The official page thingy for A Shot of Arrogance. Join and you get a monkey.
“Ollie?” Ella spoke softly as she gently shook Oliver’s arm. “Ollie, can you hear me, darling?”
Oh God... this was all my fault. I should have noticed Oliver acting weird. Why didn't I let him eat or drink anything decent? What if there was something seriously wrong? Why did I have to act so blooming selfishly?
Both Richard and I were staring anxiously at the scene before us. My father, on the other hand, just looked annoyed. As Ella continued trying to wake Oliver up, my father was pacing back and forth, constantly glancing at his silver watch.
“It’s nearly three o’ clock, Mr. Brooks has to leave soon,” he muttered, turning to Ella. “Can’t you just take the boy into another room or something?”
I couldn’t help but notice a glint of annoyance in Ella’s eyes as she turned to my father. That was something I loved about Ella; she often gave people dirty looks, yet they’d never be any the wiser.
Without replying to my father, Ella turned back to Oliver and carried on with her attempt to wake him up. The second he started stirring, I felt a wave of relief run through my body.
“It's about time!” my father said loudly.
Ella wasn’t the only one who was pissed off with him now. I should have been used to this behaviour because that was just the way my father behaved. I was aware that I was arrogant, but I was nowhere near as arrogant as my father.
After a few more stirs and some eye flickers, Oliver awkwardly lifted himself up so that his back was leaning against the coffee table in the middle of my living room. My father had began tapping his foot and sighing impatiently.
“Bloomin’ hell,” Oliver moaned, leaning his head back against the coffee table. “And I thought a hangover was bad.”
Trust him to have said something as stupid as that after being unconscious for five minutes.
As though Oliver was her own child, Ella began fussing over him, asking a load of questions. She asked him if he still felt dizzy, when the last time he ate was, if his head was hurting, and she must have asked him if he could hear her okay about seven times.
“Ella, I’m fine! Honestly,” Oliver laughed, slowly pulling himself onto his feet.
I could tell that he was still a bit dizzy because it took him ages to actually stand up, and when he did eventually do so, he almost fell back down again.
When Oliver did manage to stand up straight, my father was the first to say something. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t an are you okay, or a do you want me to get you anything?
“There we go, the boy’s fine,” he said, “now that he is fine, I’m sure he won’t mind getting something to eat for Mr. Brooks." He turned to Richard. “You must be starving,”
“Well, I would if my hand wasn’t bleeding...” Oliver chuckled to himself. “I don’t think Richa- Mr. Brooks would appreciate blood on his beans and toast.”
Beans on toast...? Seriously?
“I don’t want anything anyway, thank you. I have to leave now; I have to go to a family dinner this evening, so I need to get ready,” Richard said politely.
My father shot a scathing look in Oliver's direction, who was rubbing his head gently with his undamaged hand.
“Well... I better be off then,” Richard smiled, heading toward the door. “I suppose we’ll speak soon.” He sounded hopeful.
“Um, yeah,” I replied, trying to sound casual.
With a small grin, Richard opened the living room door and left the room. A few seconds later, I heard the front door open and then close. Well, that was certainly an eventful morning.
*****
There was this strange feeling at the pit of my stomach, something I’d never really felt before. It wasn’t a nice feeling and it made me question my previous actions. For the first time since I could remember, I felt guilty. I knew that it was stupid, I knew that I didn’t have anything to feel guilty about. Maybe I had been a bit harsh on Oliver within the past few days, but come on, he was hardly pleasant to be around. Then again, I didn’t treat him as well as I could have...
I was being stupid now. I hadn’t done anything wrong, not really. Laughing to myself for being so silly, I leaned back on my sofa and closed my eyes as I swept my fringe off of my face.
“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then,” I heard Oliver’s voice beside me.
His voice still sounded slightly strained, even though he’d passed out quite a while ago now. He was leaving an hour or so early because of what had happened today. Ella hadn’t actually told me why he’d passed out; I didn't like it. Oliver wasn’t so eager to let me now either. That didn’t really bother me that much. What did bother me was Ella.
It wasn’t the fact that she didn’t tell me why Oliver had passed out, but the fact that she’d purposely not told me. There was something weird about the way she treated Oliver; it was so different to the way everyone else here treated him. Everyone else here was irritated by him just as much as I was and thought that he was the most annoying teenager they'd ever met. For some bizarre reason, Ella seemed to like him. I knew that she was friends with his mother, who I was very compelled to meet after experiencing the way Oliver behaved, but I didn’t understand why that meant Ella had to treat him like her child or something.
As my mind began to ponder, I only confused myself more. What were my parents thinking when they hired Oliver? I'd figured out that they'd probably hired a teenager due to lack of money. That was my theory. They wouldn't have had to pay him as much considering he was only eighteen years old. Another thing that confused me was Ella's relationship with Oliver. She was such an amazing person, one who was never able to get on my wrong side. Why would she even somewhat like Oliver?
“Hey, aren’t you going to Reading or something in a few weeks?” I suddenly heard Oliver’s voice once more. “Or are you not going anymore?”
Opening my eyes, I processed the word Reading. Another stupid attempt of my father to show others that we weren't becoming bankrupt. It was also another idiotic way of losing even more of our much needed money.
I saw Oliver stand up and take his jacket from the other end of the sofa. It was just us two in the room now; my mother and father were discussing something in the kitchen. Most likely my future, knowing them.
Richard had left an hour ago by now, but I kept on thinking of him. I could easily see myself being with Richard. The thought of marrying him seemed a little too far-fetched right now, but I had plenty of time to get to know him better.
“Hello...?” Oliver’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Is that a yes, Ollie, I am going to Reading or a no, I’m not, now piss off?”
“Yes, I am.” I rolled my eyes at him. “You’re coming with me though, you do realise that? Just because I get a holiday for two days, it doesn’t mean you do.”
Oliver clearly wasn’t happy with that because once I’d finished my sentence, his face dropped and he stared at me, raising his eyebrows.
What did he expect? I had to go to Reading for some kind of family get together. My father had foolishly agreed to pay, unsurprisingly. Not even my family knew the full extent of our problems. They assumed I was getting married to obtain the family's estate instead of Joseph. There was a hell of a lot more to it than that.
By family, I meant me, my mother, my father and my two grandparents. It was hardly the party of the decade. Oliver needed to make up for his insolent behaviour within the past few days. This could have been the perfect chance for him.
“No,” Oliver said, shaking his head. “I ain’t going.”
“I think that’s up to me,” I replied, offended. “If you don’t go, don’t expect a job when I get back. Besides, it's almost three weeks away. You can't have made many plans already.”
“I can’t go, Tori. I’ve got more important things to than spend my time making you celery sticks or whatever that orange stuff is that you eat.”
If someone would have once told me that I would one day meet someone who didn’t know the difference between celery and carrots, I wouldn’t have believed them. Oliver was clearly an exception. Why he thought celery was orange, I had no idea.
More important things to do? What important things could he possibly have to do? Go out and get drunk with all of his loud mouthed mates. That is if he had any friends. He was hardly rolling in money; I doubt he could do all that much, to be honest.
“What could you possibly be doing over the weekend besides drinking, smoking and taking drugs, or whatever you kind of people do?”
“Tori, I ain’t from another species, you know. I don’t smoke or take drugs either, by the way. What I get up to in my spare time has nothing to do with you. All of you rich chicks are the same; you think that you know everything when you obviously don’t have a clue.”
“Look, if you don’t turn up, don’t expect to keep your job.”
Cursing under his breath, Oliver glared at me. “Just don’t expect me to be happy about it,” he mumbled.
“Don’t worry, you won’t have to talk to me that much anyway. My parents are going to ask Richard if he would like to join us.” I smiled. "You're just there to keep an eye on me, really, even though I am perfectly capable of looking after myself. My parents clearly think otherwise.”
I couldn’t help but notice Oliver’s lips curve upwards slightly in amusement. I gave him a strange look and he winked back at me which made me cross my arms.
With me still glaring at him, Oliver slipped his arms into his jacket, struggling slightly as he tried to get his bandaged hand through the left sleeve. Straightening the jacket out, he turned to me once more.
“That guy’s dodgy.” He laughed, heading for the door.
“What?” I didn’t even try to hide the offense in my voice. “He’s lovely, kind and handsome. Perfect.”
Oliver laughed as I swooned over the man I’d met a few hours ago. How could he say that about a man like Richard, especially when Oliver himself behaved the way he did?
“Exactly.” Oliver winked at me, reaching for the door handle. “Perfect don’t exist, Tori. When someone comes across as perfect, it ain’t good. The worst ones always seem perfect at first and then, when you realise who they really are, bam! You’re stuck with them. I know his type, Tori.”
Still glaring at him hard, he opened the door and seconds later, he was gone.
I was extremely annoyed now. How could he even say something like that about Richard? Fair enough, perfection was a hard thing to find, but Richard certainly came close to it. What Oliver said was stupid. What did he know?
), I'm here to do a review for you! 
Gender:
Points: 44360
Reviews: 1087