Page 14 of Ravenous

“I’m really glad we did this,” Ollie gushed, grabbing his fork and poking at the salad.

“Me too. It’s been a busy few months for me and Owen so I haven’t been able to get out much.”

“Did you two meet at work?” Ollie put one piece of lettuce in his mouth, chewing slowly. “You never told me.”

“Sort of. We met at workagain.” Liam blushed. “He used to be my neighbor and one day he was suddenly my boss.”

“Oh my god.” Ollie dropped his fork. “That’s like a romance novel! A second chance at love, a workplace relationship!” His words were affected like he was doing a voiceover for a movie trailer.

“It was a lot more complicated than that,” Liam sighed, sampling the rice on his plate.

“What do you mean?” Ollie tilted his head, his food easily forgotten.

“We had a lot of issues to work out, on both sides, and I feel extremely lucky that Owen fell in love with me despite all of my problems.”

“If it was on both sides, didn’t you do the same for him?”

“Maybe? But I…” Liam stared at the table and Ollie could tell he was considering something. Finally, he flicked his gaze up to meet Ollie’s and leaned in. “You remember when you saw me at August’s wedding?” His tone was hushed; the restaurant had gained a few more patrons and Liam clearly didn’t want to broadcast what he was about to say.

“Of course,” Ollie replied softly, leaning forward as well, putting his elbows on the table.

“That wasn’t just grief. It was what I was doing to ease the grief.” Liam hesitated and then squared his shoulders, steeling himself. “I was addicted to Vicodin and the reason I haven’t been out as much is because I’ve been in rehab. It’s a day program that I’m about to finish.” There was pride in the set of Liam’s spine; however, the tightness around his lips and in the corners of his eyes displayed apprehension and a bit of shame.

Reaching across the table, Ollie put his hand over Liam’s. “Thank you for telling me.” Considering Liam’s disheveled and gaunt appearance at the wedding, and how his life had drastically changed, the confession made sense, not taking Ollie by surprise at all.

“You’re the first person I’ve told.” Liam exhaled, puffing out his cheeks.

“And it took a lot of strength to do it. You’re a rock star, you know that, right?” Ollie squeezed Liam’s hand. “You’ve been through a lot but you came back from it. You’re healing, and from what I can see you’re acing rehab. You’ll be their valedictorian.”

Liam’s giggle returned and it warmed Ollie’s heart. “I don’t think they have that, but thanks.” Sliding his hand away, Liam lifted his burrito again. “It’s been a lot of work. But I haven’t felt this good in a long time.”

“That’s awesome. If there’s any way I can help or if you need someone to lean on, I’m only a text away.” Ollie picked up his fork again, pushing his salad around.

“Thanks. You’re a good friend, Ollie.” Liam took a sip of his water. “Do you like living here?”

“I do! There’s a lot of running trails, my bestie is here.” This time it was Ollie’s turn to blush. “And I might, and I meanmight,have met someone.”

Liam choked on a bite of burrito, coughing a few times. “R-Really?” he managed when he could finally speak. “What’s his name?”

“I’ll tell you once I’m sure about him.” Ollie didn’t want to jinx anything, but he’d been thinking about Finn so much that he’d probably done so already, since Finn had been sitting on Ollie’s digits for four days now.

Of course, Ollie could make the next move but why should he when Finn had expressed interest and then ghosted him? Strange, he didn’t seem like the type. At least Ollie hadn’t gotten too invested, right?

“I thought you’d have at least six boyfriends,” Liam grinned, “you’re a catch.”

Ollie flapped a hand at his friend. “Stahp.” Then he sobered, resting that hand on the table. “You know, I put in the work and had a real glow-up but I’m very much the same on the inside. Sometimes I still see thebeforewhen I look in the mirror.” Inherently he knew he’d become more conventionally attractive but a part of his brain refused to accept it. So, he walked a thin line between two worlds. On one end was his confident Olleelicious persona, a place where he felt the most beautiful. But on the other was his former self, hovering in his reflection, telling him that he hadn’t changed at all because it would only take one false step to return to being a second-class citizen - invisible, ignored, and dismissed. “Aside from all that? Dating is tough, especially in our hometown. Once I becamethis, all the guys who ignored me for years were suddenly interested, and I could only see how shallow they were. I don’t like how reducing myself, altering myself, made me worthy of their time and attention, and now I can’t be sure if someone likes me formeor for how I look. It drives home how important appearance is because the difference in the way people treat me now compared to before is obvious and gross.”

“Trust me, people treat you differently when you lose someone too,” Liam stated, a haunted look in his eyes.

“How about we agree that society is seriously flawed?” And so was Ollie, for he cursed the obsession with appearance that he leaned on every day. How could he hate something that he used? A lot of his popularity was based on his face.

“But it also has some good people in it. Like Owen and your new guy,” Liam said with such pure innocence that Ollie wanted to pinch his cheeks.

“Do you need me to wrap that?” The waiter stopped by their table and Ollie looked down at his mostly untouched lunch. Glancing up he realized that Liam was staring at it too. Internally he cringed, waiting for a comment, but Liam just smiled and picked up his plate, handing over whatever was left of his burrito and rice.

“Yes, please. Both of ours.” He pulled his cell out of his pocket as Ollie breathed a sigh of relief, and when he looked at the screen, his eyebrows rose. “Oh my god.”

“What?” Ollie craned his neck, trying to see and Liam turned the phone around, showing him the long list of notifications.

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