Intermission - Diana and Holly.

Diana kept careful watch for a while as her dog interacted with the two husky puppies Holly and Isabelle had brought. The german shepherd was a little too excited, his tail wagging rapidly as he sniffed the smaller dogs and pushed them around with his snout. That was when Diana had to step in and hold him back a bit.

“Are they as big a handful as everyone says?” Diana asked Holly, who was watching them with her.

“Not quite so far, but they’re getting there,” Holly said with a wry smile. “They’re learning to howl, and they like it a little but too much.”

“Oh dear…”

“Hm? You called?” Oliver asked from behind them as we walked out from the kitchen, heading to the backyard with a chair in each hand.

The two older women chuckled. “No, just expressing surprise. And my condolences, I think,” Diana said.

“Um… Okay…” Oliver didn’t understand, but that was half the point and he understood that. “Ah, by the way, mom, are the folding tables still in your car?”

“Yes, I’ll go get them. Don’t worry,” his mother said. Oliver nodded and went on his way. “Help me out?” she asked Diana.

“Of course.”

The difference in age between Holly and Diana was very similar to the age gap between Diana and Oliver, meaning close to 10 years, but it didn’t feel as noticeable with Holly, probably because the older woman made it a point to treat her more as an equal than the younger girls.

“How’s everything going so far?” Holly asked as they walked out the front door and towards Holly’s car in front of the garage.

“In what sense?” Diana asked.

“As I said, everything.”

Diana chuckled. “Work’s been going well. We had an… eventful shift last night, but… Oliver handled everything incredibly well. I could feel how anxious and stressed he was, and yet I never would’ve noticed it if not for our connection.”

Holly chuckled. “He takes the burden of responsibility seriously. Maybe too seriously. It makes him overthink and overcomplicate things.”

“Yes, but… Holly, he stopped a fight between two customers, both of whom ended up leaving great reviews for the hotel, and somehow increased the sales for the restaurant. All in a day when we had our hands full for being a man short.”

Holly blinked. “Okay, that’s… Is he okay?”

“Now, yes. That’s why I’m so impressed with how he handled everything. I…” Diana sighed and smiled. “You raised him well.”

Holly chuckled and shook her head. “I don’t know how much of it was me, how much of it is his father’s genes, or how much is… you know, his friend living in his head.” She opened the trunk of her car and stretched to take out one of the two black, plastic folding tables she’d bought.

“Frey does affect some things, but I don’t think she had anything to do here.” Diana took the folding table from Diana and set it vertically on the floor and resting against her own legs.

“God, you sound like you’re falling in love all over again,” Holly teased as she laughed. “So? When are you moving in with them?”

Diana flinched. She pursed her lips hard, to the point she was almost biting them from the inside. It made Holly stop laughing and scowl at her.

“What?”

“It’s… complicated,” Diana said.

“Of course it is. None of them were particularly thrilled about leaving their childhood homes to bet on a relationship that’s either a year long or not even that. Well… Maybe Grace was glad, but even then I have my doubts.”

“It’s just… I want to, I just want to make sure it really is the right choice for us.”

“Oh. Then… Are you not as serious about him as I thought you were?”

“...” Diana’s mouth opened to retort, but found that she couldn’t get any words out.

Holly sighed and shook her head. “Look, you of all people don’t need me lecturing you. You know where you are in this relationship and what your priorities are. But you also know full well how much you mean to him and the lengths he’s willing to go to prove it.”

She picked up the table by the handle and carried it into the house, but Diana’s feet were glued to the stop, a big knot on her throat making it hard to swallow.

Oliver showed her over and over again how much he cared. He constantly pushed himself out of his comfort zone for her, and it had been like that from their first date onwards. He even decided to work with her, learn HER trade and take it seriously. What had Diana done to show her supposed commitment, really?

Serving as their limo driver for their graduation barely counted, and they made sure to make her feel included even in their nights. And sharing him as a boyfriend with other girls was… easy. She might have had some doubts at the very beginning, but those had quickly gone away.

She had told him just the night before that he was her everything, and she meant it. Her life went from days of doing what had to be done to being full of excitement and things to look forward to.

Was she simply being overly cautious? Was she scared that her feelings for Oliver, her desire to live with him were somehow just… a passing high? If so, then why even tell him all those things? Maybe… Maybe it was the other way around? Was Diana scared that Oliver’s interest in her was just a strong infatuation that would eventually pass? Ugh, even thinking that felt like she was being awfully unfair to him, yet…

“...”

Maybe… Maybe she was simply scared of truly taking this new step forward. Moving in with them wouldn’t be a big practical change, but it did carry a lot more meaning. She’d be living with… other people. Oliver, Mila, Grace, Sarah, Noelle, Alice… And who knew when Fernanda would join them here.

Would… Would they ever get tired of her?

…

…

…

Diana almost started laughing.

Would they ever get tired of her? It was possible. Anything was possible. It was, in theory, possible that they’d even get tired of each other, and yet they didn’t move in together expecting that to be the final outcome.

‘He takes the burden of responsibility seriously. Maybe too seriously. It makes him overthink and overcomplicate things.’ That was what Holly had said about Oliver, and yet… it seems like it applied to Diana as well.

She really was overthinking and overcomplicating this matter. Not only did she want to move in with Oliver and the others, she had to put her money where her mouth was. If Oliver had become her everything, then a few minor inconveniences were hardly a big price to pay to show the love of her life that she was indeed serious about him and their whole relationship.

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