Elliot didn't quite know what to say. On one hand, it would be an easy thing to ask Tim if he and Abby had ever dated, but what if he said no? Then she would look like an idiot, and it would be the first step toward him realizing what a nutjob she really was and running away. She didn't want him to run away. However, what if he said yes? Would knowing the truth be worth it? Based on what she'd seen so far, Abby (at least the fictional version) was perfect. How could she ever hope to compare with that? She couldn't decide which was the lesser of two evils, to ask or not to ask. Is it better to just wonder, or ask and find out the truth? Could she handle the truth?
"Elliot?"
She blinked twice. "Yes?"
His face held a little bit of concern. "You looked like something was bothering you. Are you ok?"
Elliot blushed, looking down at her bottle and silently cursing the fact it was empty. "I was just thinking."
"About what?"
Frick. She'd been hoping he'd just let it drop. Perhaps that was too much to expect from someone who investigated people for a living. Her cheeks grew redder, and her eyes focused on his shoulder rather than his face. "D-Did you and Abby ever date?"
Now it was Tim's turn to blush. He knew it would come out eventually, but he wished it hadn't been today. There was a brief, but thoroughly uncomfortable pause before he answered. "Yes, we did."
She looked him in the eye again, unable to avoid noticing his discomfort. "Why did you break up? Did she cheat on you?"
Anger flared behind Tim's normally calm expression, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. It was replaced with a harder edge to his voice. "No. She didn't."
Elliot had been expecting any number of responses, but anger wasn't one of them. However, that told her more than she wanted to know. It told her that although Tim and Abby were no longer together, he still had feelings for her, more than just a friend feelings.
As Tim watched Elliot's expression fall, he was unsure of what to do next. Why on earth would she ask him that? It was not like Elliot at all. They fell into silence, and the only sound was Elliot shredding a napkin into smaller and smaller pieces.
--
"Uh oh.." JD muttered under his breath.
"What??"
"It's Elliot. She's shredding a napkin. Not a good sign."
Abby turned in her chair so that she could see Elliot and Tim. There was already a small pile of white flakes on the table, and it continued to grow as the two sat there in silence. Wrinkling her brow, the Goth frowned. "They were getting along so well, and now they're not even talking. I wonder what happened."
JD sighed. "With Elliot, there's no way to tell. That's why she brought me along. She has a tendency to screw up dates."
But, she was only half listening to what JD said. Instead, she was watching Tim, who seemed upset as well. Finally, curiosity got the better of her, and she began tapping furiously on her phone.
--
The vibrating of his phone distracted Tim from his frustration. Flipping it open, he read
Do U need 2 bail?
He didn't need to look to see who it was from, and he smiled faintly before pecking a reply.
--
Not yet. Thx.
Abby read the message and shrugged before sending one last message.
--
K.
As he closed the phone, Elliot cleared her throat. "I bet you need to go now." She could already feel the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. "It's ok, go ahead. I understand." Way to screw another one up, she thought.
"I'm not leaving, Elliot." She was relieved to hear that, though she knew she needed to eliminate the awkwardness soon or he would leave. "But I do need to ask you something."
She sighed. "Go ahead."
"Why did you ask me if Abby cheated on me? That's not like you.."
Her more cynical side wanted to tell him he really didn't know her at all, and if he did, he'd leave. But, instead, she took a deep breath and answered him. "I wanted to know what I was up against."
"Up against? What are you talking about?" Now, he was confused. Abby and Elliot weren't in competition.
This was going to be difficult to explain. "In the book, Abby is Amy. You wrote Amy as this totally wonderful girl." She raised a hand before Tim could interject. "From what I've seen, Abby is wonderful. In fact, she's so wonderful," Elliot's gaze fell to the table, "that I'm left to wonder why you're interested in dating me and not her."
So that's what this was about? Elliot was jealous of Abby? Now, he was going to have to explain why he and Abby broke up to begin with, which was going to be difficult, since he was never really sure himself. "Elliot..look at me."
She did, her eyes wet with unshed tears. Tim handed her his unshredded napkin. "Don't cry." Elliot wiped her eyes, then blew her nose, honking loudly into the napkin.
--
"Oh shit."
"What now?"
"She's crying. This is -really- not good."
"Did Tim make her cry?" Abby couldn't imagine Tim saying anything to make anyone cry.
"I don't think so." JD paused, searching for the right word. "Elliot can be sensitive at times, and this looks like one of those times." But, if Tim had made Elliot cry, he'd do something. He didn't know what, but something would be done.
--
"So you want to know why me and Abby broke up." He paused, rubbing the back of his head in what he hoped was an attempt to stall that wasn't blatantly obvious. "I would tell you if I knew why we broke up, but in all honesty, I don't. The best guess I have is that we just grew apart. People do that. I'm sure it's happened to you."
He did have a point, there had been a couple of relationships that disintegrated for no real reason. One day the spark was there, and one day it wasn't. It just happened. But, this was different, and she wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily. "But you two still work together, and get along."
"So do you and JD. Why did you two break up?" Tim's curiosity was getting the better of him.
Frick. Should have seen that one coming, Elliot. "Which time?" She laughed weakly. "The first time, it was because we started fighting over stupid little things. Then we tried being sex buddies, which didn't work out. I mean, not the sex part, which was great..." She trailed off as the horror of what she'd done struck her full in the face. "T-T-The rest, I'm not sure. You'd probably have to ask JD. He's the one who broke it off."
Tim nodded. "How do you feel about that?"
"It's ok."
He smiled. "That's how it is with me and Abby. We're not together now, but that's ok. We're still friends. "
Elliot smiled back. She really wanted to believe Tim, but she wasn't so sure his feelings for Abby were just those of a friend. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw JD watching them and managed a wave.
--
JD sighed in relief. "Things are better." He then lifted his glass and drained what was left of his appletini.
"Worry about Elliot a lot?" Abby asked before taking a drink from her beer.
"Not as much as she worries about herself." It was only then that JD realized that he'd been ignoring Abby for about ten minutes. "Oh geez, I'm sorry, Abby. I didn't mean to ignore you, it's just that-"
"That you were looking out for Elliot." She smiled. "I understand, and if you don't remember, I was keeping an eye on Tim. Of course, that doesn't mean we can't go out on our own sometime, right?"
He blinked. "Really?"
Abby laughed. "Yes, really. You'll find I don't usually say things I don't mean."
"Then, I'd love to."
"It's a date, then."
--
Elliot sighed. "This night sure didn't go like I planned."
Tim quirked a brow. "How did you plan this night to go?"
"We'd talk, laugh, and everything would go well. You wouldn't see me crying or looking like an idiot."
Tim put his hand over hers and squeezed it. "Elliot, I don't think you look like an idiot and I don't mind if you cry."
"Really? So you'd go out with me again?" She looked hopeful and anxious at the same time, and Tim found it cute.
"Yes, of course." Elliot brightened immediately.
"Great!"
--
When the bar closed, the four went their separate ways.
"Are you ok?" JD asked Elliot.
She smiled. "Yeah. We're going out again."
"That's great." JD was happy for Elliot, at least mostly.
"So, how was your date with Abby?" She asked, taking his arm.
"Well, it wasn't really a date, but she's cool. We're actually going out on our own sometime."
"You are?" It seemed like the perfect Miss Abby had made another friend. She liked Abby, so why did it bother her that she was going out with JD?
"Yep."
"You should show her Rowdy. I bet she'd like him."
JD grinned. "That's a great idea, I bet she would."
--
"You didn't make her cry, did you Tim?"
He shook his head. "No, I didn't."
"Then what happened?" Abby's natural curiosity was getting the better of her.
Tim sighed. "She asked if we had ever dated. I said yes, and then she asked why we broke up and if you'd cheated on me."
"What?" Abby stopped in her tracks. "She thought I cheated on you?" Abby found herself getting irritated, no pissed, at this little revelation. "I have never cheated on any of my boyfriends, especially you."
Especially me? Tim thought. But, he knew he'd have to think about that later. Now it was important to stop Abby before she got more upset. "Abby, calm down." He took her hand. "She asked because she wanted to know why I wanted to date her instead of you."
Without thinking about it, Abby squeezed his hand and her voice got quieter. "What did you tell her?"
"I told her the truth, that I wasn't sure exactly why we broke up." He squeezed her hand back. "Why did we break up, Abby?"
Abby looked at him, a sad smile on her face. "It just happened."
His heart leaped. He'd always wondered if it had been something he'd done that caused their downfall. If that were the case, she surely would have remembered.. Abby never forgot a slight. She'd always forgive, but never forget. At that moment, all he wanted to do was sweep her into his arms and kiss her the way she'd kissed him in the lab only a couple of days ago. Instead, he asked "So what does that mean for us now?"
"I don't know.."
It's now or never, he thought. Pulling Abby's hand to his chest, he put his free arm around her and kissed her. Her eyes opened wide as she wrapped her other arm around his neck, kissing him back.