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Ollie couldn't wait to take this scratchy jumper off. He was only wearing it because Brooke had bought it for him and they had a date that afternoon. The problem was that the entire date all he could think about was how much longer until he could get home and take it off. It was freezing so taking it off while they were sat in Salon de Thé wasn't an option so Ollie could only sit there and endure the itchiness of the jumper.
Brooke was chatty, so that helped. She had lots to tell him about the things that Charlie and Oscar had been learning about during their virtual schooling. Ollie had no idea what Ella had been doing - he'd had to spend lockdown without the company of his younger brother and sister, which had made the whole experience pretty lonely if he was completely honest, but it had also been nice to have some distance between himself and DJ.
It had also been nice to have some distance between himself and Brooke, but that thought was not one that he liked to entertain. He hated that that thought had even dared to cross through his mind, let alone that it had stayed, but the truth was that he was still hurting over everything that had happened with Thierry and not a day went passed that he didn't miss his baby. He was doing his best not to hold a grudge against Brooke for making him choose between them, and having some time apart from her had helped that.
The woolly jumper he had been forced to wear that afternoon did not however help. He was pretty pleased that he managed to keep his cool the entire time that they were sat inside the coffee shop, that was for sure. Brooke didn't seem to want their date to end either, which was ordinarily something that he would have been happy for, especially when you took into account the fact that this was the first time that he had left the house in over a week, but today he was completely fixated on the jumper.
When Brooke finally had to head home, something about Oscar needing her, Ollie couldn't help but be relieved, which he immediately kicked himself for. They gave each other a socially distanced nod and a smile before heading off in their separate directions.
Ollie wrapped his arms around himself as he walked, but that made the jumper irritate his skin even more so he ended up dropping his hands to his sides. He didn't waste any time in letting himself into his house and he practically ran up the stairs to his room where he all but threw his jumper into the laundry basket.
"Ollie? Are you okay?" Cindy called up the stairs after him but Ollie didn't know how he was meant to answer that. There wasn't anything wrong but it didn't feel as if anything was right at the moment either.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He ended up calling back down to her. There was no point in worrying his family about things that he didn't understand until he could at least put a name to them.