Chapter 12

Hikaru sat on the couch, still staring at Ollie’s bedroom door. She’d spent the evening with Margot, their neighbour from down the hall, and had been waiting for him to get home from his Big Date. She, Margot and Hannah had been prepping him all week so that he’d feel confident and have a good time meeting one of his nerdy heroes, but as the night had gone on she’d gotten a little worried.

Then Ollie had come home with a big smile on his face, and he’d told her and Margot about the dinner, and how cool and fun April was, and how they’d ditched the movie portion of the date and gone to his favourite nerd store. Then Margot had left since it was late, and Hikaru had asked a few more questions but Ollie dodged them and said he was tired and needed to get to bed.

Hikaru was happy for her cousin-in-law. Well, technically they weren’t even that anymore since her father and step-mother had broken up, but she’d grown up looking up to Ollie and his kind, welcoming presence. The thing was ... she’d never seen Ollie like he was coming in the door that night. It made her wonder what exactly had gone on with this date. The fact that he was so specific about some things, but vague about others, was also weird.

Part of her wondered if it was just down to the fact that he’d met a celebrity that he really liked. April had voiced characters in animes that they’d watched together, and a couple of video games they had both played. It was cool that he got to meet her and have a meal with her and stuff. Hikaru would have been thrilled to go on the ‘date’ too.

But something was burning at the back of her mind. Ollie said they had so much in common, and she worried that maybe April had just been being nice and Ollie was infatuated.

The other side of that though was that maybe she was into all the stuff he was. And why would she humour him and go to the nerd store if she wasn’t? And on that note, if they just had dinner and went to the store, why was he home so late? That should have taken less time than going to a movie, shouldn’t it?

Hikaru stood up from the couch and quickly cleaned up the dishes and things that she and Margot had been using as they watched a movie and waited for Ollie to get back. It took until she was getting ready for bed, brushing her teeth and looking at herself in the mirror, that she started to piece together what she might have been feeling.

Hikaru had moved in a few weeks ago, thrilled to spend time with Ollie and at his offer to help her set herself up in the city. She loved him so much, and spending time with him after getting here had felt more comfortable than all four years of college. And she knew Hannah well, and had quickly bonded with Margot, and didn’t mind one bit when they came over.

But Ollie was hers, at least for now. They ate breakfast and dinner together. They watched shows together.

If April was real, and everything he said was true ... What did that mean for Hikaru and Ollie? Was she going to lose him, just when she finally felt like things were going well?

He’d had sex.

Of course, Ollie didn’t say anything about it. He was a gentleman, and a gentle man, after all. But Margot knew that was what it had to be.

Helping him prep for his date had been fun. Ever since he’d run into her while she was moving in and had offered to help move boxes up to her apartment from her Uhaul, he’d become a staple in her life. An excellent friend and sounding board. Hell, more than that. He’d helped her get settled in the city. She’d grown up on a ranch down in Texas, and she’d been to plenty of different cities after high school when she hit the road as a rodeo barrel racer, but she’d never lived in one before. Even her community college degree had been in a moderate-sized town instead of a city.