But It's The Rules! - tags Olivia

[Reece Morgan]

It had actually started out as a joke.

He wanted to send Olivia a gift after their game of pool that sort of evolved into some weird make-out session. Weird for Olivia, Reece liked it. Also, it wasn't so much a session as it was him kissing her awkwardly and her shying away.

Back to the present. Pun intended.

The gifts were sort of subtle, occasionally peppered with some very suggestive notes. The first gift had been two blue balls and a pool stick with no note. The second one was a scarf with a note that said: To keep you warm at night when my two guns can't. The following was a vibrating underwear with the words "Jiggle Jiggle" written across the back without a note. It spiralled into a bit more inappropriate gifts afterwards.

Tonight, with a small wrapped box in his hand, Reece walked over to Olivia's dorm room to hand it over personally. With a quick knock to the door, he waited patiently for it to open. Hopefully it was actually Olivia.

[Olivia Baker]

The gifts from her "secret admirer" had gone form odd, to weirdly sweet, to down right inappropriate and Olivia wasn't sure what to do. At first she'd thought they were from Peyton? But the pool balls suggested otherwise and when she attempted to bring it up with Pey he didn't seem to have a clue. Instead of explaining the scarf and then finally, the vibrating panties she decided to just keep shut. It was probably some kind of mean joke or something anyway and she was mortally embarrassed. She'd shoved those away into a dark corner of her room the moment she'd figured out what they were. Since the gifts started arriving, she'd been paranoid, what the hell did they mean?

The knock on the door caught her by surprise. She didn't often have people over given her roommates... they preferred things quieter and Liv didn't really like burdening them with visitors anyway. She slipped off her bed and slid into her gold slippers, who was behind the door surprised her even more.

"What are you doing here? I mean.. Hi!" She corrected herself. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks, pool balls, their encounter... it started with pool. She wanted to kick herself... then very quickly she wanted to kick him! What the hell was he sending her vibrating panties for?!

Her eyes went down to his hands holding a small box. She could only imagine what was in there. 

[Reece Morgan]

The greeting he got made him smirk. Even so when a look of realisation dawned on the brunette. It could have been a lot of things but Reece knew it was definitely that she figured out who the gifts had been from.

"Hey babe." He drawled before following her gaze down to his box. "I know it's still a few more days till Christmas but I figure since I've already given you your other gifts, I thought it'd be appropriate to top it all off with this." He chuckled noiselessly before opening the box to reveal mistletoe.

He held it up over their heads and wiggled his eyebrow suggestively. "It's the least you could do after all the gifts I've given you."

[Olivia Baker]

Olivia stared point blank at him. Babe? What? Had she missed something? He'd only been driving her nuts since their encounter... like every other freaking guy at this school! Seriously? What was with these boys!? Was it all meta boys who took a certain sick joy in kissing girls then disappearing for forever not giving them a clue as to what it meant? Didn't all kisses mean SOMETHING? She wanted to slap him. NOt only for the gifts but for leaving her in this totally clueless headspace and now showing up calling her BABE?

"Uh" Was all that managed to come out of her mouth before she started to just boil. He. Had. Given. Her. VIBARATING UNDERWEAR! That was so rude! THis was rude? Was this a joke.

Before she even knew what she was doing her hand came out and met his cheek, slapping him. Once she realized she'd struck a person her eyes went wide. Shit... No. He freaking deserved it!

[Reece Morgan]

Of all things Reece thought would happen, the slap was...actually one of the top five. Anticipating it, though, did nothing to prepare him for the sting.

"What the f-" his hand dropped the mistletoe to cup his cheek that had been struck and he looked at her with a pout.

"You didn't have to hit me that hard, Livy." He hissed before bending down and picking up the mistletoe, tucking it back into the box and handing it to her.

Rolling his eyes, he continued to rub at his cheek. "Okay fine, the underwear was a little pervy but the scarf was nice right?"

[Olivia Baker]

LIv wasn't happy with herself. She wasn't a violent person and had never struck anyone before and didn't like how she felt now about it. Yes, it was justified but no she shouldn't have done it and should have done something else. "Sorry." She mumbled as he bent down to pick up the mistletoe. She felt worse for the mistletoe, poor thing did nothing and he'd gotten a pretty little piece, fresh. She wondered where he'd picked it up, it smelled nice.

She sighed racking her hands through her messy dark curls. "Yes. The scarf was nice." She agreed "But the underwear was completely uncalled for and inappropriate and if pey-" She cut herself off. He didn't need to know about Peyton and she shoudln't even bring him up considering as of this moment they weren't official official just like a thing. But even when they kissed the first time Peyton was a "thing."

"I'm sure i'd get a lot of hell for them if anyone saw them." Then what if her brother found out about them? Oh that'd be a nightmare. She took a breath, she didn't like the tension. "i'm sorry..." she stepped to the side. "Why don't you come in.... the scarf was nice and the rest was.... a joke." She locked eyes with him wanting confirmation on the joke. She really needed to work on her sense of humor.

[Reece Morgan]

Her apology was shrugged off; Reece knew when he stepped over a line. Olivia was a nice girl, he should have known better. But it had been funny at the time. And if he were honest with himself, it still was now.

Grinning when she agreed, her little slip of the tongue did not go unnoticed. Of course, it could mean so many things but Reece knew what had been happening between Olivia and Peyton. It hadn't stopped him from pursuing Olivia, even though he and Peyton were friends. Frienemies? He didn't know what to label them.

Either way, when he was invited in, Reece complied and walked in, nodding with a grin when she asked about the gifts. "I have my moments." He responded finally. "Have you used it at least? The underwear I mean." Reece chuckled before raising both hands in defense. "I joke. I joke. But the scarf is supposed to be from like...the softest cotton ever made or something. The shopping assistant told me."

[Olivia Baker]

She shot a piercing glare at him when he asked if she had used them. He just was not winning with her today, granted she wasn't in the best of moods to begin with, she was a bit of a scrooge around the holidays and it didn't help that she wasn't going home this year. It was too much of a hassle and given her decline in GPA she had to stay focused and do some more extra credit over break. If she didn't graduate first in her class all hell would break loose and Tristan breathing down her back was just making things worse. 

Inside, her bed was covered in study notes, her calculator, laptop and books. She looked knee deep in finals despite them being over. The room in general was a mess though, largely thanks to Olivia, she wasn't very good at organization and the floor had wrapping paper still out, christmas cards that never got sent out and several bras, which she embarrassed kicked them under the bed. 

"The scarf is really nice, and you have a good eye it's my favorite color." She said glancing over at it, it hung with several others on her bed post. "You really didn't have to get me a gift though Reece, I didn't get you one." She hated that part about the holidays the most, and it always seemed to happen when one person got her a gift and she didn't have one in return. Nothing felt worse. But then again, Reece and her didn't have much of a history and she would have never thought he'd get her something... why did he anyway? Had he gotten a lot of people things? It was frankly just weird plus she thought him and Peyton were friends or at least friendly or something... this was kind of inappropriate on so many levels and it made her uncomfortable. 

She stacked her papers, notes, and books to make room on the bed so he could sit.

[Reece Morgan]

Reece gave her a cheeky grin and shrugged lightly. He was just in his automatic cheeky mode and nothing was going to bring him down. Not even a cranky Olivia.

Of course, he had no idea what all has been going on in Olivia's life so he really wasn't aware of her brother being in town.

Without even glancing about her room, Reece went straight to her bed and jumped on it, getting himself comfortable. "Well, the kiss was obviously supposed to be a gift for me but other than that, I wasn't expecting anything in return." He responded, tucking a hand under his head.

"What have you been up to though? Did you at least figure out that the gifts were from me?"

[Olivia Baker]

"Of course that was supposed to be for you." She said rolling her eyes. She was on the defensive today, moodier than usual, her anxiety was at an all time high and she was all sorts of uncomfortable. "Yes I figured out they were from you... pool balls" She wouldn't tell him she realized it was him about five minutes ago.

"I've been up to nothing. Just studying my ass off" She was sharp "Dealing with my psycho brother moving into town which you know makes no sense since he hates me and hates meta humans but whatever... oh and my grades managed to slip." She vented easier than she would have liked "and now you're sitting here, on my bed, holding mistletoe." Just to freaking confuse her more she was sure. As if last time wasn't confusing enough! Sure it was fun, and he had htis weird sexy thing about his smile but God he was irritating her right now. The nerve of him to just waltz in like this after not even talking to her since!

"Sorry I guess i'm just in a bad mood." She took a breath racking her hands through her hair, stupid nervous habit. She felt like such a bitch.

[Reece Morgan]

Reece laughed a little before catching on the fact that Olivia was not in the best mood. What she said next cemented that fact and he suddenly felt a little bad for coming unannounced. Among other things.

When she mentioned his presence, Reece sat up straight in bed and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Don't apologise." He shrugged, knowing when to quit. "I guess I should probably go." He winced slightly and got off the bed. "Unless you need help with studying? I'm not that bad with classes." He offered with a slight smile.

[Olivia Baker]

His switch over was shocking. He went from douche to actually kind of... polite? IN a matter of seconds and it took her back. She felt like wreck, honestly, she'd been a wreck for a while now but it took the semester to end for it really to hit her. Now that she had a break, and she'd let herself lose momentum she couldn't run from her problems as fast as she had been and it was terrifying her. She didn't like facing them and she felt alone. BUt she knew better than to take it out on others and felt embarrassed.

"No... I should i was-am being a total bitch and you don't deserve it... you were teasing. Don't leave... I probably could use the human interaction... and distraction." She said with a sigh as she plopped onto her bed next to him picking up the mistletoe. "Where'd you even get this? It seems fresh." She needed to take the attention off herself, she needed to push it all back into the deep depths of her mind and store it away again.

[Reece Morgan]

Reece offered her a sympathetic smile and sat back down on the bed, keeping a safe distance from her. He didn't want her to think he was going to try anything.

Laughing at the question, Reece shrugged. "Got it from the woods. Nah, the tree lot had them." He responded before nudging her lightly. "Have you done your Christmas shopping?"

[Olivia Baker]

Liv chuckled as he told her that. "Mistletoe hunting in vermont. Sounds almost romantic." She said twirling the plant in her hand. It was a shame that she didn't kiss him, not because she wanted to kiss him but because it was real mistletoe and how often did that happen? Someone should kiss under it. 

She let out a long breath through her lips making them make a rumbly sound. "No." She said, her body flopping back into the bed looking at the ceiling. "I didn't get any... I mean i tried but." She sighed "I don't know I couldn't think of anything and then when i did get things i ended up returning them because they weren't right... i don't know... this time of year just gets me anxious." She stared at the ceiling watching a paint chip sway slightly in the breeze created by her fan. "What about you? Get all your girlfriends vibrating panties perve?" She winked.

[Reece Morgan]

"I have my moments." Reece puffed his chest out before chuckling. He was well aware of how ridiculous he sounded and looked sometimes.

The paper manipulator moved out of Olivia's way when she went to lie on her bed. He was torn between joining her or looking awkward sitting beside her. He didn't want her to get mad at him again so he chose the awkward.

Her question brought out a chuckle from Reece and he shrugged. "You were a special case." He said with a 'reassuring' nod. "Hey...Christmas isn't supposed to stress you out. Come on...go ice-skating with me. Get into a snowball fight or something...I can't let you be this upset on a good holiday."