The journey home was agonisingly slow, especially seen as Alex was driving. It left Olivia to ponder what was going to happen and get more increasingly wrapped up in her own fear. She really didn't want to hurt Alex's feelings by saying no to her but if she said yes it would destroy Alex more in the long run when Olivia revealed her aversion to getting married.

Maybe Alex would understand Olivia's views on marriage. Besides it wasn't because she didn't love Alex, because she did, but rather the whole institution of marriage itself. Maybe Olivia was just being cynical.

Suddenly she realised the car was parked. Reluctantly she got out of the car and followed a rather quiet Alex into the house. They went their separate ways at the door like they always did. Olivia bolted upstairs for a shower like she did everyday whilst Alex went into her office to drop of her briefcase before starting dinner. They finally sat down together an hour later, Olivia could not make excuses to leave anymore as she was confronted with a generous portion of pasta and a fidgety Alex. It wasn't long before Alex broke the silence.

"Olivia I need to ask you something", Olivia froze staring down at her plate. "I've been thinking about this for a little while and I think now is the best time...", Olivia felt herself speaking up whilst having little control over what she said. Clearly she'd decided honesty was the best policy.

"I know what you're going to ask Alex and I can't accept your proposal. For as long as I can remember I haven't wanted to get married. The whole institution is something I don't believe in. Believe me, if there was someone I was ever going to marry it would be you but I have to be true to my beliefs. I'm sorry", she finished her outburst just in time to catch her breath. She didn't look up at Alex at first, rather waiting to see if she was going to react with any immediate angry outbursts. Instead there was silence and when Olivia finally looked at Alex she saw her frowning, focused on her own plate whilst pushing pasta around her plate with her fork. Olivia didn't dare say anymore, she waited for Alex to speak.

"Olivia, I wasn't going to ask you to marry me", Alex sounded cold and distant. Olivia felt like she wasn't being entirely honest with her. She cautiously reached over the dining table and placed a Hand over Alex's. Almost immediately Alex withdrew and went to stand.

"Where are you going?", Olivia was really concerned now.

"I'm not feeling very well. I'm going to lie down. Leave the plates I'll wash them later", she headed towards the door and just before she went out of sight she paused and half turned her head towards Olivia. "Thank you for being honest with me Olivia", with that she was gone leaving Olivia to make sense of what just happened.

An hour later Olivia was just finishing the washing up as her mind tried to think of what to do. Should she have not said anything and just accepted it? But maybe Alex was telling the truth and Olivia's outburst had been out of place, of course she was upset.

Olivia put down what she was doing and headed upstairs, she desperately wanted to apologise. She took the stairs two at a time and reached their bedroom quickly. Olivia was quiet at first, she crept round to Alex's side of the bed. She didn't realise Alex wasn't in bed until she was pretty much reaching out to rouse her.

Olivia searched the house quickly and soon realised Alex wasn't there. She retrieved her cellphone quickly and tried Alex. To her relief it rang but she was promptly disconnected. She tried again, it wasn't until the fifth time of ringing that Alex answered.

"What is it Olivia?", if Liv wasn't mistaken Alex sounded like she was in a bar.

"Where the hell are you? I've been worried sick", Olivia was getting progressively more angry and less apologetic.

"Ha! Well I wanted a drink", she also sounded drunk.

"Where are you?", Olivia wasn't in the mood for messing around.

"Olivia, I needed to get away. Just leave me alone, I'll probably be back later", the phone cut out leaving Olivia fuming. She decided a different tactic and instead grabbed her coat and heading out into the night.

Alex was drinking too much. She knew it and so did the bartender who had been lingering around her for the past five minutes.

"So what's the deal with you?", the bartender finally spoke up.

"Well I'm avoiding someone", Alex slurred over the top of her whiskey glass.

"Anything you want to talk about?", if she wasn't drunk she would've said no outright.

"My girlfriend told me she doesn't want to get married", she saw he was surprised.

"Oh right, well maybe you should talk to her if you're feeling upset about it", Alex put her drink down and thought About things.

"Look, she doesn't like talking about things", Alex tried to rationalise her own actions.

"You clearly aren't comfortable avoiding her and not talking about things", he went about cleaning up glasses.

"How can you tell?"

"You're drinking to stop yourself going back to her and talking about things", Alex almost smiled; this guy was good. He leant in towards her and she had to strain to hear him. "And I also bet that your girlfriend has just walked in", Alex didn't pick up on what he was getting at at first.

"Why do you think that?", it just clicked and her smile melted away as he replied.

"Because there's a very angry looking woman behind you whose stare is burning a hole in the back of your head", Alex turned quickly on her chair and nearly fell off. She knew it was obvious Olivia Could see her but she turned back to the bar and crouched over it. Olivia certainly looked angry, this should be interesting. Even though this was pretty serious Alex couldn't help but burst out laughing.