<h4>Chapter 301: Chapter 301 : Excitement</h4>


    *Olivia*


    The second the rm red through my room, my eyes snapped open, and I mmed my hand against the screen.


    “Shit.”


    I watched my phone fall between the bed and nightstand and smack right onto the floor. Maybe I had been a bit overzealous.


    I groaned, turning on my stomach to fish for my phone between the crack, the rm still ring in my ears. I wish I had chosen a tune much easier on the ears.


    But no, I had to choose the loudest one avable.


    I gripped my phone and pulled it back on top of the bed with a triumphant grin. The score was me–one, phone–zero.


    Nothing was going to ruin this day, and I was going to make sure of it.


    After shutting off my rm, I rushed to the shower, quickly falling into my morning routine, even if it was a bit sloppy due to my excitement. I jumped into the shower before the water had warmed up and had to muffle my scream.


    I identally spilled the toothpaste onto the sink and I used hand soap to wash my face instead of face wash. I stabbed myself in the eye with the mascara brush.


    But despite all the misfortunate idents, none of it mattered to me.


    What would normally make for a bad start to the day couldn’t stop me. I pulled on my clothes and grabbed my shoes and purse in my hands before leaving.


    I practically skipped down the empty hallway and took the steps two at a time as I headed down then swung myself around the corner and into the kitchen.


    “Morning!” I cried in a chipper voice.


    Tallon sat at the ind, a weird look on his face as he held his spoon mid-air, a bunch of cereal spilling into his bowl. His eyes followed me as I hummed one of my favorite songs, and headed straight for the coffee machine.


    “Um, Livi,” Tallon called out to me.


    “Hm?” I asked as I started the machine, watching the beauty as it made my beans into a perfect roast.


    “It’s five in the morning,” Tallon said, awkwardly.


    I paused mid-hum and nced at the kitchen windows. Even hidden behind the blinds, I could see the nighttime that still lingered.


    The sun hadn’t risen yet.


    “Oh,” I said, deting like a balloon. But I perked up anyway as my coffee dinged to show it was ready.


    “No matter,” I shrugged, grabbing the mug and taking a seat on the ind. “I can wait until it’s time to leave.”


    “That excited?” Tallon asked with a teasing grin.


    “Of course!” I beamed. “Dahlia’sing home!”


    And that was it–the source of my good mood, the beginning of everything. All the sorrow and guilt and fear that I’d dealt with over the past two weeks faded away due to the simple fact that my best friend wasing home.


    After being kidnapped, beaten, and shot, Dahlia made it through. She was alive and kicking and finally, as her best friend, this was the moment when I could really help her through it.


    Just having her home was a relief, but being able to be by her side to help her recover was more than enough to make me thankful for just being alive.


    The nightmares of her death still haunted me, and I knew without a doubt that she was still carrying the trauma of what happened to her.


    I clutched my mug tightly, the warmth grounding me before I faded back into the fear. So much had happened over so little time, and there was so much I wanted to talk to her about and to say to her.


    But first, we needed to bring her home.


    “Well, I remember when she got her tonsils out,” Tallon huffed, crossing his arms. “She made me be her servant for a week, even after she got better!”


    Iughed, remembering the time. All of us had been bossed around by Dahia during that time. She could be quite needy when she was sick, but I was actually looking forward to it. I was just grateful she was alive, and that I could hear her voice again.


    “I miss her,” I smiled to myself, sadly.


    “Don’t worry. She’ll be home and bossing us around in a few hours,” Tallon reassured me before slurping the rest of his cereal up without a spoon.


    “You’re a savage.” I shook my head at the disy. No one else I knew ate cereal by slurping it like soup.


    “Haters gonna hate,” Tallon shrugged, wiping his mouth of the milk on his sleeve.


    I rolled my eyes, used to his antics by now.


    “Breakfast is ready!”


    A maid I’d seen a few times came in with a huge smile, carrying tes of food. The few that followed her quickly set up the dining table and the smells of breakfast hit my nose all at once.


    I was so distracted watching the food that I didn’t see the figure approaching me from behind.


    “I apologize for beingte,” a low voice said and I jumped in ce, spilling my coffee on my hand as I faced the intruder.


    Giovani stood there and he nced at my hand worriedly but luckily, the coffee had cooled enough. I wiped it away with a sheepish grin as Giovani fully stepped into the kitchen.


    “What’s up, Cuz? You’re neverte,” Tallon said with a grin. “Have a little too much funst night?”


    Giovani rolled my eyes, and I stiffened, taking a sip of my coffee to distract myself.


    “No. Now,e on. Breakfast is ready,” Giovani nodded toward the table, taking his seat stiffly.


    Tallon and I exchanged a nce before sliding off the barstools and taking our own seats. Despite having just devoured a bowl of cereal, Tallon was quick to dig in, while Giovani took his time selecting dishes.


    Silence fell between us–not awkward, just ufortable like something that needed to be said wasn’t being said. It felt like what I would imagine having dinner with your divorced parents would feel like.


    “So,” Tallon said between bites of bacon, “is Alessandroing down?”


    “I don’t know,” Giovani said, coldly, not even ncing at Tallon.


    I kept my eyes firmly on the basket of muffins in front of me, sneakily grabbing one and slowly peeling the outeryer like it was the most interesting thing in the world.


    I wasn’t going to get involved in this, not again.


    Giovani ate in silence while I took small bites of my muffin. Tallon looked at each of us with a weird nce before leaning back in his chair. Time passed slowly, like when you were in math ss and all you could do to pass the time was to doodle.


    If I listened hard enough, I was sure to hear the ticking clock above the doorway.


    Once my muffin was gone, I decided I was done with breakfast. I was already excited and now with the awkward mood, I wasn’t feeling very hungry at the moment.


    “I’ll go see what’s up with him.” Tallon’s chair scraped on the floor as he got out of his seat. He took off upstairs, his feet pounding on each step like he was running for his life.


    I didn’t me him.


    I nced at Giovani with a frown, “What’s wrong?”


    “Nothing,” Gioani sighed. “Just didn’t get a lot of sleep.”


    Looking closer, I noticed the light shadows under his eyes, barely noticeable, but they were there.


    “Why not?” I asked.


    We had stayed up a littlete, but not nearly to the point of being this exhausted.


    “I was making ns for Dahlia’s return all night,” he said, rxing into his seat. “She won’t be able to walk upstairs unless she wants to tear her stitches, so I asked the maids to move her stuff to a room on the bottom floor. But I know how Dahlia likes things, so there was quite a bit of moving needed.”


    I sucked in my breath. It had only just hit me once he said it, but he was right. Dahlia had stitches in her stomach. She couldn’t be walking up and down the stairs. It just hadn’t urred to me. Our rooms had always been close together.


    I was anxious at the thought of Dahlia not being down the hall from me, not being close enough that I could rush to her side in an instant if I needed to. When we were kids, whenever one of us had a nightmare, we’d sneak into the others’ rooms to sleep.


    It was dizzying not having her there anymore.


    I nodded, trying not to let the disappointment show on my face.


    Luckily before Giovani even noticed, Tallon appeared in the doorway, breathing heavily with a terrified look on his face.


    “He isn’t in his room. Alessandro’s gone!”


    My heart dropped to my feet.


    Not again... please, not again, I begged.


    “Did you try calling him?” Giovani asked, rmed.


    “Yeah!” Tallon nodded. “But he didn’t–”


    He fell silent as his phone began to ring, and he frowned at the screen, hitting ept before cing the phone near his ear.


    I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he nodded a few times, saying, “Hmmm, okay, got it.” And then he hung up.


    Silence fell between us before Tallon looked up at Giovani sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.


    “Yeah, that was him. He’s already at the hospital,” Tallonughed awkwardly as Giovani red at him like he was an idiot.


    “Don’t scare me like that.” I breathed a sigh of relief, falling back into my chair. My heart was racing from the near-scare, thinking that yet another of my precious friends had been kidnapped.


    My heart just wouldn’t be able to take it.


    “My bad,” Tallon shrugged.


    Giovani rolled his eyes as he pointed toward the front door. “Just get in the car. Now.”


    “Sorry!” Tallon called out before ducking behind the wall. The door mmed shut not a few secondster and both Giovani and I sighed.


    Startled, we both nced at one another and thenughed.


    “He can be a bit scatterbrained,” I told him with a grin as I pulled on my sandals and buckled them up. “But he means well.”


    “Yeah, well, he needs to think before he speaks,” Giovani smirked, crossing his arms as he waited patiently for me.


    He held out a hand to me, and I grinned, reaching for him before I paused. I looked back at the table, still full of food, and quickly plucked one of the muffins from the bowl and then grabbed his hand.


    Giovaniughed as I bit into the muffin happily, letting him lead me to the door.


    “Don’t let Gabriele see. He’s a stickler for the no food in the car rule.” He grinned.


    “But that rule doesn’t apply if he doesn’t know, right?” I asked, innocently.


    “Only for you,” Giovani leaned over to kiss my forehead, and I felt the smile on his lips when he kissed me. “Only you.”