reason, but it wasn't like I had anything against him or anything. The meeting tonight might actually end up being pretty nice.

I was planning on doing some cooking while the guys were talking about their band stuff. I had even bought stuff to make a chocolate cake. Chocolate was James' favorite flavor, so I was really hoping he would like it. I had kind of officially become the baker of the house even though I had never baked before. Ron could make stuff, but he didn't have much talent in cooking. And James in the kitchen was a disaster. Every single time he tried to make something, something always turned out badly. Either the food either tasted like shit or James ended up burning something. That's why I had insisted on taking over the cooking.

"Hey Olivia? You're dismissed," Marty called cheerfully, breaking into my train of thought. I jerked my head up from the glass I had been drying to look at the clock. Sure enough, the clock read eight. It was time to go home! Just as I turned to head towards the front door, Marty grabbed my shoulder and turned me back around, "Olivia?"

I stopped what I was doing and turned to give Marty my full attention. He rarely ever stopped me so he must have something important to say. With a crease across his brow, Marty explained, "I'm leaving for that vacation tomorrow. My cousin will be here instead of me. I've told him about you and everything should be fine. If something goes wrong though, don't hesitate to call me, okay? I worry about you sometimes. You're so young to be off in the world and fending for yourself."

Giving Marty a wry smile, I answered, "I learn to deal with it. Have fun on your vacation! You really deserve the break. I'm sure it'll be absolutely fine to have your cousin here. Anyone related to you has got to be nice. Bye Marty!" After waving to him, I flipped my hair over my shoulder and hurried towards the door where Dave was waiting. When I reached him, I tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. Dave had a bad tendency to zone out.

"Oh hey," Dave said when I pulled on his sleeve. "Are you ready to go?" I nodded. Dave took one last swig of his drink, put it down on the table adjacent to him, and then took my hand as we headed out of the club together. I really liked having Dave around, especially in a place like this. Dave made me feel safe and protected. I liked the way he squeezed my hand and was always watching out for me. He was almost like a father to me in some regards.

As Dave settled down in the front seat and turned the car on, he asked politely, "How was work today?" I shrugged, thinking over my day. It had been completely normal besides for what Marty had told me about his cousin. I really hoped Marty's cousin would be just as nice as he was, but even if he wasn't, I could learn to deal with him. After dealing with Ray, I could pretty much deal with anything. Ray had taught me to be strong.

"Work was fine," I replied to Dave's question. "Marty is going on a vacation tomorrow though. His cousin is going to take over his job. To be honest, I'm a little nervous. I have no clue what Marty's cousin is going to be like." A concerned look filled Dave's face as he ran a red light, "I'm sure Marty's cousin will be nice. Seriously, who doesn't like a pretty little thing like you? You do know that most of the guys at the club end up staring at you the whole time while they drink their beers."

I gave a dry laugh as Dave pulled up to our apartment's parking lot. For some reason, James and Dave seemed to think I was pretty and attractive. Unfortunately, their perspective had to be way off because I wasn't even close to being nearly as pretty as most of the girls in that club. I spoke my thoughts aloud, "Come on, Dave. We all know I'm not that pretty. Stop trying to make me feel good all the time. I can handle the fact that I'm ugly!"

Dave stopped the car and frowned over at me. I was just about to jump out of the car, but he put his hand on mine to stop me. Curious to see what he wanted, I stopped and looked over my shoulder at him. With a solemn look on his face, Dave said, "Never say that you're ugly, okay? You're anything but that. It hurts me to hear you say that." I was surprised that Dave would even care about whether or not I said I was ugly, but for his sake, I shrugged.

The two of us proceeded up to the apartment and then took the stairs up to the seventh floor. As we walked, Dave shot me a long look out of the corner of his eye. Knowing that he obviously wanted to tell me something, I turned towards him and asked, "Hey, you want to ask me something? I can tell something's up." I knew this because Dave always gave me those looks out of the corner of his eye when there was something on his mind.

By the time, we had reached the door to my apartment. Dave suddenly took my other hand and looked at me with that same serious expression on his face as earlier, "Um...Olivia...have you ever thought about dating someone?" My mouth immediately dropped open and I felt my stomach coil up into a twisted knot. It only occurred to me now that I had never told Dave that I lived with James and that he was my boyfriend. This was going to be hard to tell Dave. From the way he had just asked the question, it was quite apparent that he wanted to date me. But did I want to date Dave? I might've considered it if it wasn't for James. However, the fact was that I did have James and that changed everything.

Taking a deep breath, I decided I needed to get this over with, "I'd love to-" I never got to finish my sentence because the door to the apartment cracked open at that moment. Shit. What could've been worse timing than that? I had meant to say, "I'd love to, but I'm already dating someone." Unfortunately, all Dave had heard was the first part of my sentence. There was obviously going to be a big misunderstanding between us now.

James and Ron were standing in the apartment doorway, looking at us curiously. Ron smiled when he saw Dave, "Hiya there Dave! We thought we heard voices out here. We came to see if it was you guys or not. Anyways, come on in! We've got pizza and Lars wants to discuss the name of our band. We probably need to pick out a name for ourselves before we try to get an album created and stuff, you know? We can't have an album if our band doesn't have a name!"

Dave laughed and nodded, pulling me along with him inside the door. I smiled at James, but to my surprise, he looked away from me and stared stonily at the ground. Oh no, something was obviously going on with him. James could be so moody and it was always so hard to figure out what was wrong with him. Suddenly, I knew what the probably was though. When Ron had opened the door, Dave and I had been holding hands and facing each other. That would certainly give anyone the impression that we were more than just friends, right? There was no doubt that James was thinking that there was something going on between me and Dave right now. So now I was going to have to clear up two understandings tonight.

As soon as we were through the doorway, Lars immediately gestured for everyone to come sit at the kitchen table, "There you guys are! I thought you got lost or something. Oh well, never mind that now. Come and sit. We've got a lot to discuss tonight." Dave, James, and Ron headed over to where Lars was sitting and each took a seat at the table. There was a huge, monster-sized pizza in the center of the table and there were several beer bottles scattered around table as well. From the looks of things, James, Lars, and Ron had already been drinking since there were already a few empty bottles on the table.

I bit my lip at this sight. I really didn't like the idea of so many guys drinking in my house, but what could I do? This was James' house just as much as it was mine. If he wanted to drink with his buddies, what could I do to stop him? Pretty much nothing. Maybe tonight wasn't going to go as well as I had thought it would have.