My best friend, Oliver, was the kind of guy any girl would go crazy over. Since he used to be a key player in our school’s track team, he easily had the body to leave girls drooling, but that’s not what kept their attention. Oliver was kind, but not a push-over, smart, but not a know-it-all, protective, but not jealous, and just an overall great person. His hazel eyes were always full of emotion and he always knew what to say. That’s what kept the girls coming back.

I, on the other hand, was not the kind of girl you would expect to see him with. I was slender, as I was also on the track team, but not skinny. The boys never drooled over me- I had only been asked out twice in my life, and both of them had only wanted to get into my pants. I was smarter than Oliver, but I couldn’t hold a conversation with someone I didn’t already know to save my life. And I tended to be emotional.

I suppose that if we had met in high school, Ollie and I would not have been the best friends we were. I had known him since kindergarten, where we had instantly become close. We stuck to each other like glue, even managing to still be together through at least 4 moves on my part.

My parents were both too stoned to care about anything, so I had to work to pay the bills on the houses we had. Finally, they were arrested and I got a place with my older brother, Bill. Right after I turned 18, he went into the army, leaving me to fend for myself.

Oliver’s home life was nowhere near perfect either, with his gold-digger, control freak of a stepmom and two wannabe step-sisters, so he spent most of his time playing video games at my house. This is exactly what he was doing when I came home from work that day.

I had opened the door to find him playing GTA5 enthusiastically. I had come home to this before, with him having a spare key to my apartment, and wasn’t fazed. I plopped down on the couch and sighed, “Ollie, you really should go home. It’s late and I’m exhausted.” He paused the game, turning to look at me as he said, “I’m staying over. Already told the she-devil and everything. But I can see you’re tired, so I’ll just shut this off and we can sleep, K?” He flashed his perfect teeth at me, which any normal girl would have swooned at. I was immune, from years of this behavior and just rolled off the couch and onto the floor. He just chuckled as I squirmed my way to the bed, to lazy to get up and walk. I pushed myself up into the bed and had snuggled in when I felt his body flop down next to mine. “You really should change out of your work clothes,” he commented, resting his head on his hand so he could look at me. I just grumbled unintelligibly as I grabbed the first piece of clothing I could find, turned my back to him, and changed.

We had slept in the same bed before and had seen each other change countless times, so this wasn’t a big deal. When I was done, I just laid down next to him and put my head under his chin. He laughed as he drew my body in, and whispered “Jesus AB, you’re freezing.” I snuggled closer as I said “Duh, it’s winter.” With his protective warmth surrounding me, I quickly fell asleep.

*Bang Bang Bang*

I was awoken by Joe, another friend, banging on the door. I shook Ollie, then got out of bed and pulled open the door. “Sup AB, Ollie here? He promised to be my wingman tonight.” Glancing at the clock, which read 11:37, showed me that I had only slept two hours. Grumpily, I directed Joe to the still-sleeping Ollie. “He stayed over again, huh?” Joe remarked as he pinched Ollie, waking him up. “Why the fuck did you do that?!” Ollie glared up at Joe, then removed himself from my bed. “Can’t you see I’m not in the mood to help you land some chick?” “Fine! I’ve got other friends I can ask!” Joe yelled, then stomped out of the house, slamming the door in the process. Ollie laid back down in bed with a sigh, “God, did he have to wake us up? You look exhausted.”

I grumbled as I laid down to sleep again. “I don’t see how you guys are such good friends when all you guys do is fight.”
“Well I don’t see how you guys are such good friends when it’s obvious that he has a crush on you, AnnaBelle.”
I rolled into Ollie, only mere inches separating our bodies, as I rolled my eyes. “Then why does he try to screw other chicks?”
“AB, He’s got to keep up his ‘machismo’ image, you know.” He flexed his arm, earning a chuckle from me.
“Well, what about you, hm? Why do you not have a girlfriend?” I lifted my head from the mattress to look at him. He smiled down at me but it wasn’t his normal smile. Something about it seemed sad.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice the subject change. And you know my family situation. I don’t think dating is right for me after seeing how shitty my parents have done at it.”
I placed my head back onto his arm, using it as a pillow. “I guess, but I’m not really helping you out either am I? I mean, I hang around you all the time and probably scare all the girls away.”

He lifted my chin and looked into my eyes. “If they have an issue with you, then I don’t need to date them. You are the most important thing in my life right now.”

I blinked, staring at him until he shut his eyes to sleep. I closed mine as well and buried my face into his arm, quickly falling asleep once more.

***

I woke up to the mail being shoved through my mail slot. I opened my eyes to find Ollie’s lips a fraction of an inch away from my forehead, my head almost pressed into his chest. I pulled myself away from him and out of bed. I didn’t get far, however, before he grabbed me and pulled me back into bed. “Don’t leave.” He said, his breath a breeze on the back of my neck. My pulse sped up significantly. “Stay with me.” He murmured before dropping his head and kissing my neck.

“Ollie, are you dreaming?” I asked as a slight pleasure spread throughout my body. He didn’t stop. I held back a moan as he began to suck on the back of my neck, his lips pressing gently against my skin.

“Ollie….Stop” I tried to move away from him, but his arms held me tightly. Resigning myself to torture, I had to clamp my hand over my mouth to keep myself from moaning. My pulse raced and I could feel myself flushing. He still was sucking on my neck, and had just begun to move to a new spot on my neck when I felt his tongue slightly brushing against my skin. Pleasant shivers ran through my body and I again tried to get up.

“OLLIE!” His mouth once again descended onto the sensitive flesh and I couldn’t hold back anymore.

“Oll- Ahhhhhhhh… St- Nggggg”

Finally, his eyes shot open. He practically pushed me off the bed trying to get away from me. “What are you doing?!”

That pissed me off. “What am I doing? What were you doing?! You know what, forget it.” I stormed out of the room to get my mail. As I picked it up, I heard his steps coming into the room, then a gasp.

“AB, what’s that on the back of your neck?” My hand flew to the spot where his mouth had been before.

Had he given me a… A HICKEY?!

He strode across the room and pulled my hand away from it. “Did I do this to you?”
“Who the fuck else could have done it?! Do you know how much trouble I’ll be in at work? Plus, what kind of dream were you having?” I set my mail down on the table.
“I’m reaaaalllyyy sorry!” He looked away from me.
“Whatever, player. Jeez, how many times have you done that to someone? I thought you didn’t have a girlfriend right now.”
“I told you, A.B. I don’t! It was just a reflex!”
“The fact that giving the girl in your bed a HICKEY is a REFLEX just proves my point of you and your player-ness.”

Ollie didn’t respond, instead settling his eyes to the mail on the table. I grabbed it flipping through it, until my eyes landed on two letters that made my heart stop.

“Annabelle, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“My brother……..is dead…..” My throat was dry and clenched. I couldn’t breathe. Tears streamed down my face, and my heart felt like it had been ripped from my chest. His arms were around me in a second, pulling me closer in a way I had never felt before. “Abs, I’m so sorry.”

“And I’m being evicted. He signed the lease, so I can’t live here anymore.” I was surprised I could get all of that out with how my throat was feeling, but Ollie just pulled me closer. My face was covered in tears, but Ollie just pressed my face into the crook of his neck and squeezed me. I couldn’t help the tears that still escaped my eyes. I wrapped my arms around him and cried harder. My brother… I would never see him again, never laugh with him again. I would never have family again. My parents were in jail, and probably didn’t remember I existed and my brother was gone. And I also lost my home. I was …. Utterly alone. Until I heard Ollie say in his rich, deep voice,

“From now on you are going to live with me.”

***

A week later, and all my things were packed up and I said goodbye to the last place I had shared with my brother. Tears pricked my eyes as I turned in the keys. I headed to the spot I had agreed to meet Ollie. However, instead of seeing Ollie’s beat up mustang pulling in, I saw a not one, not two, but THREE limousines. The driver popped out of the second and wrenched my belongings away from me and into the trunk. Then he pushed me into the limo and into the well-built arms of my best friend. The momentum of the push threw both of us down onto the seat, my body on top of his. My chest pressed against his own, hard one. My lips were barely breathing distance away from his own, his eyes staring into mine. My gaze slowly traveled down past those orbs of hazel, his nose, and eventually found his lips.

Memories of his soft, velvet lips on my neck, kissing and sucking, jumped into my mind and I scrambled away from him.

“Jumpy aren’t we? He said, chuckling. He knocked on the divider and we began to move.
“Fuck you. I was practically thrown in here. And since when did you own three limos?”
A look of confusion spread across his face. “We’ve always had them…”
“Hold up, you were that rich and you spent time in my shit hole apartment?” I asked, my jaw on the floor. He slid closer to me, and slipped his arm around my shoulder.

“Aren’t you glad you have a rich friend AB?” He asked, his breath skating across my neck. While this normally wouldn’t have effected me pre-cuddle, now my face was the color of a cherry and he noticed. “What’s wrong with you? Are you okay? Are you sick?” He tried to place his hand on my head, but I swatted it away and took his arm off of my shoulders.

God, was it going to be this awkward living with him?

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