Loving Olivia

Chapter 3 - Hugs & Ice Cream

Olivia

I wake up to the sound of my alarm at exactly six in the morning, and I quickly shut it off and get out of bed. I've learned the hard way that in order to properly wake up at this hour, I have to yank the covers off of my body and head directly to the bathroom. Otherwise, I will stay in bed and snooze for the next fifteen minutes. I'm definitely not a morning person, but I've trained my body to be.

I make my way outside of my tiny room and am greeted with a silent apartment. It's usually that way so I'm used to it by now. My mom is a nurse at a hospital, and she's currently on a night shift. I don't get to see her very frequently since she gets home after I leave for school in the mornings, and in the afternoons she has strict orders not to make any noise or wake her up under any circumstance save for an emergency. Thankfully it hasn't got to that yet.

Surprisingly, I see my brother even less. He works evenings at a bar and usually gets home well past midnight. He wakes up later in the morning because of it and takes afternoon classes at the university. Whatever free time he actually has, he'll spend it with his girlfriend. How he manages to do all that and maintain a relationship with someone, I'll never know.

During a typical week in my house I almost always eat a meal alone. I can't remember the last time all three of us sat down together for it. It's definitely weird living in a small apartment where you barely get to see the people you live with.

The good news is that I'm going to keep myself busy this year. I managed to find a work-study job through my college where I'll be tutoring elementary school students at a public school three times a week. Therefore, I scheduled the majority of my classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, but I still have afternoon classes on the other days. Needless to say, my schedule is going to be packed.

Once I finish getting ready for the day, I head towards the kitchen and quickly prepare a bowl of oatmeal. I don't even bother setting a placemat at the table and instead just eat it standing up and leaning against the counter. It's not that I'm lazy, but I've learned that it's just not worth the effort. I rinse the bowl and spoon once I'm done, grab my things, and head out to the bus stop.

When I arrive at school an hour later, I realize I still have twenty minutes before my first class begins. I still haven't figured out the exact timing of the bus schedule because yesterday it definitely took me more than an hour to get home, but it's better to be safe than sorry until I learn the inner dynamics of my new commute to college.

I decide to do a little tour of the campus to familiarize myself with this place. If I'm going to spend the next four years here, I better start learning my surroundings. I realized yesterday I didn't really know my way around and even got lost a few times. Definitely don't want that happening again.

I end up running into Gael near the library. I've known him for a while as we went to the same high school, and I already know he's going to be a good friend here. He's in the majority of my classes too, as he's also studying education like me.

That being said, I was kind of dreading talking to him today because I know what his subject of interest is going to be.

"What the hell, Olivia? You didn't answer my text last night," he complains.

"Oh, sorry. I must have missed it," I say, trying to feign ignorance.

"Well? Are you going to tell me?" he asks excitedly.

"Tell you what?"

"C'mon, Liv. The blond Adonis? You can't leave me in suspense like that."

"Gael. Calm down. Nothing happened."