Chapter 34: Time to Move On

Olivia went upstairs to her apartment and sat on the couch. Only a small lamp was turned on the otherwise dark, silent room. She thought about Rae and seeing Ashley at her apartment this morning and their relationship and her job. Araeyah had given her another chance on the conditions that she not ignore her anymore, that she would talk to her when she felt jealous or insecure, and that she didn't make any assumptions. And here she was sitting in her living room, by herself, trying to think through it all in her head. She got up and grabbed her coat, phone and keys and left to head over to Rae's. When she got there, she went upstairs and knocked on the door. While she waiting for Rae to answer, the door across the hall opened and Paul stuck his head out. Olivia tried to ignore him but she could feel him staring a hole in her back. She turned around and gave him a fake smile.

"Hi" she said hoping to indulge him long enough for Rae to come to the door.

"She's not here" he said ignoring Olivia's greeting. She tried not roll her eyes at the information he'd just given her. "Of course you know that" she thought to herself.

"Oh. Do you know when she went out?" she asked sure he'd have that information too.

"Hours ago. Been in and out since this morning. Went out and came back with a blonde girl. Later she left with the blonde and another girl, brunette. Then came back with the brunette and left again" Paul said recounting Rae's movements. Olivia was a little worried that he kept track of Rae so much. She would definitely be running a check on him when she went in to work tomorrow. "Ok. Thank you" she said before turning and heading down the stairs back to her car. She figured the blonde could be Maureen but then again she hadn't met all of Rae's friends. The brunette of course had to be Ashley. Olivia tried not to get upset at the knowledge that Rae had gone back to Ashley after she left her apartment but she was failing. She pulled out her phone and called Rae's number, hoping she'd pick up.

Rae was sitting on Ashley's couch when her phone started ringing. She picked it and looked at the caller id. Upon seeing Olivia's name she turned the screen to Ashley so she could see it. Ashley let out a little laugh.

"I guess we talked her up. Well, are you gonna answer it?" she asked curiously. She let out a long sigh and hit the accept button.

"Hello" she said trying not to sound too angry.

"Hi. I...ummm...I'm sitting outside you're apartment building. I went up and knocked...Paul said that you went out so..." Rae rolled her eyes and suddenly trying to hide her anger wasn't much of a priority anymore. "Why are you talking to Paul?" she asked in a biting tone. Ashley cringed and tried to get up to give Rae some privacy but Rae shook her head. She gave a nervous smile and sat back down. "He came out of his apartment when I knocked. I didn't ask him where you were" Olivia said trying to calm Rae down. "I don't want you talking to him. He is always in my life. I don't want any interaction with him whatsoever. He's the one that complained about us to Danny and then Danny called Charles. It's only way that Charles could've found out about us. You tal..." Rae was talking so fast. "Ok, ok. I won't talk to him again" she said interrupting her rant. Olivia didn't want to fight with her. She had called so they could meet up and work things out. "Where are you?" she asked even though she was pretty sure she already knew the answer. "I'm at Ashley's." Rae spoke with a voice that said she was unapologetic about being there. Olivia kept a steady voice so not to reveal her feelings of jealously. "I was hoping that we could talk about what happened today" she said. "I thought you needed time to think?" Rae said slightly mocking her. "I was wrong. Can you please just meet me so that we can talk?" Ashley suddenly grabbed the phone from Rae. When she put the phone up to ear to talk to Olivia, Rae looked like she was going to faint.

"Hi, Olivia. It's Ashley, you know, the one you saw this morning; the one that opened the door with barely any clothes on? Rae's ex-girlfriend? Yeah that Ashley. I gotta tell ya, you're really fuckin' up man. This girl is amazing and you have your moments where you treat her like shit." Rae couldn't believe what Ashley was saying. She kept telling Ashley to give her the phone back and tried to grab it from her, but she kept moving it out of her reach. "As one of her best friends, I can't let it continue. So, I'm gonna hang up now and you shouldn't call her back until you have your shit together. Kay, bye." She hung up the phone and tossed it the phone on the couch to where Rae was sitting. Rae's chest was tight and she felt like she couldn't breathe. "I can't believe you just did that" she said in a weak voice. She suddenly got up from the couch and started to gather her things. "I cannot believe you just did that" she said getting more and more angry as she got her things. "What? I was trying to help. Maybe now she'll put her head on straight."

"Or maybe now she really won't want to talk to me!" Rae yelled. In her head, Ashley knew that's what she really wanted and intended to have happen when she grabbed the phone and said what she said. She regretted it now, seeing how unhappy Rae was at the idea that Olivia wouldn't talk to her again. "Maybe I should just give up on us getting back together" she thought. "You know, I know what you're doing Ashley. You're hoping that Olivia and I will break up and that'll open the door for a second chance for us." The look on Ashley's face told Rae she got it right. "That's not what I want. I know you're a different person than you were when we were together but who isn't at fifteen. We were never going to last, Ashley. You know it and I know it." She walked back over to Ashley and sat down on the couch. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. "We will never happen again, Ash. You have to move on now. You have Scott and you two are great together." Ashley rolled her eyes at Rae's attempts to appease her. "I love you but...not like that. I do want us to be friends though; best friends. Our relationship as friends is the best it's ever been. I don't wanna lose that." Rae didn't want to hurt Ashley's feelings but she had to be honest with her. A tear ran down Ashley's face and she quickly wiped it away. "I'm sorry" she said softly. Rae leaned in and gave Ashley a hug. After a moment she pulled away and got up, gathered the rest of her things and headed out the door.

She didn't even attempt to call Olivia back, figuring she'd just ignore her. She left Ashley's and drove straight to Liv's apartment. When she arrived, she parked and got out grabbing her bag from the bag seat. She had planned to stay the night at Ashley's and go to school from there, but that was definitely not happening anymore. She hit random buzzers until someone let her in. She got up to Olivia's door and took a deep breath before knocking. A minute later, the door opened and Olivia stood there in sweats and a t-shirt. She stood to the side and allowed Rae to walk past her into the apartment. She went into the bedroom and changed into pajamas. When she came back out to the living room, Olivia was on the couch waiting for her. She sat across from here and pulled her legs into her chest.

"Liv, you know, everything that Ashley said...I didn't want her to say that to you" Rae said. She hoped Olivia would believe her. "I won't lie, I do get frustrated with you sometimes, but most of the time I'm really happy with you. You don't treat me badly."

"I know you didn't want her saying it. I heard you telling her to give you the phone back" Olivia said with a soft chuckle. "But she's not wrong. I do have my moments don't I?" she asked sadly. "No, Liv...you don't treat me like shit. Do you have communication issues? Yeah, you do and it's really annoying but you're a great girlfriend to me" she said honestly. "Did you sleep with her? Ashley?" Olivia asked abruptly. "Olivia..." Rae was about to lay into her about her jealousy issues again but she decided not to. She had told her if she wanted to know something to ask and she was asking. "No, I didn't. I told you Ashley and I are just friends. We will never be anything more than just friends ever again. Was I upset that you couldn't come to my show last night? Yes. I was really bummed out. Was I so upset that I cheated on you with Ashley? Never." She looked Olivia in the eyes while she talked so that she could see she was telling the truth. "I'm sorry. I just...I showed up this morning to see you and to apologize and she answered the door and she was half naked...and I just..." Olivia sighed, "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions" she finished. "Probably not" Rae said smirking.

"What about you and your blonde? Alex is it?" she asked curiously. Olivia had never mentioned an Alex to her so she was interested to know who she was. "I told you she's a colleague and a friend" Olivia said. "You've never told me about her before. Are you good friends?" Olivia knew a lot about Rae's friendships with Maureen and Ashley yet Olivia had never told her about this friendship she had with Alex. "Uh, we used to go out for drinks or dinner or movies, you know, just hang out after work. Then I met you and now I spend my time after work with you" Olivia explained. "Just drinks and dinner and movies huh?" Rae asked clearly unconvinced that was the extent of their relationship. "Ok. We slept together. Once. Months ago. It was before we met. We agreed that it was just a one time thing and that it couldn't happen again."

"Just once?" Rae asked raising her brow. "Yes, just once. It almost happened again but I couldn't...I couldn't go through with it." Rae looked curiously at Olivia, "Ok, let me get this straight. You had a hot blonde in your apartment who wanted to have sex with you but you couldn't do it?" she asked. Olivia looked Rae in the eyes, "No, I couldn't. I wanted to be with someone else." Rae smiled realizing that the "someone else" Olivia was talking about was her. "So how was she?" Rae asked like it was no big deal. "Rae, I'm not doing this?" Olivia said shaking her head. "Not doing what?" she asked. "I'm not comparing you to Alex." Rae repositioned so that she was sitting cross legged facing Olivia. "I didn't ask you to compare us. I asked how she was." Olivia gave her a sideways glance that told her she wasn't going to answer the question.

"Fine. So you ignore my phone calls but you talk to her?" Rae was a little jealous. Not a way that made her worry that Olivia would cheat on her. She just wanted to understand why Olivia had such a hard time talking to her about things but could call this Alex and spend time with her. "No, it's not like that. I just...I just needed some advice that's all."

"Advice about me? About us?" Olivia nodded silently. "So you told her about me?" Olivia nodded again. "Everything?"

"Everything except how old you are" Olivia said. She searched Rae's face for some sort of reaction but got nothing. "What'd she say?" Rae asked. "She told me to stop being stubborn and talk to you" she said with a little laugh. Rae smiled. "I haven't met her and I like her already." Olivia laughed and rolled her eyes, "I'm sure you do."

Rae's smile suddenly disappeared as she debated what she was about to say. "Liv...I don't know if I should tell you this or not but...ummm...I just wouldn't feel right if I didn't. Last night when Ashley and I got back to my place after the show, we were getting ready for bed and..." Rae paused. She didn't know whether this was important for Olivia to know but she couldn't keep it from her. Olivia was sitting quietly waiting for Rae to go on. "Just say it", Olivia said a bit nervous about whatever it was that Rae was trying to get out. "I was in the bathroom and Ashley came in and she...she kissed me." Olivia's face immediately fell. "But I pushed her away. I didn't kiss her back" Rae said quickly explaining. Olivia wouldn't look at her and she was scared about what she was thinking. "Liv, please look at me" she said moving closer to her on the couch. Olivia looked up and met Rae's brown eyes. "Nothing happened. She was drunk and she kissed me but I did not kiss her back" she said explaining again. "Say something", she said quietly. Olivia just sat silently. "I shouldn't have said anything" Rae said shaking her head moving away from Olivia. "I...I'm sorry. I'm just trying to process" Olivia said. "Well process with me Olivia. I'm here too, ok. I want to know what you're thinking. I want to know how you feel. You can't keep shutting me out" Rae said almost yelling. "Ok. I...am angry. I'm angry that she kissed you and I'm angry that you let her stay afterwards. Did you sleep in the bed with her?" Olivia asked already knowing the answer. "Yes, but...what was I gonna do Liv? I couldn't send her home like that; she was sick. I took care of her. She's my best friend."

"You could've put her on the couch" Olivia said as if that was something that Rae obviously should have thought of. "I'm sorry but no. I love that couch and nobody is sleeping on it. I mean, come on, I made us get on the floor to have sex, remember?" Rae said very seriously. Olivia couldn't help the laugh that escaped her. "Ok. I just...I don't like her" Olivia said bluntly. "You don't even know her" Rae said simply. "I know enough." Rae had told her all about her history with Ashley and how she'd treated her back when they were dating. That was enough for Olivia to decide that she didn't like the girl and she wasn't too keen on Rae being friends with her either. "You only know what I've told you. Anyway, she's different now. You just have to meet her, give her a chance" Olivia raised her eyebrows. "Whatever you say" she said, "you just better tell her to keep her lips off of you." Rae laughed, "I did. I made myself very clear." Olivia leaned her forehead against Rae's. "Good", she said simply. She brought their lips together in a quick kiss. "And you have to stop. ignoring. my phone calls" Rae said punctuating her words and squeezing Olivia's hands. "I don't care if you answer just to tell me that you don't want to talk to me. You still answer. Ok?" Olivia smiled, "Ok" she said in agreement. They shared another kiss, this one longer and more passionate. When they finally parted, they started talking again. Rae told Olivia all about the show and how she was now a permanent member of the band. They talked for about an hour before they both started yawning and decided they should go to bed. They walked to Olivia's bedroom hand in hand. They got in bed and snuggled up close to each other under the covers. "Good night baby" Olivia whispered. "Good night." After a few minutes, they were both fast asleep.