Confessions

[Olivia Skye]

Valentine's Day.
As Olivia should have predicted, she'd woken up this morning surrounded by a sea of fluffy pinkness and roses and cards, and as she also should have foreseen, her mood wasn't exactly at a high point today.
It was just that the day was saturated with the essence of coupledom; with pairs being snuggled up with each other, giving gifts and just 'sharing the love'...
And Olivia was alone.
Being in the common room had gotten too much to cope with - you could practically smell the phenylethamene in the air of the room. And if the smell of roses was too strong, it gave her a headache anyway.
Which gave her an excuse to leave the room and come down here for just a little bit of peace from it all, and give her some time to think without having to view canoodling couples.
How she hated karma.
So now she was sitting on the steps of the stage, head against the cool metal railing, just thinking.
And even though she'd escaped from Cupid's Chamber, her thoughts were still on Valentine's Day... and how much she wished that she was spending it with Jack.
She was now past the anger stage - and onto the stage of regret, or whatever that was. Cole had been a mistake; they both knew that, and Cole was now avoiding her scrupciously, trying to get his place on the rugby team back. She was feeling guilty for that, of course she was, because she'd only done it because she'd thought that Jack would react towards her...
And then he had in a way that she hadn't expected, and she'd slapped him. Another thing to regret.
Actually... the past week and half was just full of things that Olivia shouldn't have done. And she wanted to apologise, but somehow she knew that she couldn't yet.
Well, wouldn't.

[Jack Trove]

It was time to surrender.
Valentine's Day was a day Jack usually spent with a girl- any girl- he'd buy her chocolates, she'd buy him a watch, and she'd spend the rest of the day on his lap. It was tradition. It was... it was Valentines for chrissake! What else was the dammed thing worth? It's not like Jack had ever been in any sort of serious relationship for-
Well.
He'd thought this year... this year, he would've been with Olivia.
It's not like he didn't have options...
There was Sophie to think about. But there weren't really words for what he thought about Sophie. He didn't. But the only option was, once he'd truly banished her all-consuming presence from his mind, to look for the other one.
The one who cared.
If she still cared.
Sometimes ties were just to hard to sever.
So he was going to surrender to what he wanted.
Because there were always things he just wanted. They'd no reason, no meaning, but they were there. They were instincts; comforting instincts which made him feel...
Fantastic.
He was going to look into those emerald green eyes, and see if she'd take him back. And if she would... if she would he could end up regretting it...
... or end up thanking God for it.
So he'd come to find her... and... here she was.
"Olivia?"

[Olivia Skye]

As Olivia heard her name being spoken, her heart twinged, and her eyes lifted to meet Jack's across the room.
"Hey, Jack," she said softly, straightening up on the steps so that she was sitting up properly.
She didn't know what he was here for... but he didn't look angry, so that was good. Maybe he just wanted to talk things out, maybe...
Oh, she didn't know. But seeing as he didn't look mad, she figured that now would be a good time to make that apology.
But...
Just do it, for goodness' sake.
"I'm sorry about... what happened the other night," she added, softer still. "All of it... I'm sorry."

[Jack Trove]

"Um, thanks," Jack stopped, a little stunned. She was apologising to... oh.
The slap. Yeah. Um...
"I'm sorry too," he said, kneeling down beside her. "You know... for... all of that stuff I did and said and... Olivia?"
Make it right, Jack. But it was so hard to think. She was just so close to him- just watching him...
"You're anything but a cheap skank. I just want you to know that... I mean; you're better than that, is all."
Crap, he was bad at this.

[Olivia Skye]

Olivia gazed down at him, slightly grave as she heard this.
He was apologizing... at the time, she'd been insistent that he would apologize, but now that she'd had time to calm down...
"It's okay," she responded, quietly. "And thanks, but I'm not really much better than that at all. I did something pretty... well, a good deal worse than skanky."

[Jack Trove]

"Yeah but I shouldn't have been all... aw, you know," he said, a little pathetically, dropping her gaze. "Do I have to say it all?"
Olivia of all people should know how bad he was at this type of thing.

[Olivia Skye]

Olivia laughed weakly. "No, I know you hate doing this. But you had every right to get mad about it, really."
After all, Cole was his teammate. Olivia may not know a lot about sport, but she did know that usually teammates of good teams had an almost fraternal bond with each other (hey, she wasn't saying that she understood it) - and by doing what she'd done, Olivia had as good as kissed his brother.

[Jack Trove]

Jack smiled gruffly, but didn't reply.
It was hard, trying to think of what to say next. Like... he knew what he wanted to say... he just sort of... couldn't.
Now, wasn't that weird? Jack talked to girls all the time; Jack flirted with girls all the time; Jack held girls, kissed girls... Jack... Jack... and girls just sort of... he didn't find it awkward. Not like other guys. Jack had confidence- he had a good goddam reason to be confident. He was captain of the rugby team; and he knew girls liked him. Olivia had been just the same as the rest of them too- a little more fun, maybe, but just the same. Just some girl.
Some girl.
He'd never lost it like that. Never thought... or even... she hadn't meant it. He'd worked that out. Whenever she'd said, "You didn't want me," he'd worked it out, and he'd felt like he'd been slapped. Well, she did slap him then. Em... wow. She packed a bit of a punch. But...
He'd thought she hadn't wanted him...
They were both idiots.
Maybe that's why they got on so well.
And maybe that's why...
... argh.
"Olivia."
The words just wouldn't come.
And above all, he could not picture Sophie's face. Because if he pictured Sophie...
What he was about to say was bound to have some sort of truth in it.

[Olivia Skye]

She bit down on her lip, unsure as to what to say.
They were so stupid - the both of them. And they both needed to work on their pride, or it wasn't going to go anywhere.
And now... Olivia was finally ready to admit that she wanted this to go somewhere. Because ... she was ready. If Jack was willing, she'd stop with all the flings, and she'd allow herself to try something serious. Something new, definitely, but maybe it was time to stop just going with the flow, and trying to make it work properly.
But she couldn't tell him this. She just couldn't find the words. She was usually quite articulate, but Jack could often make her lost for words, her tongue stuck and the nerves between her mouth and brain clogged.
Why was that?
"Jack," she said quietly, leaning back against the railing again and watching him.

[Jack Trove]

"Olivia," he laughed, a little breathless.
At least he wasn't the only one who was having trouble with words. So then... maybe... since he was crap at English anyway.
His mother always said, "Actions speak louder than words."
Maybe it was time to put that into practice.
So, he leaned forward, closed his eyes, and said a prayer.
Then he kissed her.

[Olivia Skye]

"Olivia," he laughed.
Why did she love it so much when he spoke her name?
Her eyes closed briefly, before she opened them again to meet his blue-grey ones, and sighed softly.
What had they been doing this past week?
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Olivia didn't know why she had freaked out like that in the forest, and hadn't spotted what was coming next. She did know that she regretted it.
And that she wanted to fix it.
But as it turned out, she didn't have to - because Jack had leaned close to her and kissed her.
And that was that.
So ridiculously simple.
She kissed him back, softly, slowly this time, an unusual change of pace. But she liked it, because it was appropriate.
It was right...

[Jack Trove]

Jack didn't think he could ever have felt so relieved... so... elated... when she kissed him back.
She kissed him back.
Him.
Surprise drew him closer, and he sighed inwardly as he wrapped his arms around her closely, still slowly, almost shyly touching her lips with his.
And then, he let go, and laughed softly.
"There was something else I was meant to say."

[Olivia Skye]

Olivia smiled as she leaned against him, his arms holding her tightly.
She'd missed this. She really, really had.
And now... it felt good.
Then he let go of her, laughing gently again.
"There was something else I was meant to say."
Olivia laughed. Eloquence... really wasn't their thing.
"And what would that be?"

[Jack Trove]

Jack inhaled deeply, still trying (and… er… kind of failing…) to think of what he wanted to say. It was there, right there, in his head. It just…
Say that.
“Olivia, d’you ever sort of… I don’t know, feel something?” he asked her, his fingers automatically running through her long, scarlet locks. “You feel something, and you don’t know what it is, or what it means. You don’t know what the words are- maybe there aren’t words; and no matter what, you can’t figure it out. You could sit there for hours, with this thing inside of you, rushing around you, but you’ll never know… what it is… but you know it?”
Gee he sounded weird.
He laughed sheepishly, shaking his head and kissing her lips.
“D’you get me?”

[Olivia Skye]

Her breath caught in her throat as he said this...
... because it sounded like...
"You know... I think I do," she replied, smiling softly, her hand automatically creeping up to his shoulder. "But I can feel it there for a lot longer than a few hours."
Try about a month or so.