Vegas, Baby!

8: Olive Theory.

After our spa day, Benito and I had agreed on meeting up for lunch with Laura. He had asked out of boredom and since I had been hungry, I hadn't rejected his offer. I had picked a small Italian restaurant and had invited Laura since her and I had our breaks together. Currently, her, Benito and I were sitting at our table, looking at the menu.

"I don't know what to get." he mumbled and bit his lip.

"Me neither." I responded. I always ate the same thing there and since there were too many options, I just knew it was gonna be like every single time we were there. When the waiter came and brought us our drinks, I ordered the same as always, Benito went with a pizza and Laura ordered pasta.

"What are you guys gonna do when the divorce is finalised?" she asked, when the waiter had walked away. Benito looked at the two of us and grabbed his glass of water.

"Well, I will be drunk for a week straight." I said, causing my best friend to chuckle at me.

"What about you?" she then asked Benito who cleared his throat and shrugged.

"I don't know. Probably nothing special." he gave back and looked at his glass. I couldn't shake the feeling off that he was sad or at least a little down.

"How boring." Laura told him.

"What did you expect? It's a divorce." Benito countered and gave her a confused look.

"Yeah but from a marriage neither of you wanted." she told him, shrugged and took a sip from her Fanta. I shrugged because technically she was right but Benito didn't seem too amused. Of course, Laura noticed it too, she eyed him up and down and changed the subject.

When our food came, I started smiling widely. It looked as good as always and it also smelt amazing. Laura immediately grabbed her fork and started mixing her pasta with the cheese on top. The only one frowning at the food was Benito.

"What's wrong?" I asked, cutting a piece off of my steak.

"I think I overlooked the olives." he mumbled. His pizza had olives all over it, there wasn't a single piece without.

"You don't like olives?" I asked, putting my fork down. Benito shook his head, frowning even harder.

"Then order a different pizza." Laura suggested.

"And what happens to this one? They're gonna throw it away and I don't want that." he said and sighed.

"Take the olives off, I'll eat them." I offered causing both of them to look at me. A small smile spread across Benito's face, then he took the fork and started to take the olives off of the first piece. Laura watched him do so and slowly chewed on her pasta.

"Do you guys know the olive theory?" she asked after Benito had taken the first bite. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at her.

"What is that?" I counter questioned confused.

"It's a theory that says that friendships or relationships always have one person that loves olives and one that hates them." she explained, before she took a sip from her glass. I noticed that Benito immediately glanced at me, then at the olives he had placed on my plate.

"Okay?" he asked a little confused.

"The theory also says that this often subconsciously influences how we choose partners and friends because the partners or friends complete each other." Laura continued, then she shoved the fork with the pasta on it into her mouth. Now it was me that glanced at Benito who had finished his first piece of pizza and continued to load olives onto my plate.

"So you think a guy that hates olives would suit me?" I asked as I looked at the small pile at the edge of my plate.

"Well, it worked with us. I hate olives too." Laura responded, when she had swallowed her food.

"Isn't basing that on food a little far fetched?" Benito questioned and put the fork down again to eat his second piece.

"Maybe." Laura mumbled and continued eating.

"Don't tell me you believe in zodiac sign compatibility too." Benito joked, then took a bite from his pizza. Laura shot him a look and smiled.

"I do. You tick almost every stereotype of a pisces and Sab is a stereotypical leo." she gave back.

"And those would be?" he questioned.

"You're sensitive, love to be mysterious and care way too much about your reputation and Sab, well, she's confident, she hates losing control and loves it when she gets the right amount of attention." Laura told us slowly. I shot her a look and started shaking my head.

"By that you should be anxious, moody and caring." I said, grabbing my drink. Benito smirked at me and started taking off the olives from the third piece of his pizza. Since my plate started to get full now, I started eating them, before I continued with my steak.

"Well, I am, I just like to hide it which is also stereotypical for cancer." Laura responded slowly.

"Okay, now tell me, what zodiac would suit us best?" Benito said, still taking olives off of his pizza.

"Earth and other water signs for you, Benito, and air and fire signs for Sabrina." Laura told us, putting her fork down onto her now empty plate.

"So the zodiac signs stuff just proofed the olive theory as wrong." I concluded.

"Not necessarily. Actually pisces and leo can work." she countered and took one of the napkins to clean off her mouth. Benito glanced at me and I swear that I could see a spark of hope in his eyes.

As Benito walked us back to the office, he seemed like he was in deep thought. Laura was walking in front of us, she was on the phone with a client, while him and I were just enjoying each other's company in silence. I had to chuckle when I thought about the olives.

"Olive theory, it's so dumb that it kinda makes sense." I mumbled more to myself but he had heard me.

"Yeah, imagine picking a partner based on that." he agreed and let out a small laugh himself. I couldn't shake the feeling off that something was bothering him but since I didn't want to force him to talk about it I stayed quiet. As we were walking in silence, I could feel his gaze on me every now and then. This theory had me thinking as well and no matter what I did, my mind kept going back to Benito.