Chasing Ivy (Oak Hill 1)

“What. Did. You. Do.”

Ivy stuttered again. “Well, you see…”

I stepped in further and bit the knuckles on my hand. The scene in her house was fucking hysterical. It would have been even funnier if I weren’t the one who was going to have to deal with the mess.

“Ivy,” I stopped myself and her nonstop stuttering. I honestly had no words.

She took down a fucking wall.

No, let me rephrase that… she took down only parts of a wall. There were some random chunks of drywall hanging off the top part of the wall in between her living room and dining room, and broken wooden boards split down the middle. A sledgehammer was lying face up on the middle of the floor, right beside her open laptop.

I walked in some more, careful not to trip over huge masses of the white drywall and glanced down to the screen, reading the title of the YouTube video.

“How to Take Down a Wall in Less Than 10 Minutes”

I couldn’t control myself. I lost it. I threw my head back, laughing so hard my eyes watered.

“Stop laughing!” she hissed, which only intensified the hilarity. I bent down, placing my hands on my knees, and continued to laugh my ass off.

“Seriously, Dawson! It’s not that funny. I can fix it.”

My eyes almost fell out of my skull as I whipped my torso up. “Are you kidding!? I’m never letting you touch a tool, ever again. You are a hazard! Literally. Look at this place!”

Ivy bit the inside of her cheek, causing a little dimple to pop out. She looked out-of-this-world adorable with a pink hue dotting her cheeks and that pouty mouth, with white dust covering her forehead. Her lips instantly formed into a scowl as my laughter continued and she sent daggers at me with her eyes. I found it even cuter. She probably couldn’t even scare a mouse.

“Are you finally done?” she asked, as I calmed myself down long enough to really take in the mess she’d made.

I sighed, “Yes, I’m back. Sorry, but this is fucking hilarious, Ivy.”

I glanced at her, and she was finally grinning.

“Can I ask why you tried to take down a wall by yourself?”

She shrugged her shoulders, the grin on her face disappearing.

“Well… I didn’t think you were going to work with me after our last conversation, and I can’t afford to hire someone out of town, so I figured I would just do it myself.”

“A little self-sufficient, are we?” I questioned.

Her eyes no longer held amusement and just like that, a flip switched inside of me.

“I’ve been on my own for six years, Dawson. I would say I’m very self-sufficient.”

Abort mission, Dawson. Fucking change the subject so you don’t allow her pain to become yours.

“It’s fine, I can fix it. And, since we’re friends now… I’ll even do it for free.”

“No way! You do not have to do that, it’s fine. Just add it onto the final price.”

I brushed off her reluctance to let me help. “No.”

She crossed her arms, ready to spew some type of argument but I stopped her. “Go order something from Frankie’s. We have a lot to discuss and I’m certain we’ll still be here when dinner rolls around.” I waved the blueprints at her and turned on my heel, walking very carefully over all the debris, and into the kitchen.

I waited, listening to see if she’d followed my request and accepted what I was offering her, and when I heard her sing-song voice asking for a large pizza with extra pineapple on top (our favorite), I grinned.

She remembered.

Chapter Thirteen