"So, like, don't get excited," Corey started, "but Joc was talking to me the other day, he caught Kels cheating."
Olivia gasped. "You're kidding."
He sighed in response. "I really wish I was, Liv."
Liv sat back in her seat for a moment. "That's kinda crazy." She began to back out of the parking space.
They rode through the first three blocks in silence before Corey broke the silence. "Would you just be going home after this?"
Olivia glanced over at him beside her as he was running his hand over the black leather seats of the vehicle. "Do you have something you wanna do, or...?"
Corey thought for a minute. "Let's go to Joc's, would that be okay? He seemed kind of bummed when I talked to him this morning, no wonder why. Poor guy, he thought they'd be together forever, you know?"
Liv nodded. "Yeah, I get what he's going through, but maybe it was for the best. Everything happens for a reason, yeah?"
He chuckled. "Liv, you know as much as I do you're only saying that because you've liked Joc from the second I made it here."
She tried to contain her smile. "That's not even close to all of it, you know. God, you make me sound like such a selfish person. I'm very sad they broke up, for your information," she joked. "Where does he live anyway?"
A short 15 minutes later, Olivia turned down the street where Joc lived, and conveniently enough, there was a parking space right in front of his apartment complex.
"Ain't that snazzy," Corey commented, and Olivia rolled her eyes.
Corey went up to the complex door in front of her and pressed the button to be granted admission.
"Who are you here to visit today?"
"uh, Joc Pederson," Corey replied, swiftly.
There was a pause on the other end for a few seconds until they both heard the unlatching of the front door. "Thank you, Mr. Seager."
Corey swung open the door in order to let Olivia in first. "Go up the stairs and left. Have you ever been to Joc's before?" He questioned.
"Surprisingly, no," she responded, "he always seems to come to your place when I'm with you."
"Yeah, because he wanted bro time with me away from his girlfriend sometimes. And you just happened to be there. Bro time, with Olivia."
Olivia scoffed. "You make it sound like that's some horrible thing, now. What's so wrong with that?"
"Absolutely nothing," Joc answered for Corey as he observed from the top of the stairs landing. "We like having you around, you know."
Olivia blushed slightly. "Glad to hear that."
Corey rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay. Let's not hog up the stairs, now. They're gonna kick us out for loitering or something."
It was Joc's turn to roll his eyes. "Loitering? Really? I'm the one that allowed you to come and see me, you know. And they know you're Corey Seager. They ain't gonna kick you outta here, brother."
Joc led Olivia and Corey to his apartment. More like Olivia, saying Corey had been there thousands of times.
He swung his door open, and Corey and Liv stepped inside.
"Joc."
"Corey."
"Where's all your shit, man?"
Joc cleared his throat. "You mean, Kelsey's stuff?"
Corey blinked. "You guys broke up." He looked at Olivia on the right of him.
Joc sighed. "Yeah, I finally cut it off this morning," he replied, glumly. "I can't be happy in a relationship knowing her mind is elsewhere, you know? Every time she apologized it just made the fact she cheated so much worse, like a constant reminder that I wasn't good enough for what she wanted. She said she wanted to make it work, but I didn't really believe her, you know? So I broke up with her after I got off the phone with you."
Olivia frowned. "I'm so sorry, Joc. I really thought you guys had something good there."
Corey hid his slight grin by shielding it pretending to rub his nose.
Joc shrugged. "Yeah, thanks. It sucks, but I guess everything happens for a reason, right?"
"Right," Olivia agreed.
Corey covered up his laugh with a cough.
"Anyway," Joc started, "please feel free to take a seat on any of my remaining furniture." He laughed.
Olivia watched him for a few seconds. Even completely heartbroken, he was still cracking jokes and truly appreciating living in the present.
Joc took a seat in a big, cushiony chair while Olivia and Corey shared the poofy leather couch. Joc threw Liv the remote to the flatscreen TV in front of them.
"Pick something on Netflix. Anything."
Liv laughed. "Anything?"
He thought for a minute. "Okay, no. No Gossip Girl. My heart can't take that right now. It was Kelsey's favorite, and I hated every minute of it. Absolutely trash. Even worse now."
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Gossip Girls sucks anyway, come on now." She began to flip through the current most popular shows on Netflix and settled on an episode of Friends.
"You're only on season 4, my man?" Corey exclaimed.
"Yeah, never really got the hype of it until recently. I really started watching last month. The stuff's great. Just finished The Office, too."
"So glad you're finally catching up on quality television and not watching Gossip Girl, Joc," Olivia said with a smile.
Joc laughed. "Oh, me too, Liv, me too. I've been in the dark for way too long."
They watched about 4 episodes of the comedy before Joc's phone started to ring on the side table beside Olivia. Joc looked over and said, "Liv, can you see who that is?"
She reached over and flipped the phone over in order to see the screen. She felt as if a semi truck ran into her torso as the weight of the word "Kelsey ♡", still fresh with a heart, crossed over the screen. She looked over at Corey, who no doubt could most likely see who else was calling him.
Next, she glanced at Joc, whose attention was glued back to the TV in front of him. "It's from Columbus, Ohio. Probably just a telemarketer."
She felt the heavy lie fall out from her lips before she could get a better grip on the words and keep them inside. She sighed, disgusted with herself, as she let her jealousy slip in between their friendship.
Corey looked at her, surprised, before Olivia leaned back over next to Corey. A few seconds later, he rested a hand on her knee and leaned over.
"Better hope he doesn't check his phone's call logs that often, Liv," he whispered.
