Intruder

Ch. 7

Since dinner Olivia had been mindful to keep away from Elliot, despite his advancements to talk to her. He had met her at work, at the park when she was running, at the gym, etc. It seemed like he was stalking her, and if she were honest, she thought about getting a restraining order just to keep him away, but she knew that he would find some way around it and she would end up regretting it. 

She had seen Kathy in the gym as well, and avoided her as well, it wasn’t enough for her to know all the gory details of one of the worst days of her life, now she had to face her almost every day as well. Fun.

Olivia got up early that morning and went on a run, then she went to the gym. She had a lot of pent up aggression, involving mostly Elliot, but also her attacker. She hated that she had been attacked, and she knew that blaming herself was normal, she knew it wasn’t her fault, she had said the same thing to countless victims before in the past, but that didn’t mean she was going to listen to her own advice, or even that she could listen to her own advice, because if she were honest with herself, really truly honest, she knew that no amount of good vibe pinterest quotes could save her in this moment. Her mind was a battle ground and she felt as if she were fighting a losing battle. She couldn’t sleep at night, the lack of sleep made her too nauseous to eat, not to mention the fact that she didn’t have an appetite anyway. Knowing that she couldn’t stay in bed all day, she decided to do what she had always done, and take out her anger and frustrations in the gym, starting with the good ol’ bag. 

She got a good rhythm going, that is, until Elliot showed up and moved the bag, and she took a swing at his face without realizing it was him. “Whoa Liv!” he exclaimed and she growled pausing, “What do you want?” she asked panting slightly, her knuckles burned and tingled slightly under the bandages and she knew she was going to have bruises later. 

“Can we talk?” he asked her softly and she looked at him dumbfounded, “No, Elliot, we can’t talk.” she stated, shaking her head as she took a break and sat on the bench, sighing softly when Elliot took that as an invitation to sit next to her. “I wanted to apologize.” he admitted softly, something he would never do, this was probably the first and only time it happened, but she had told him she didn’t want to talk and she meant it.

He stole a glance at her and sighed seeing her, she was wearing a sports bra and some spanx, since her body was hunched over he could see her spine and he pouted softly. Dark circles under her eyes showed lack of sleep, he made a mental note to ask Cragen to keep a better watch over her. “I know you don’t want to hear it from me, that much is clear.” he admitted softly, knowing if he didn’t get it off his chest now he never would, “I shouldn’t have pushed you, it was a personal matter and I had no right to do that, and I’m sorry, granted I know that saying I’m sorry doesn’t really matter after what happened, but I really am sorry, you deserve better than that.” he whispered “I should’ve respected your boundaries, I shouldn’t have cornered you like that, I should have just let you come to me when you wanted to, in a safe place, at a better time, etc.-” she cut him off, “Yes, Elliot, you should have, but you didn’t, and I’m glad that you see that you were in the wrong, but we both know you wouldn’t have been patient and waited, because that’s not you.” she stated angrily, “I don’t accept your apology, not because it doesn’t mean anything to me, but for the sole fact that, I don’t care. I do not care that you are sorry, because I can’t do anything with an apology, the deed has been done, sold, it’s gone out the window, with your sanity. The fact of the matter is, I loved my life, I loved my job, I loved my apartment that I worked so hard for, and I miss it, I miss it all, even my shitty boyfriend, I miss him too, everything was working pretty well for me, and it all got ruined because of a man with a vendetta against you specifically. I had to uproot my whole life for this, without any sort of warning, I went through hell, and you had the audacity to question me in front of our friends, and your wife, you interrogated me like a perp!” she exclaimed and she was thankful then that they were the only ones in the gym.