Olivia

"We did it!" Cassie cheered as we dropped our backpacks on the floor of the apartment. It felt like a hundred-pound weight had been lifted off of our shoulders as the realization of the semester being over set in.

"Alive and in one piece." I joked, watching as Cassie frowned at me.

"No, seriously." She agreed, grabbing both my hands in hers. "I wasn't sure if we were going to be standing here together at one point, celebrating the end of our junior year."

"Cass, don't start."

"I can't help it, babes." Her eyes watered.

I pulled her into a tight hug, feeling my best friend's warm tears begin to wet my sweatshirt.

"Don't cry, babe." I insisted. "I love you, okay?" I asked, wiping her tears away. She rarely broke down and cried like this, and it caught me way off guard.

"I love you too." She cried out, trying to compose herself. "I'm sorry Liv, I just-I really thought I was gonna lose you, and it really hurt me." She admitted. "I know I always act all tough and all, but I have nightmares about losing you still."

I honestly didn't even think much about how deeply Cassie had been affected by that day, and suddenly guilt washed throughout me. I was so caught up in my own feelings I forgot to check up on my best friends.

"I should have been there for you more, asked you if you were okay more." I sighed, shaking my head. "I was so worried about-"

"No!" Cassie cut me off. "Stop doing that, you're the greatest friend I could ever have, and I never wanted you to be dealing with me and your own pain."

"But Cassie I-"

"No buts, Liv, we made it, and we're both standing here now." She smiled. "So let's celebrate." She insisted, heading over to the fridge. She pulled out a bottle of Prosecco and placed it on the countertop.

I walked over to the kitchen drawer that held the corkscrew before tossing it over to Cassie. "We deserve it."

"Liv your phone." Cassie slurred, tossing it into my lap.

We had somehow downed two bottles of Prosecco over the past few hours, and it was safe to say that we were damn near plastered.

I glanced down at my phone and saw that it was Jason calling. I picked it up and brought it to my ear.

"Hi." I giggled, listening to him snicker on the other end of the line.

"Uh, hi Liv, you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah." I smiled, listening to him laugh on the other end of the line.

"Aren't you too young to be drinking?" He joked.

"Shhh, don't call the cops." I warned playfully. "I'll be 21 in like a month anyway."

Jason laughed once more, and I could just picture that perfect smile and those beautiful blue eyes beaming on the other end of the line.

"Well, I haven't seen you in a few days..." he trailed off. "Can I steal you for the night?" He asked.

"I think so...I mean, you'll get to meet tipsy Liv for the first time." I laughed.

"Can't wait to meet her...I'll be home in a few, so I'll just knock and get you, so you make it across the hall alive."

"Oh, whatever!" I snarked, "See you soon."

"Ditching me for your boo?" Cassie chimed as I tossed my phone into my lap.

"Do you mind?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Nah." She yawned. "Russ said he was gonna facetime me later, so go ahead."

Over the past couple of weeks, the two of them had been getting along really well. It made me happy to see Cassie happy. I wasn't the only one who experienced relationship issues, and to see her going out with someone who seemed like he was genuinely into her was refreshing.

"So, how's that going? I think the double-date we went on last weekend was super fun." I chimed, remembering how well we all got along.

"Pretty good, actually." She admitted. "I think I might keep this one...but we'll see."

I rolled my eyes and waved a dismissive hand at her, just as she would do to me when mentioning Jason. "You think?" I laughed.

"Well, you know, this is my free trial period. If I don't like it, I'll get rid of it."

"It Cass?" I chuckled.

"Exactly what I said." She shrugged just before a few light knocks were heard at the door.

"And that would be my cue to go." I beamed, stumbling up from the coach, causing us both to burst into a fit of giggles.

"Yeah, if you can make it to the door, babes."

I rolled my eyes at her before opening the door to a smirking Jason. His eyes lit up as they rested on me.

"Hi gorgeous." He chuckled as I wrapped my arms around his waist. The scent that I loved so much radiated off of him and into my nose as I inhaled deeply. "How much did y'all drink?"

"Oh, you know, just two bottles..." Cassie trailed off, waving from her spot on the couch.

"You gonna be okay?" He asked, wrapping his arms tighter around me. "We can all hang out here just in case." He insisted.

Cassie let out pfft and waved him off. "This isn't my first rodeo friend, I'll be fine, plus Russ is gonna call anytime now."

"Okay, well, we'll see you later." Jason laughed.

"Bye Cass!" I yelled out as we entered the cold hallway, and I could hear her yell back her goodbye before the door shut.

"Two bottles of what?" Jason asked as he unlocked his front door.

"Wine..." I whispered, shaking my head. "I'm already kind of regretting it."

"Well, I won't let you regret it alone." He promised as we entered the apartment. "I'm gonna grab myself a drink too, and then we can go and lay down."

Jason grabbed himself a couple of beers before leading us into his bedroom. His king bed was made perfectly, with the navy bedding untouched. I plopped down on its softness and watched Jason as he opened his beer and took a sip. He let out a sigh as the alcohol ran down his throat before placing the bottle on the nightstand and laying next to me.

"I missed you, gorgeous." He whispered before kissing me gently.

I couldn't help but smile into the sweet kiss as our lips moved perfectly together.

"I missed you too." I breathed out, brushing my fingers across his lips. "I hate that your shifts are so long."

Jason pulled me into him as I pouted and placed another kiss on my forehead. "I know. I hate that it stops me from seeing you as much as I want."

I listened to the steady beating of his heart and shut my eyes as drowsiness began to take over from the alcohol. "Yeah..." I trailed off, feeling him begin to run his fingers through my hair.

"You sleepy?" He asked softly.

I nodded my head. "I am, but I don't think I can sleep." I admitted.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Well." I started, feeling my nerves grow alive. "Something's been on my mind," I admitted. "Since, like, that time we hung out in my room a couple of weeks ago."

"Oh, I mean...did I do something?" He asked. Concern was laced through his tone.

"No, you said something that I can't stop thinking about."

"What did I say?" He questioned. I could hear his heartbeat pick up a bit.

"Remember when I said that I was a really messy person...well, you said that you were too and that there was more to your story than what I know right now."

Jason swallowed hard and removed his hand from where it was just stroking my hair.

"I do..." He trailed off.

"I want to know your story." I stated. "You know...you've literally been there through my darkest moments, you know my story, and I want to know yours."

Jason sighed before intertwining our fingers and holding my hand firmly in his. "Liv, it's really a lot."

"And what happened to me wasn't a lot too?" I asked, rubbing my thumb against the back of his hand. "Listen, you've always had an open ear for me, and I want to give you that too."

"I really don't want to be a burden or be the kind of person who tries to turn the spotlight onto himself when I know you're still healing...I'm past it now, Liv."

"I know you don't want to be a burden, Jason, but I also think you're just avoiding talking to me about it...do you talk to anyone about it?" I asked, feeling emboldened by the alcohol I had consumed. Drunk Olivia was nothing but blunt and straight to the point, something sober Olivia struggled with.

"You know, not really." He muttered while taking a swig of his beer. "That part of my life was traumatic, and half of it is a blur anyway."

"I told you this last time, but you can open up to me." I promised, resting my hand on his stubble-covered cheek, caressing it gently. "I think it's only fair that since you were there for me that I am there for you...I want to learn everything about you too, you know?"

Jason took my hand into his own and brought it to his lips. He placed a gentle kiss on the back of it. "I know, Liv." He sighed. "If you really want to hear it, I'll tell you."

"I do." I nodded. "I promise, I'm all ears."

"Okay." He started before sucking in a deep breath. "So I guess I should start by saying that I was born to teen parents, a 17-year-old mom, and an 18-year-old dad." Jason paused for a moment before speaking again. "My mom had run away from home to live with my dad and try to keep us together as a family because her mom, my grandma, was trying to keep them apart, and I guess for a good reason. She knew my dad was no good. He was really abusive to my mom and me, physically and verbally.

"'As far back as I can remember, my dad had been that way...always drinking or doing drugs and then going into terrifying rages. He used to beat the absolute hell out of my mom and a lot of times me too."

"Jason, oh my god." I gasped out, not expecting to hear that at all.

"Yeah." He sighed. "I can't even tell you how many times I had to go to the ER with some type of injury caused by him. He broke my arm when I was only two years old, and then when I was like 7 or 8, he kicked me so hard in the side that he straight up cracked 2 of my ribs. My mom always had to come up with some kind of lie to tell CPS because they were always involved with my family for obvious reasons."

Pain was riddled across Jason's face at this point. His beautiful blue eyes had lost their light and grown dull, dark even.

"The neighbors would always hear screaming coming from the house, either my dad yelling or my mom and I crying out in fear. He'd do crazy things for the dumbest reasons...I mean, I could literally just spill a little juice on the floor by accident, and he would throw me into a cold shower and wear me out with a belt until I was damn near passing out. Or he would kick me out of the house and force me to sleep on the ground in the yard, rain, sleet, shine, or snow. He didn't give a damn, and my mom couldn't do anything about it because then he'd just do something worse."

I was staring at him in complete and utter shock at this point, completely lost for words. All I could do was offer him a supportive hand as he continued to tell his horrific story.

"The saddest part is for the longest time I still loved him...and I wanted him to love me back so badly. I would always draw pictures for him and get so excited to give them to him because I thought maybe he would see them and soften up. I thought maybe he'd like something that I drew, but he never did. He would just tear them up, throw the scraps into my face, and then yell at me to clean it up...He hated me, and to this day, I don't know why I don't know what I did...." His voice cracked.

Tears welled in my eyes as I watched Jason fight hard to keep his own from falling.

"Jason, you didn't do anything." I whispered, holding his face in my hands. "I'm so fucking sorry that happened to you...I'm so sorry."

"I know I didn't, but for some reason, on a rare occasion, my mind wonders why I couldn't have had a father that loved me, that cared about me, and that protected me like pretty much everyone else around me had. Everyone has all these great memories with their dad, learning how to ride a bike or going on road trips or fishing...I get to remember my dad doing shit like this." He hissed, raising his shirt revealing a scar on his side. "That's from when he stabbed me with a fucking kitchen knife when I was 13...that was the last straw for my mom."

"Jason...he stabbed you?" I repeated, absolutely perplexed at the sight of the scar on his side. It ran from the middle of his rib catch almost down to his hip.

"He did. He was beating on my mom, and I was so sick of watching it happen, so I stepped to him. I tried to fight him off my mom only to get stabbed in the side. All I remember after that was feeling my own hot blood run down my legs and my vision go blurry... I remember my mom screaming my name as I started falling backward, but her voice was so foggy..and then blank, that's it. I don't even remember hitting the floor."

"It's so big." My voice shook as I traced my fingers gently across the length of his scar. I could see goosebumps rising on his skin, and they grazed across it. "Is he in jail for this?" I asked.

Jason shook his head. "No, my mom didn't call the police because she knew they'd end up taking me from her. So instead, she got me treated, and then we left for New York as soon as possible to avoid CPS workers. We literally had one bag for the both of us and left straight from the hospital, and that was the end of that."

"So for the first 13 years of your life, that's what you had to deal with?? All the time?"

"Every single day...unless it was one of those times where I got to go and stay with my grandparents, but my dad rarely let me or my mom leave the house. I only went to school and came home to that hell for the bulk of those years."

I pulled Jason into my arms and held his large frame as best I could. I could see a stray tear fall from his glossy eyes, and he immediately wiped it away.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to sit here and cry like a baby." He croaked, shaking his head.

Pressing a gentle kiss to the top of his head, I shook mine and hushed him. "It's okay to cry sweet boy...I'm sorry for pressing you so hard to talk about it. I had no idea."

"It's okay." He nodded. "I guess I'm not completely healed from it, but I try to forget."

"I get that." I agreed. "You turned out to be one of the greatest people I've ever had the chance to know, Jason, and fuck whoever can't see that."

"Thank you." He smiled. "I try so hard to be everything that my dad wasn't...I'm terrified of being like him even in the slightest."

"And you're not. You could never be anything like him. You're gentle, caring, kind, and so loving to everyone around you."

Jason gazed up at the ceiling for a moment before letting his gaze fall on me once more. "I'm glad you could hear all of that about my life and still say that about me."

"Who wouldn't say all those things about you? You are not your dad, and you did nothing wrong."

Jason bowed his head. Despair was written across his face.

"You're an incredible man for not letting your father make you a miserable person. Instead, you're this lovely person with an even more beautiful soul."

"I appreciate that Liv, I'm just always terrified that something in me is going to change and make me like him, and I'm scared of it happening...I don't want to be that type of man, father, or husband."

"Jason listen to me okay, you could never be. You're going to be the best husband and the best father anyone could ever hope for."

I was nearly sobered up at this point after hearing all of that and seeing him like this. The last few months of knowing Jason, I hadn't seen him shed a tear or even genuinely be upset. He was such a happy guy, full of light, and it was breaking me apart to see him like this and to know that he went through that. I wouldn't have guessed he had that kind of childhood in a million years.

"I hope so." He sighed. "I'm just thankful to be here, in New York. It was the best thing my mom could have done for us, and I mean, it led us to meeting a great man who loved my mom and took me in as his own son. My step-dad is probably one of the biggest reasons why I'm still a decent person, after all, that, you have to meet him one day, Liv, him and my Mom and Hannah of course."

"I'd love to meet all of them. Especially, Hannah, she's such a cutie." I laughed, remembering her adorable picture on his lock screen.

"The cutest." He laughed, his eyes lighting up a fraction. "I'm so happy that she gets to grow up in a loving home with both her parents. I envy her just a little." He smiled. "So now you know pretty much everything about my life. I told you, I'm really messy too."

"You're perfect," I whispered, feeling my cheeks flush over. "To me, you are."

"Yeah, a perfect mess." He joked.

"Well, that makes two of us."