Brody's Perspective--Meeting Liv

Hi readers!  If you're confused why you're reading about Brody's perspective on meeting Liv today, you probably missed my accidental double post on Monday.  You can find Monday's first post here and the second one here.   Hope you enjoy seeing Liv through Brody's eyes.  Let me know what you think in the comments, and if you'd like to see more posts like this!  Thanks, as always, for being such loyal and awesome readers!
___________________________________ 

I hated this place.  This was my least favorite happy hour spot, but Savannah and Kendra like it, so here we are.  I'd had a hell of a day at work and I wasn't really in the mood for Savannah's giggling.  I was trying to ignore her and just talk to Alex, when Alex's eyes drifted over my shoulder.

"Wow," he breathed.  I turned and followed his eyes.  I saw Lauren first.  Then my eyes fell on the tiny blonde girl next to her.  That must be Lauren's friend that just moved here.  And wow was right.  She was absolutely gorgeous.  She looked like she was barely over 5 feet tall and slim, with subtle curves that were perfectly proportionate to the rest of her. 

"Who's that?" Savannah asked with disdain. 

"I assume that's Lauren's friend from Wisconsin," Alex answered, not taking his eyes off her.

"She's short," Savannah sniffed.

Alex shook his head.  "She's hot."

"Yeah," Savannah said haughtily, "if you're into that sort of thing."

Alex rolled his eyes.  "I'm into anything that looks like that."  Savannah made a face and turned to Kendra.

By this point, Lauren and the tiny blonde had made it to our table.  Lauren introduced her as Olivia, and she smiled shyly at us.  They sat down, and Olivia ended up right next to me.  I was worried that she might be one of those girls that looks amazing from far away, but once you get close, you realize her face is crooked or something, but she was even prettier up close.  She had a great smile and huge golden brown eyes.  She also seemed to be completely unaware of just how beautiful she was.

"Brody!" Christian yelled from the other side of the table.  "You said you were getting the next round!"  He held up his empty glass.  Mine was almost empty too, and Lauren and Olivia hadn't even gotten drinks yet.

I took orders, then turned to Olivia.  "I'll need an extra set of hands, want to join me?" I asked.  Alex shot me a dirty look, but he hadn't called dibs.  She agreed and we walked up to the bar.  I ordered all our drinks then turned to her.

"So, Wisconsin, huh?  What part?"

She smiled shyly again.  That smile was killing me.  "I'm from a small town outside Madison," she responded.  "I went to Wisconsin for school, so I've lived in Madison for awhile."

I nodded.  "And what brings you to Colorado?  Not that we aren't pleased to have you, of course."  I flashed what I hoped was a charming smile.

"I needed a change.  Have you been to Wisconsin?  The weather is awful.  Pretty much year round too, minus about two weeks in May and two weeks in September or October.  Plus, there aren't any mountains in Wisconsin, and my life is better when there's mountains."

"That's a pretty cute Wuh-skaaaahhhhn-sin accent you have," I teased her. 

She laughed.  "Yeah, because I haven't heard that one before," she shot back.  Sense of humor, that's good.  Her eyes fell to the small Omega symbol I had tattooed on the inside of my bicep.  She reached out and brushed her fingertips across it.  I had a sudden urge to kiss her.  "What's it mean?" she asked.

"It's the Greek letter Omega," I explained.  She shook her head.

"I know what it is, but does it mean something to you?"

"Yeah, it means '19 and stupid'," I said with a laugh.  She laughed too.

"That's too bad.  I had the 19 and stupid disease once too, but I must not have had it badly as you did, because I didn't get any tattoos."  She flashed a more confident smile at me.  It lit up her whole face, and the urge to kiss her got stronger.

Our drinks were all ready and I paid the bartender.  Olivia helped me carry the drinks back to the table.  We continued our conversation for a few minutes until Savannah came over.  She stood between my chair and Olivia's, awkwardly towering over us, and asked Olivia a bunch of questions.  I recognized the smile pasted onto her face as the one she reserves for people she'd like to push in front of a train.  She turned to me.  "Hey, come here, I wanted to show you something that Christian showed me!" she said.  She grabbed arm and pulled, leaving me little choice.

I gave Olivia an apologetic look and then went with Savannah, intending to return to my conversation with Olivia as soon as possible.  I watched as Alex quickly engaged her in conversation, then as they disappeared back to the bar awhile later.

"Are you even listening to me?" Savannah's voice was dangerously close to a whine.  I looked up at her.

"Sorry, what did you say?" I asked.   She continued, rambling on about some phone app.

We decided to order food, and as soon as I could get away from Savannah, I went back to my seat.  Alex and I spent the next  hour engaged in what could best be described as a pissing contest, fighting for Olivia's attention.  She did a pretty good job of dividing it between us, but I was getting agitated at Alex.

When Lauren came over and said she was going to get a cab, Olivia said she was going too.  I opened my mouth to offer to walk them out, but Alex was faster.  He walked with them towards the door.  I was irritated at myself for being mad at Alex.  I didn't want to fight with him over a girl.  I finished my drink and decided that I'd head out too.

I stepped out onto the sidewalk just in time to see Olivia walking towards a cab at the curb.  I stopped next to Alex.

"She say yes?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

"Huh?" Alex said.  He was still watching Olivia get into the cab.

"You asked her out, didn't you?  What did she say?"

"Oh," he responded.  "Yeah, I did.  She said she wanted to get settled before she did any dating here."  I nodded.  It was better than her saying yes to him, but it wasn't quite as good as her saying no to him.  

Wait, what was I thinking?  I couldn't believe that I was actually happy that a girl had turned down one of my best friends.  'That sucks, man," I said sympathetically.  He nodded, and we walked toward the parking lot we were both in.

As I got in my car, I thought about what Alex had said: that she wanted to get settled before she did any dating.  That meant that even if she wasn't interested in Alex, she wouldn't want to go out with me either.  I considered this.  Waiting on a girl wasn't really my style, but I was seriously intrigued by Olivia.

Then, I realized that she was friends with Lauren.  I mean, I knew this all along, but it occurred to me that Lauren would probably talk, especially if Olivia happened to express any interest at all in me.  I wondered what she would tell her.  Not for the first time, I cursed my year of indiscriminate sex here.  That pretty much made up my mind for me.  I would wait.  I would wait, and get to know her.  I would start by inviting her to my barbecue on Saturday.