Billionaires Meet Millionaire (A Steamy Romance) (18 page)

She liked it,
a lot.

But it still
was only a friendly peck, wasn't it? Even with his thumb and the
look in his eyes. The whole thanks bit had only confirmed that.

Niall
was grateful to her. For what exactly Olta didn't know and
she didn't particular care.

However,
Olta was convinced that Niall did consider her his friend. And he
had implied that his other friends considered her such as well.
NiallFoy, whose few friends all dated back to primary school had
accepted her into their midst within a week.

And he had
kissed her.

It was a
kiss out of gratitude, Olta reminded herself. Not unlike those Sam
had given her for doing his Greek translations or the ones Dean had
given her for explaining the more intricate workings of certain
historical processes. And not unlike the ones she had given them
for helping her out with any subject which had to do with formulas
and numbers.

Olta
sighed deeply as she resigned herself to the facts. Part of
her was elated by the turn of events and part of her was saddened
by them. Still, it was better to be friends with Niall than to be
just one of the countless girls who made moon eyes at him every
time he passed them in the hallways. Now she could just do that
while she sat beside him, jolly.

Olta
smiled as she touched her lips. He had kissed
her.

"Are you
okay?" Olta nearly jumped as she suddenly heard her mother beside
her. She looked up at her mother with her index finger still
lingering on her lips.

Her
mother smiled down at her. She wore her understanding smile and
Olta withdrew her finger self consciously.

"Come
on, I think he's home by now." Her mother gently tucked Olta's
arm.

Olta
regained the movement of her limbs and she turned inside
and closed the door behind her.

"We've
just put Dr. Strangelove on, want to join us?" Olta's mother asked
as they made their way to the living room. Olta shook her head in
denial.

Then she
remembered Maggie's behaviour during dinner. She had promised not
to bring up anything that could be remotely considered
embarrassing, which in Olta's case was everything. Yet she had gone
out of her way to try and tell about Olta getting drunk on school
parties, Olta's monumental failures during the Easter Tournament,
and Olta being stoned during French class.

"No, but
I'm going to kill your youngest child. Want to join me?" Olta said
with fake cheeriness as she passed her mother into the
room.

"Now
Olta." Her mother said and Olta stopped in front of the couch.
Maggie looked up at her with big innocent eyes but the smug smile
she sported gave her away. Olta glared down at her sister as her
mother continued.

"I think that
might be a bit excessive. So no, I don't want to join you."

Sitting
herself down next to Maggie, her mother eyed both her daughters
before returning her attention to the movie.

"You."
Olta breathed.

"Ah,
come on. I was not trying to put you down, I was building you up."
Maggie said not taking her eyes of her sister.

"Right."
Olta snorted. "And I would believe you because?"

"Because
I chose to tell cool stories about you. I mean even mamma thought
so, didn't you?" Maggie looked at mother for
confirmation.

"I
wouldn't say cool but yes, it was funny. Nothing you should try,
though, and probably not something to brag about." Their mother
said, not taking her eyes from the screen. Olta gave her sister a
smug look.

"Too
much." Her mother added and Olta's smugness faded.

They
were doing it again, the teaming up against her. Couldn't they see
that there was no such thing as a cool Olta story? Niall apparently
liked her enough to be her friend and all this story telling would
only destroy that.

With a
frustrated cry Olta left the room.

She went into
the reading room and picked up the book she had been reading.
Reclining on the sofa she started to read.

Three
hours later Olta was in bed, wide awake. Trying to sleep turned out
to be just as much a waste of time as trying to read had
been.

Her mind
was on the lingering touch on her cheek and lips. Olta imagined it
had been more than just a friendly peck. That even if the kiss
hadn't been deepened, it had lasted just a bit too long for an
ordinary peck. And then of course there had been his thumb on her
face, before, during and after the kiss. She knew she hadn't
imagined that or the look in eyes. Those beautiful eyes. Damn
NiallFoy.

Olta
was awoken by an unfamiliar bleeping sound. Dazed she
looked around room trying to determine the origin of the sound.
Finally she figured it came from her sitting corner.

Getting
out of bed the bleeping stopped but Olta figured she might as well
check it out.

Beside
her love seat she found her cell phone. It showed her that she had
received one text message and that it was six thirty. Her alarm
wouldn't go off for another half an hour.

If this
was Maggie's idea of a joke, she was going to pay dearly. For once
Olta had been having very pleasant dreams and she had wanted them
to continue just a little longer.

The
message wasn't from her sister, though. It was from
Niall.

'Rise
and Shine, Tirana, Rise and Shine.'

Olta
sat down on her seat staring at the display.

What in the
world had possessed him to send her a message? For that matter, how
had he gotten her number?

Olta
smiled as she remembered parts of her dream. Niall had not
just been her friend in her dream, oh no. Olta knew this friendship
thing was going to be hard, to say the least. But those kind of
dreams made it just a little harder.

And
Niall sending her text messages wasn't really helping.

But
there were still the others and if she was indeed considered their
friend as well, she might as well start focusing on them instead of
Niall.

Olta
did decide that some pay back was in order, though.
Unfortunately she was rather bad at giving it.

Getting
ready Olta wondered if Niall would pick her up today. She wondered
if he could drive at all. Probably not.

It
wasn't even seven yet when Olta went downstairs. An idea came to
Olta's mind. She'd have a quick breakfast and walk to school.
Getting there early would give her chance to roam the school some
more, something she hadn't been able to do since her first day.
Even though she knew her way around well enough, she still needed
to familiarize herself more. And the upside was that if Niall did
want to give him a ride to school she'd be standing him up. It
wasn't a particular inspired payback but it was payback
nonetheless.

The
school was still virtually deserted. If it wasn't for the few cars
in the parking lot, Olta would have thought she was the first to
arrive.

Examining the inside of her locker Olta was surprised by
the mess she managed to make of it in just one week. She'd thought
it would take her at least a fortnight.

"Olta,
right?"

Olta
jerked around. Behind her there were a girl and a guy she
both knew from a couple of her classes but she couldn't remember
their names. The girl was inconspicuous enough. With her
no-nonsense jeans and sweater she reminded Olta very much of
herself. The guy was a different matter. His hair was dyed black
and he had a lip ring. Olta had seen Niall talking to him on
several occasions.

"Ehm,
yes." Olta started uncertainly. "I'm sorry, I know your faces, but
I can't remember your names."

"That's okay.
It's not like we've been introduced." The girl smiled.

"I'm
Josie and this is Sam." The girl said, nodding her head back to the
guy behind her dismissively.

"Hi."
Olta replied smiling a small smile at both of them.

"So what
brings you around this early?"

"Oh, I
kind off woke early this morning and decided to roam a little."
Olta said, feeling rather stupid right now.

"Figured
you could do that all by yourself now, did you?" Sam said eyeing
Olta with even look. Josie only rolled her eyes.

"Pardon?" Olta asked confused and slightly affronted. Why
in the world was he talking to her like she was a
toddler?

"Didn't
need Niall then, did you?" Sam said by way of an
explanation.

"To
walk? No, I am perfectly in control of my own legs." Olta retorted.
Some people really should learn to mind their own
business.

Sam
chuckled.

"See why he
likes you."

Olta
was starting to get really confused now and looked at Josie
questioningly. Josie just shrugged.

"What
Sam is trying to say in is own unique language is that we are
rather surprised to see you around on your own when you've been
tied to Niall' hip all week."

"Have
you been watching me or something?" Olta asked, a little harsher
than she intended.

"What
did you think? That a new edition to Niall' group would go by
unnoticed? You're sitting at his table, girl." Josie said, laughing
lightly.

"And
this is of interest to you, because?" Olta already knew the answer
but she needed it to be spelled out. Even though Niall had
explained the social structure to her Olta had thought herself a
bystander. She really hadn't given any thought to her own status
within the pack. She was a non-entity.

"Hello,
where have you been? NiallFoy allowed you, some new girl to sit at
his table, after knowing you just one day. That gets tongs rolling
around here." Now Josie sounded just a bit exasperated.

"Not
quick on the uptake, are you?" Olta glared at Sam. Could he be any
more condescending? He did have a point though. Apparently she was
anything but a non-entity. That was a strange epiphany

"Apparently not, no." Olta shook her head
wearily.

"Now,
this roaming. How about we show all the good spots?" Josie asked.
She seemed shy all of a sudden. Sam even gave her a small
smile.

Surprised but pleased by the offer Olta smiled.

"Please
do."

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Niall
parked his car in the school parking lot. He took his meds
out of his bag and swallowed them down with some discarded
Gatorade. Then he banged his head very lightly on his steering
wheel. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. But then again, his
life just wasn't going his way.

The idea
had been simple. Send Olta a text message and pick her up. This
would serve several purposes. It would make clear to Olta that his
cowardly exit the night before had nothing to do with her. Because
after that kiss, which really hadn't been more than a good peck on
her lips, he knew for once and for all that he had it bad, truly
bad. Hopefully the message had been able to convey everything he
felt about her, even if he hadn't said in so many words.

And then
there was the matter of making sure that everybody in school,
Daniel first and foremost, understood that Olta was the truly his
friend and no longer some sort of assignment. And well, that she
was his. Although he figured that was an established fact by
now.

However,
the plan had pretty much been shot out of the water when Olta
hadn't been home.

Sandra
had clearly been surprised to see him and had informed him
that Olta had already left, on foot. Apparently she had assumed
that he wouldn't able to drive.

Admittedly, forgoing his meds in favour of driving was a
painful affair. Matilda had shaken her head in bemused dismay when
he had declined her offer to give him a ride.

Tapping
on the windshield brought Niall out of his reverie. Looking up he
saw Bailey grinning at him broadly.

"Didn't
get enough sleep?" Bailey joked, loud enough for Niall to hear him
through the window.As Niall looked up at him, Bailey’s face clouded
over. He had noticed the bruises.