Once again, thank you to Kwills341 for beta... (Rock Star!)
Olivia moves to my side, carefully replacing her joking smile with a simply happy one once she's at my side, her arm loose around my waist, her fingers secured on my hip.
"Hi, Cos! How's it going?" She asks a shocked Cosima.
"Fine!" The little brunette answers flatly, after a few seconds. "You?"
"Glorious!" My friend's smile grows and the arm wrapped around my waist tightens its hold. "Let's go?" She says to me, her lips close to my ear in a gesture of intimacy.
I just nod, still too startled to produce a decent answer. I follow my roommate's lead walking away, looking back briefly to see that Cosima's staring at us leaving. Once we're home Olivia and I can formulate a game plan, decide what we're going to do next, because, so far, I have no idea what she thinks I can accomplish with this. Won't this new situation drive Cosima further away?
We're almost out of the parking lot, when Olivia stops and looks back. "We're getting drinks after dinner." She says loud to the couple next to a bike, putting their helmets on. "Perhaps you could join us?"
"What are you doing?" I whisper discreetly to my friend, watching the two other women looking at each other, deciding if they will come or not.
"Relax, I know what I'm doing." Olivia says back, equally low, before they reach us.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea." Kate says eyeing us, once they're close. "I'm Kate." She introduces herself, since her girlfriend still hasn't spoken a word.
"Hello, Kate. I'm Olivia." Olivia's arm leaves my waist as she goes for a limp, half-hearted hug.
Meanwhile Cosima and I are stuck staring at each other. She has a weird expression, her lips are slightly twitched, still not sure what to make of this. Her eyes move from my face to my waist, where Olivia's hand goes to again. Cosima frowns, clenches her jaw, looking back at me.
"Aren't you dating Al?" She doesn't bother to hide the acid in her words.
"Are you kidding me." Olivia says, laughing a little, pretending to be oblivious to Cosima's bitterness. "She dumped his sorry ass months ago. I thought you knew."
"No, I did not." She answers, now a little softer.
Cosima's trying to keep her temper in check, that seems quite obvious, but even though her words are not so sharp, the quiet anger in her eyes remain and she's staring at me like I betrayed her, for some reason. I want to remind her that I tried to tell her, but she was very peremptory in dismissing my every attempt. It's not my fault she remained in the dark about that little detail for so long. This situation is her own doing. Had she been a little less harsh and a little more willing to listen to me, this wouldn't have happened.
"Delphine, right?" I hear Kate say to me and look at her.
"Oui... Uh... Kate?" I really don't think this can become any more awkward.
"I got to say, you're quite a mystery to me." Kate says, proving me wrong. "Every time I asked Cosima about you, she changed the subject." There's something that looks like a challenge in her expression.
"Maybe she thinks there's nothing interesting to tell." I give a side glance at Cosima, who seems to be very interested in something on the ground.
"Yes, that must be it." She seems pleased with my answer.
Cosima's still looking down and an awkward silence grows between us. We're all able to understand that, so we quickly say our goodbyes after making the arrangements to meet later.
And to think this is just the preview of what's to come after dinner...
"What the fuck were you thinking?" I ask aloud, the moment we're inside our apartment.
"I just wanted to pick you up. Maybe see what has gotten you so upset about Cosima's relationship with Kate." Olivia explains. "Then I saw what she was doing and decided to intervene."
I go to the kitchen and take two beers out of the fridge. "Well, it was a terrible decision." I say already inside the living room and handing one of the bottles to my friend.
"She was doing it to spite you." Olivia takes a big swallow and points a finger at me. "You know that, right?"
"No shit!" I sit on the arm of the couch, cradling my beer. "But... I had just made my intentions clear inside. What will she think after this? We're going out, but I'm still hung up on her?! That's exactly what Cosima's thinking right now... at home... with Kate wrapped around her." I finish my venting and go for the beer.
"She might!" Olivia says with a smile. "But she's also wondering if we're doing the deed." She winks. "And believe me, that's bothering her a lot more than all of those things you just mentioned, combined.
"Did you see her face?" Olivia continues, laughing softly. "I don't know why you were having doubts about her. It's so obvious Cosima's jealous."
"Or she could just be extremely confused," I say looking straight at her.
"Of course she's confused. I can't believe you still hadn't told her about you and dickhead." Olivia extends her legs on the couch after she kicked off her shoes. "What were you waiting for?"
"It's not like I hadn't tried. She kept cutting me off before I got to that part." I get up and go to the drawer where we keep the take out flyers.
Olivia is quiet for some time, looking at the ceiling and occasionally bringing the bottle to her lips while I make the call for Chinese. I don't bother asking her what she wants; I know what she usually orders, just like she knows my favorites. We really are like a couple; an old married couple who knows each other's little things and don't have sex.
"Right! That's even better." Olivia says loud and when I turn her a questioning look, she explains. "She must be pissed that I got to you first. It must be eating her alive."
I look suspiciously at her. "Right! But how do you know this won't just push her away? That she's not gonna stop..."
"Delphine, this thing between you two cannot become more fucked up than it is already." She says getting up. "Do you really think she can be further from you than she already is?"
I think about how Cosima has been acting around me these last few days: when she's not ignoring me, she's trying to hurt me. The only time that didn't happen was today, when I decided to be more... industrious. Olivia might be right, I need to force Cosima to react, because she's not going do it on her own. I can't say that I blame her; when she did it I drove her away. It's my turn to try to get something from her and hope she doesn't act like I did.
So... This might not be the best idea ever and it can blow up in my face, but, lacking a better solution, I'll go along with this one. Besides, I know this way I can get something out of Cosima, even if it's a glare, like this afternoon, but it's better than to have her ignoring me completely. If she gets mad, at least it proves there's something there; she wouldn't get this upset if she was indifferent.
That sounds like good logic, yes? Yes, yes it does. And I'm just gonna ignore the possibility that in continuing down this road might very well result in driving Cosima irreparably away.
We arrive at the bar twenty minutes early and in all honesty I don't know who's more nervous, me or Olivia. Making a quick stop at the counter for drinks, I order a passion fruit juice, not wanting to add alcohol on top of everything else, and sit at one of the many tables that are free at this early hour. It's not even ten, after all.
"Okay, how far do you want to play this?" Olivia asks once we're sitting.
"What do you mean?" I take my eyes from the door and look at her.
"Like PDA." She explains smiling. "Touching, kissing, groping..."
"Oh... Okay." I stop to think carefully. "Uhmmm... No groping, let's keep it light."
She nods, laughing. "Okay... If you want to up the game, just... bite my ear."
I chuckle and my eyes go to the door again, where they stay glued until I see Kate walk in, dressed in tight jeans and an equally tight shirt. She's good looking, I'll give her that. Her long auburn hair is loose around her shoulders and even though she's just a few inches taller than Cosima, her lean figure makes her look taller in stature. The brunette follows closely behind, their linked hands making my stomach flip in anger. They look around the club, clearly searching for us and once their eyes find our table, Cosima gives a little hand wave.
"Take it easy, Del." Olivia says next to me, placing her hand just above my knee to keep it from rocking up and down.
I peel my eyes from the other two women, who are also making a stop for drinks, and look at my friend. "I'm cool." I try to assure her.
"Right..." She laughs low.
Once they reach us, Cosima's eyes go immediately to Olivia's hand on my thigh and she squints a little, her lips losing the casual smile she's had since she arrived.
"Hi!" Cosima says, before she wiggles out of her black leather coat, revealing strong shoulders.
She's wearing a skin-hugging dress in warm reds and hot oranges; short enough to rival my skirt with her dreads tied up in a sloppy bun. I bring the drink to my lips to hide my stare as she takes the seat in front of me and crosses her legs. Her arm goes around Kate's shoulder and she smirks at me, her eyes shinning.
"So Olivia, how was your vacation?" Cosima asks my roommate, but she's still looking at me with that smile on her lips. It seems as if she's recovered from her earlier shock.
"Good. Mexico's amazing." Olivia answers, ignoring the fact that Cosima is not making eye contact with her. "But I can see that yours was a lot more interesting."
"Why do you say that?" Cosima finally looks at her, her brow cocked.
Olivia's eyes go to Kate and then return to the girl in front of me. "It just seems that a lot has happened since we last spoke." She puts it politely, but the intention is there.
Kate sifts a little on her side of the sofa. "Maybe Cosima realized some things needed to change." She answers.
"If she wanted to change, she wouldn't have returned to old habits." My friend says, leaning forward.
"It's only normal to get back to old habits if the new ones are so shitty."
Kate's directing her anger at Olivia and not me, which makes two things very obvious: she knows about Olivia's history with Cosima, but not mine. I look between the two girls arguing, then at Cosima, who's looking back, despite the conversation at the table. I might be wrong, but something tells me that she is watching me closely, perhaps waiting to see what my reaction will be to this new information. And it's weird; taking all things into account, she should be the one caught off guard, yet the way I feel now is no different than the way I felt all along with her. It still feels like I need to prove something to Cosima.
"Or perhaps she still doesn't know any better." I dare say, looking straight at Cosima, determined to take back control of the situation.
"And what's that?" Cosima asks, her eyes still on me. "What's better?"
"If you don't know that, I'm not the one to tell you." I lean back on the sofa, placing my hand on the back, casually letting my fingers brush Olivia's shoulders. "I guess you need to figure that out on your own."
"She doesn't need to figure out anything." Kate says, looking at me as if she's evaluating how much of a threat I am. "She has me!"
"Is that right?" I ask, absently reaching for my glass.
"Yes! That's exactly how things are." And to solidify her statement, Kate reaches for Cosima's hand.
"Actually, I don't doubt that. Not even a little bit." I take a big swallow at my juice, as if it could somehow give me courage for my next words. "The big question is, do you have her?"