Unrequited

Chapter 6

What are you doing for lunch today?

Olivia smiles down at the text message, her thumb rubbing back and forth against the glass display. The last twenty four hours seemed like a blur. After their conversation the other night,she and Elliot had been texting back and forth throughout the day while she navigated work and Noah. The messages aren't about anything in particular. Work. The kids. He cracks a joke about something he was watching on TV. The ordinary texts are amusing and seem so familiar, reminding her of their time together. Despite their closeness in the past, there are a lot of things they didn't talk about. If someone were to ask her what his favorite movie or song is, she wouldn't know, but ask her what was his biggest fear or what keeps him up at night and the answer comes to her with ease.

Becoming his father. That someone would hurt his children.

That is the essence of their relationship. Skipping the surface level and diving in much deeper than any two 'normal' people would. Normal people who didn't see the depravity of the world they witnessed everyday and still be expected to function conventionally. This is what separates them from others and why everyone she dates or any attempts at a relationship never quite measure up. Secrets and fears embedded inside of her that no one would ever reach, but him. Never said aloud, never hinted at, but just known. Because he knows her inside and out.

It is that familiarity that kept her glued to her phone the previous day, anticipating the next message, watching for blemishes of the old Elliot that she once loved mixed with the new Elliot that despite the warnings in the back of her head she is anxious to get to know.

She never figured him for much of a texter, but he is trying to be respectful of her space and time and it is appreciated. She presses reply and messages him back.

Don't know. You know how things get around here.

The need to meet up with him again under different circumstances, preferably not under the gaze of his date who happened to be her sorta kinda friend, is unwavering.

Pippa.

She needs to talk to Pippa.

His reply comes quickly. Ok I'll settle for coffee then.

Before she can respond, another message filters in. Before you say no, I know the coffee there hasn't been upgraded in the past five years so you are probably dying for Starbucks. Meet me in half an hour at our usual spot.

She immediately looks at the time. 9:13am. Everything is pretty quiet at the moment while the squad is chasing down leads. Taking a deep breath she quickly replies, See you in 30.

Elliot tries to suppress the butterflies in his stomach while he sits in the back of the coffee shop waiting for her. Not surprisingly, he got there early, telling himself that he just wanted to find a quiet spot in the back where there would be the least amount of interruption as possible. He orders her usual and waits, hoping it will be just the right temperature when she arrives so she won't have to wait for it to cool before she can drink it.

His phone begins to vibrate in his pocket and he is startled. Rushing to answer it, he prays it isn't Olivia calling to cancel. It isn't. It's Pippa. His finger hovers over the decline button, but he already avoided her the day before, keeping their conversation brief so he could text back and forth with his ex-partner instead.

He sighs, glances around to make sure Olivia isn't approaching, and answers the call briskly. "Hey Pippa, how's it going?"

"Hey I'm sorry. Did I interrupt you? You sound in a hurry."

"Uhh no...well yeah," he stumbles. "I'm at the coffee shop." It isn't a total lie. He is at the coffee shop, but he just happens to leave out the part that he is meeting someone. Olivia.