... although it shouldn't be too surprising for you to read where Alex ends up going, I do hope you like it :)

Chapter 8

Hearing footsteps approaching the door to her apartment, Olivia jumped off the couch, her legs getting tangled in the blanket she had before draped over her body. She cursed loudly as she tripped but managed to regain balance. God. This day better be over soon! At least she was going to have pizza...

Olivia hastily opened the door. "That was quick!"

"What?"

Olivia froze when she realized that the person standing in front of her wasn't the delivery boy she'd been waiting for but Alex. Alex who had obviously been crying. Alex who had just showed up on her doorstep at 10 pm!

"You're not the pizza guy" Olivia stated dumbly, and Alex tried her best to suppress a sarcastic "You don't say" because the alternative would have been to apologize to Liv. And in her opinion, she'd already made a fool of herself plenty of times within the past week, so "Sorry I'm not the pizza guy" seemed particularly silly. Instead, it was Olivia who apologized, simultaneously taking a step backwards to invite Alex in.

The blonde was still frozen to the spot and Olivia noticed a brief flash of panic in Alex's eyes, but she knew better than to grab her friend's wrist to keep her from running away – regarding her terrified reaction when she had last touched her, she opted for a verbal reassurance this time:

"It's okay, Alex. I'm glad you came here."

The elevator pinged and a pimple-faced teenaged boy with apparently zero social skills stepped out, interrupting them without even seeming to notice. "You Ms. Be..." He glanced at the illegible scribble on the receipt. "Beasen? Bison?" "Benson, yes." "Awesome. 10,75 please!"

Olivia fumbled a twenty-dollar-bill out of her pocket and handed it to the teenager who stared at her dumbly. "Keep the change!" She added, her eyes still fixed on Alex who hadn't yet decided whether to stay or run. "Awesome, man!" The boy exclaimed enthusiastically before he corrected himself. "I mean, ma'am. I mean... Thank you very much!"

It took him another couple of seconds to realize his job was done. When the elevator doors finally closed, giving the two women their privacy back, Olivia tapped on the closed lid of the pizza box.

"I could really use some help eating all this..."

Although Alex was fully aware that Olivia was just using some reversed-psychology-backdoor-approach on her, it seemed to work. Helping a friend eat an enormous pizza made it seem like Olivia was the one needing Alex, not the other way round. Guiding Alex into her apartment, Olivia put the pizza box on the living room table and gestured towards the couch. "You look like you could use a blanket" She stated casually and ran off, only to return with a fuzzy, cozy blanket a few seconds later. They both sat down on opposite sides of the couch, each snuggled into a blanket.

"Help yourself with the pizza!" Olivia offered, hesitatingly eyeing the blonde. It was obvious that she'd been crying. What was new though was that she hadn't even bothered trying to hide it.

"Alex..." Liv started worriedly.

"Don't. Please... I just..." She inhaled deeply and let out a shaky breath. "Not now, okay? Let's just eat first... please!" Olivia nodded. "If you tell me not to push it, I won't" She promised, and she held her word. After they (mostly Olivia) had devoured the pizza, Liv shot Alex a questioning glance. Alex immediately understood the unspoken "What about now?" and averted her gaze, almost shamefully shaking her head. An accepting "Okay" was Olivia's only response. She hesitated for a brief moment. "So I guess if pizza doesn't do the trick, some mind-numbing TV won't help, either?" Alex shrugged. "I'll take that as a No" Olivia concluded, "...but I just had a better idea anyway!" She jumped off the couch and rummaged through some drawers.

"Found it!" She exclaimed triumphantly, returned to the couch and dropped a deck of UNO cards on the table. "Are you serious?" Alex frowned. "Yup. Hey... don't judge me! It's a great game! Give me a second. I'll put on some music" The ADA couldn't help but chuckle at her friend's enthusiasm.

"So what's next? A blanket fort?"

"Let's see what the night will bring!"

… and so they ended up on Olivia's couch at midnight, surrounded by crumbles of pizza crust and greasy fingerprints on UNO cards - and ironically, that was exactly what Alex needed.