Chapter 7 Family

• Meanwhile at the café, Olivia gives up waiting to see if he comes back and starts her walk home. It was nice knowing her? That isn’t what normal people say to someone. She arrives home and drops straight onto the sofa, letting her head fall back against the cushions. She likes Cayson, she isn’t sure why, but for some reason, she just does. And him saying it was nice knowing her had hurt; she just wants to have him in her life.
• Hours pass by and she doesn’t stir until the knock at her door brings her out of her thoughts. She’s not expecting anyone but when she opens it, her mum and sister are standing there. They barge past her and sit down without saying a word, their eyes looking disapprovingly at the newspapers strewn over the floor.
• “Olivia, this is not healthy. You haven’t been to work, your phone is off, you’ve been ignoring the door until today, all of- this,” she gestures around the floor pointedly. “This obsession you have with Dan needs to end now; even your friends have given up. If you want to be lonely, fine, be lonely, but isolating yourself won’t help. He left you, just accept it.”
• Olivia sighs. She knows he didn’t just leave, at least not by choice. She can’t tell them that, though, not without risking their lives too.
• “I have not been isolating myself, I’ve been out.”
• Her sister laughs. “Going out alone to escape the empty house doesn’t count; seeing people does.”
• “I have seen people! I’ve met up with Cayson a few times.” She looks at them hoping they drop it, but no such luck.
• “Cayson who?” Her mum looks at her, confused.
• “A friend. That’s who I was with today, I was having breakfast. And as for not answering, I can’t, I dropped my phone and smashed it.” Olivia places the broken phone on the table, proof she’s not lying.
• “I’ve never heard you mention Cayson before, Liv.”
• Olivia grits her teeth. Mel knows she hates it when she calls her that.
• “Come on Mel, what do you want, proof? Should I ask him to come around here and confirm that is where I was?” She says it sarcastically, not really expecting them to take her up on her offer. She’s an adult; her sister doesn’t need to know every one of her friends. But, then again, Cayson isn’t exactly her friend.
• “Yes, actually, let’s see if this Cayson exists shall we, Mum?” Olivia stares at Mel. She’s called her bluff and now she has no choice. Sure, she has Cayson’s number, but he made it clear to stay away, and why would he come anyway? She doesn’t want to phone him, but Mel sits looking at her expectantly, tapping her meticulously painted nails on the worn wooden table.
• “I don’t have a phone,” Olivia points out desperately.
• “Take the sim out and use my spare. Here.” Mel hands her the phone, and now Olivia really doesn’t have any excuse. She removes her sim card from her broken phone and slides it into Mel’s spare. Turning it on, she takes the card out of her pocket, Cayson’s number scrawled over some writing she doesn’t bother to read. She keys in the number and types out a message.
• I know you said goodbye, but can you call by my house please? It’s important.
• She hits send on the message, looking up to Mel and smiling weakly.
• “Done! So what, you’re going to sit here and wait until h’s free to pop round?”
• Mel nods, sitting back in her chair, crossing her legs and tapping away on her own phone, their mother still not saying anything. Olivia decides to take things into her own hands.
• “It took you three months, three months to try to call me, I could have been dead a month ago, Mum, and you wouldn’t even have known.”
• “I did know, Olivia. Your boss has been telling us. The fact you haven’t been to work in a few days made her call us, so we could check that you were alive.” Okay, she can’t argue with that. Just as she’s about to try and come up with something else to say there’s another knock at the door. Olivia looks at her mum and sister, both gesturing towards the door. It can’t be Cayson; she hadn’t even told him her address yet. Her hand trembles slightly as she opens the door, to find Cayson standing there and looking at her with a confused frown.
• “What’s so-” He stops talking as Olivia opens the door wider, revealing her mum and sister to the man in front of her.
• “See, he exists.” Olivia can’t resist sticking her tongue out at Mel, who just rolls her eyes as if she’s too mature for Olivia’s attitude. In the background, Cayson is trying not to laugh. He stares at Olivia with a small but inquiring smile.
• Why had she told people about him?
• “Well, invite him in then,” says Mel.
• Olivia looks at her shocked while Cayson, smiling wider, nods and enters. Olivia instinctively moves out of the way as he walks in and sits down, shutting the door behind him and following him to the sofa. She sits as far away from him as she can get. There’s a hint of awkwardness in the atmosphere and she doesn’t want to aggravate that.
• “Mum, Mel, this is Cayson. Cayson, this is my mum and sister.”
• He nods, smiling.
• “It’s nice to meet you both.” He isn’t stupid, he knows this is just them checking up on her rather than her calling everyone she knows and telling them he a werewolf.
• “So, Liv was with you this morning?” Cayson raises an eyebrow at the nickname which he quickly lowers when he sees the way Olivia is looking at her sister. It’s a cliché, but if looks could kill…
• “Yes, we went out for breakfast,” he confirms. Mel nods, unsure whether or not she should believe him. Cayson looks at her mum, why is she not the one quizzing him? It is as if she isn’t bothered at all, like this was all Mel’s idea.
• “Have you two known each other long?”
• “A few weeks now, so we’re still kind of getting to know each other,” he replies. Mel clearly doesn’t fully believe him.
• “Well, there you go, so can you both leave now?” Mel looks at Olivia, shocked.
• “What now, Mel? You wanted proof I wasn’t sat in here drowning under all this crap with Dan and you’ve got it. Yes, okay, so I keep looking over it, but I’m putting myself before all of that as you can see.”
• “We’ll leave you to it, love.” Her mum stands up and walks to the door, Mel seemingly unhappy with that. She follows their mum reluctantly, but stops just before the door to turn back to Olivia.
• “How did you break your phone, anyway?”
• Cayson starts to answer before Olivia has even opened her mouth.
• “She dropped it just as I was stepping forward; it was too late to stop myself and I stood on it. I’ve said I’ll replace it, it was a complete accident.”
• Mel seems to be satisfied with this answer, nodding curtly before she walks out. Cayson laughs as the door shuts behind the two women.