A fuller, richer picture of who Oliver Ashford really is begins to form in my mind. The nurturing family. The ambitions. The backbone of love and fresh-baked appledesserts and sibling banter that have made Ollie who he is, but feel so foreign to me.
I feel like an idiot for never realizing it before. Suddenly I’m swimming with thoughts about the future in a way that makes me uncomfortable.
Soon enough, our fake relationship will end, and Oliver will have a whole life path ahead of him, and I’ll go back to how my life was before him.
My chaos.
My baggage.
But for now, I’m here with his perfect family in his perfect home. Playing my part for him.
“Willyou boys be joining us in the living room?” Cheryl asks as we finish dinner, many hours later.
We’re all sitting around the dining room table, full of roast chicken, veggies, and the incredible apple tart that Cheryl and Victor made together.
Oliver looks from me to his mom. “Um, I’m a little tired, Mom?—”
“We’ll gladly join you out there,” I say, partly just because I still want to get revenge on Ollie for not admitting to me that he told his whole family all about me, over the past few weeks.
“Right. Sure. We’ll join you.”
“Niko, you ever play GTA5?” Aaron asks.
“I sure have.”
“Fuck yeah. We’re going to race.”
“Language!” Cheryl says. “I was thinking more along the lines of a Christmas movie, guys. What’s GTA5?”
“Grand Theft Auto,” Aaron says, already getting up fromthe table and bringing his plate and glass to the sink. “It’s a video game. You can race cars after jacking them from innocent people on the streets.”
“Jesus Christ, Aar,” Cheryl says.
“He’s fine, Mom,” Oliver says. “Even I played it a little bit back in high school. We’ll just race each other, it’ll be fun.”
Cheryl gets up, and everyone helps clean up for the next few minutes.
“I need another glass of wine,” she says.
Victor nods. “Open another bottle of the Cabernet. Niko, Oliver, you’re welcome to have a glass.”
“I’d never turn down red wine,” I say.
He smiles.
He’s softened up, too, after wine and food and asking Oliver all about his first semester at Crimson. Victor pours heavy in all four of our wine glasses, and when we head to the living room, he holds his up and we clink them together.
The living room is big, with a long, U-shaped couch, ambient lighting from the fireplace, and blankets all over. I can see where Oliver got his taste for coziness that he brought to his room at Onyx House. I grab a soft one and toss it over myself on the couch, taking a sip of the wine.
“Let’s go,” Aaron says afterward, handing me a game controller.
For the next hour we play games and the Cabernet hits me harder than it usually would, putting a fuzzy, warm lens on everything.
I feel like I’m on an entirely different planet than the one I typically live on.
Everyone seemshappy.
Victor’s pulled out a paperback book and is idly readingunder a lamp while everyone else watches the video game. Cheryl occasionally leans over to kiss her husband on the cheek, and every now and then, I look over and see her checking a gardening website on her phone.