I Can’t Love You

Four

*Andrews POV*

I woke up the next morning to a text from Liv. I instantly sat up and read the text. ‘Thanks for taking me home.’ I smiled. I started to type another message then stopped. I erased the message and went to mine and Oliver's messages. I sent him a text. ‘You home?’ It took him a minute but he responded. ‘Yuh gotta check on Liv.’ A smile flickered across my face thinking about her. I shook my head trying to get her off my mind. ‘Cool. I’m coming by.’ While I was getting dressed, my phone dinged. ‘Gonna get breakfast with Liv, wanna come?’ I sent him back a quick yeah and walked out to my car. I started thinking maybe Liv had told Oliver what happened last night. Then it clicked, she wouldn’t have told him about the party and that’s the only way to explain why I was with her. My stomach turned pulling up to the house. I got out and slowly walked to the door. I knocked on it and it took a few minutes before Oliver got to the door. “Come on. Liv’s getting ready.” I walked in and followed Oliver up the stairs. “Liv?” Oliver asked when we got upstairs. “Bathroom.” A smile crept onto my face hearing her voice. We walked to the doorway and Oliver froze. “What the hell!”

I saw the bruise on her arm. It was big. It covered most of the space between her shoulder and her elbow. It felt like I got kicked in the stomach repeatedly when I saw it. I know Oliver felt twice as bad when he saw it. She looked at us confused. “What?” Oliver walked over to her and grabbed her elbow gently, showing her the massive bruise on her arm. My face was covered in horror and guilt. She threw her sweatshirt on over her tank top and walked past Oliver. She stopped right in front of me and my heart stopped for a second. We were so close. It hurt when she walked right past me. I looked over at the pure rage on Oliver's face. I was really hoping he’d calm down but I knew better. He walked past me. “It’s nothing.” He hit my shoulder as he walked past me and I knew by the way he was walking that he wasn’t going to be able to control his anger. Liv turned away from him. “It’s not nothing, who did this? Was it Nicole? I swear if she-“ She stopped and turned around quickly. I thought he was going to ram straight into her. “It wasn’t Nicole, just leave it alone.” My whole body tensed up the closer he got to her.

“No, hell no. Who did this, Olivia?” He was almost shouting. Liv jumped back and I could feel the fear coming off of her. I quickly walked over and stepped in front of Oliver. At that moment, I was the angriest I’ve ever been. I bawled one fist and gently pushed Oliver back with the other. I can’t believe I was ready to hit my best friend. He backed up and I took a breath. “Okay, let’s calm down a little, yeah?” That was all I could muster through my anger. I turned to look at Liv but she was walking downstairs. Oliver went after her and it was all I could do not to drag him back. I went after both of them and saw them outside. Oliver apologized for raising his voice. He stepped closer to her and she backed up. I instinctively started walking over to them. “I just want to know who hurt you.” She looked over at me and I just shook my head. If she told him about what happened, he would get more upset with her. I don’t care if he found out I knew. She lowered her head. She reassured him that she’s okay and I sighed with relief hearing her say it. Oliver looked around and was about to say something when he paused. “Where’s your car?” She looked at the driveway then back at me. We both shared a worried look. “Um..still at Nic’s.” I blinked the worry away seeing Oliver starting to believe her. “How’d you get home?”

She grew nervous and I got a little worried she’d tell him the truth. She told him that a friend dropped her off and obviously he asked who it was. She told him it was Nicole’s neighbor and he believed it, thankfully. We went to get in the car but there was stuff all in Oliver’s front seat. “Y’all can just sit in the back.” I gulped nervously. I opened the car door for her. We got in and Liv barely took up her seat. She was so small, it made me smile. For most of the ride, I was stiff. I didn’t know how to act around her anymore. We were almost there when Oliver took a sharp right turn sending Liv over onto me. She ended up in my lap. She looked up and me. It took a second before we stopped looking at each other and realized my hands were on her legs. I quickly pulled my hands away and she got off my lap and back into her seat. My breath hitched as her hand ran across my chest. I cleared my throat nervously. We got to the restaurant and sat down at our table. Liv sat next to me cause Oliver had to sit with his back against the wall. Liv sat in the chair against the wall and I sat in the aisle seat. She sat there and didn’t say anything. I kept looking at her to see if I could tell what was wrong but I couldn’t. I looked at Oliver and nodded towards Liv. He finally noticed. “Liv, you okay?” She blinked several times before focusing her gaze on him. “Yeah..um excuse me.” She stood up and walked towards the bathroom. Oliver and I both shared a worried glance.