Ollie Fitzgerald's Heartbreak Anthems

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, events and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. © 2023 by Charlie Arrigo Paperback: 9798370865046 Edited by Aquia Williams Character art by Pamela Nuñez Trejo Cover Design by Noah Arrigo and Arthur Germer Layout by Charlie Arrigo To the pop stars who help us hold it together and to those who ever felt weird for loving them. CONTENTS 1. Heartbreak Anthem Nash 2. Mr. Perfectly Fine Ollie 3. Good 4 U 4. You Signed Up For This Nash 5. The Steps 6. Waiting On You 7. (You Drive Me) Crazy 8. Say It Ollie 9. Head on Fire 10. About You 11. Lovesick Girls 12. Take Me 13. The Louvre 14. Learning In Public 15. Wish You Would’ve 16. Lost Boy 17. Minor Feelings 18. Be Sweet 19. So Good 20. Sweet Talker 21. Make Me Feel 22. Feeling Of Falling 23. This Love Isn’t Crazy 24. Shock To Your System 25. Everything Is Embarrassing 26. All Over Again Ollie 27. Sorry If I Hurt You 28. Shooting Star Acknowledgments About the Author ONE HEARTBREAK ANTHEM I genuinely think being heartbroken is one of the worst things to ever happen to a person, outside of the very obvious other terrible things. That gnawing pain of what you used to have compared to how lonely you feel now is an overwhelming, all-consuming, sense of dread. And that’s where I am after this summer: feeling heartbroken and shitty. I cycled through just about every playlist I have designed to cheer me up with no success. So that means it’s time to succumb to the Heartbreak Anthems playlist. And it’s a good one. Creating the perfect playlist is actually an art form. There’s an attention to detail, and emotional intelligence, the creator must posses to successfully pull it off. First, it needs to have the right songs. Sounds kind of obvious, but you run the risk of forgetting the obvious if you don’t state it. Second, give it the right flow. Don’t haphazardly throw songs around in any random order. There has to be a journey mapped out. And that brings us to the third and final piece of the perfect playlist, the theme. What are you trying to say with this? What emotion are you trying to convey? Use the words and sounds of others to perfectly articulate what you’re feeling. And that’s where the heartbreak comes into play. I throw on some Little Mix—miss you girls, please come back soon—and try to address a different problem I’m facing at the moment. One less existential than moving on from your first big break up (if it can even be called that, but more on that later). It’s so much more than picking a shirt, but that’s kind of what it boils down to. All three of my options, thrown across Dee’s guest bed, stare back at me. I’m not delusional but I swear I can hear them laughing at me. Yeah! Sure, this will make him jealous. Hearing the voices of t-shirts in my head is a symptom of this stressful summer. But I need to make a decision fast because the Great Figoura Back-to-School Cookout kicks off in five minutes, whether I’m ready or not. This is the last one since our Senior year starts tomorrow. The footsteps I hear marching toward the bedroom tell me I’ve been taking way too long with this damn shirt, and I’m about to be in trouble. I side step away from the door just as Danielle “Dee” Figoura bursts in the room. She has preferred being called Dee since we were kids, claiming “Danielle” was too common to match the greatness she’s destined to achieve. She didn’t listen to me when I said Dee made her sound like a grandma. She’s always been taller than me, and I’ve always been a bit scrawnier than her. Her dark brown hair has never been anything other than perfectly straight in its entire life. Her cheekbones and lively state could give some of the girls on Top Model a run for their money any day. “Your five minute warning was seven minutes ago. Get moving!” To an outsider, it might look like she’s about to chew me out, but I promise she’s not. I just smile at her as she rolls her eyes, knowing I’m the only person she doesn’t completely intimidate. “I can’t pick a shirt.” I pout. I’m usually not this picky, but this is the first I’m seeing Him since The Incident(s). “It’s a shirt, Ollie. Get it together! I can’t be late to my own party. So hurry the hell up or else I’m shoving you into one of Nash’s novelty t-shirts from Florida.” My heart drops at his name. Nash. I haven’t heard it in awhile, mostly because I haven’t heard from him in…nine weeks? Not that I’m counting. Dee’s threat goes in one ear and out the other as all thoughts of him take over my brain. I pray she doesn’t see the small blush growing on my face. She has no idea what happened. And honestly? I’m still not totally sure what happened either. “I didn’t think he was coming,” I say. “He’s finally back from Florida so he’ll be here. His friends make up half the guest list.” “Have you talked to him over the summer?” Dee shrugs. “Nothing substantial. The twin telepathy was gone. You?” “Not a word.” “Only makes sense he’d outgrow us eventually.” There’s not much the Figoura twins share besides a birthday. Dee was the brains and Nash was the star athlete from the minute he could put one foot in front of the