“Because it’s rude! And I can’t do that, we just—” Olive cut whatever she was about to say short, and I wondered if she was going to spill the beans that we’d only met recently. Before she could go further, I opened the already cracked door and leaned against the frame. Olive was on her small bed, and Taylor sat on a white desk chair. Her room looked youthful. It was covered in rose gold and sparkles, which was a surprise compared to the Olive I knew. She was laid out on her stomach on the bed with her arms propping her up. Her black dress was tight on her upper thighs, and I fought to keep my eyes from trailing across her body. Her blonde hair was in a braided updo, and I could admire her like this all night.

“Just man up and do it!” Taylor raised her voice a little.

They had clearly not seen me.

“Taylor! I am not staying with him when I have a perfectly good place to sleep here,” Olive said.

Taylor leaned her head back and groaned. “Live a little! Just go stay at his house. It’s your chance to put all my tips to good use.”

What tips? I assumed they were talking about me since Taylor thought we were together.

I cleared my throat, alerting them to my presence before they could say anything else. Both women turned their heads to me faster than I could blink. Olive struggled to sit up, and Taylor looked between the two of us.

“I’m just gonna…” Taylor jumped off the fancy desk chair and ran past me in a hurry, avoiding my gaze.

I looked back to Olive, where she sat properly on her bed with legs crossed and hands in her lap. Her round cheeks were a shade of deep pink that faded over her freckles, and I couldn’t hold my grin back.

“We were just talking about a podcast I’m working on.” If if I hadn’t heard her and Taylor talking about me, the pitch to her tone would’ve told me she was lying.

“Sounded like a good podcast.”

“No, no. It was just—” she said, jumping to defend herself, and my grin widened.

As she stuttered excuses, I studied her room. It was feminine and sparkly and so unlike Olive.

She was still going on when I said, “I’m surprised. This doesn’t seem like you.” Not that I knew her that well, but from what I did know of her, I didn’t see her as the type to be so girly. It was cute.

“It’s not. Mom never changed it when I left for college.” She scanned the room like she was placing memories through it.