The Expansion of the Universe

Fifty-One | "Let's see you get out of this one."

"I suck at technology now. I don't know how to use this stuff," Liza bemoaned to Milo early the following morning, staring in dismay at the computer sitting in Elijah's home office, which was on the second floor of his condo, just opposite his bedroom. She had the same room in her condo, of course, but that was where she kept all the boxes from her move.

Elijah's spare room, however, served a useful purpose as his home office, which he'd shown her only a couple days before his accident. It had been one of the last rooms in his condo that she had yet to explore, besides his bedroom, and she had asked to see it out of curiosity, when he mentioned a paperweight he kept in the room that he had received from Zach as a Christmas gift the previous year.

He was telling her that he thought the object was possessed, she'd asked why he thought such a thing, and he insisted that "the damn thing won't stop staring at me, babe!"

The office contained a large, dark mahogany desk, a laptop and desktop computer, an assortment of different-colored pens, and stacks of paperwork that Elijah claimed to be putting off for as long as he was legally able. There was a bookshelf behind the desk, filled with textbooks, novels, and comic books.

Moving from her spot in the doorway, Liza stepped towards the high-backed office chair that sat just behind the desk, sitting down gingerly on the leather cushions. It felt almost illegal, what she was doing. Even though Elijah had told her she could do whatever she chose in his condo, and that nothing in his home was off-limits, she felt odd touching his things without him present.

Or, perhaps she only felt odd because she knew he would want to be made aware of Carson's appearance.

Ugh.

Pushing aside the guilt by reminding herself that, I'll tell him once he's not in a damn hospital bed, she reached forward and turned on the desktop. While she waited for it to boot up, she allowed her eyes drift to the largest stack of papers on his desk, grinning when she found the very paperweight he'd insisted that she see. It was a pickle, roughly five inches long and two inches in diameter, made of clay, and complete with red eyes, green lips, and two large, misshapen buck teeth. It bordered the line of creepy and hilarious quite well, but Elijah was certain that it was possessed and watching his every move. When she asked why he kept it out if he held such a belief, he told her, "I'd rather know where it is, babe, than have to worry about it seeing me wipe my ass or some shit because it's creeping around my pipes."

God, how she missed him already.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she turned to his computer, which was now displaying the lock screen. Carefully, so she didn't mess it up, she typed in the passcode he'd given her "for emergencies." It was a string of numbers representing his stepmother's birthday, which she considered to be one of the sweetest actions ever.

Once the computer was unlocked, Liza blinked in shock at the background image Elijah had set. It was the same picture he kept in his wallet—her, smiling brightly at Milo—and she had to force herself to stay on task and not become flustered and distracted by the sight, even as her heart set off in its usual slam-skip-slam rhythm.

The response of her heart was quickly forgotten as she stared longer at the computer's home screen and realized, with a frown, that she had no idea how to access the security camera system. She'd never asked Elijah how to do it, because she'd never considered the possibility that she would ever need to access footage without him being present.

Well, she didn't want to call him, because that would defeat the entire purpose of what she was attempting to accomplish, but she wasn't tech savvy in the slightest . . .