Author's Notes: I'm sorry for the delay. It's a lot harder to start bringing them back together than keeping them apart.

I hope this is okay.

Chapter Six

Talk To Me

Maeve stood silhouetted in the doorway of her caravan, staring down at Otis as he looked up at her with forlorn eyes, her mind a maelstrom of confusion, hurt and hope.

"It's nearly midnight," she said.

"I know. I know it's late and maybe… maybe I should have waited… but… I know I've really hurt you and I wanted you to know I'm sorry."

"At midnight?"

"I… I thought…" He halted, frustrated, annoyed with himself, then his shoulders slumped. "You're right. It's late. I shouldn't have done this."

Maeve stared at him, frowning. "What were you doing with Jeffrey?" she asked again, finding this collision between these hitherto unconnected parts of her life exceedingly strange. "I didn't know you knew Jeffrey."

Otis hesitated then said, "We met a few months ago. He's… he's a friend of Ruby's dad." He half-swallowed the last two words.

Maeve looked steadily at him, hoping her feelings weren't reflected on her face.

"We used to hang out at her place after bowling nights," he continued. "Walked part of the way home together."

"He really likes you," Maeve said. "He wouldn't have said that to Isaac if he didn't."

"I gave him some advice early on. He seemed kind of impressed," Otis said, a little embarrassed.

"What advice?" she asked.

"Cynthia's cat died," he began then realized. "Oh, you'll know the story."

"Yeah," Maeve said. "So you're the reason they stopped disturbing the rest of us?"

Otis looked at her quizzically.

"She's very loud," Maeve said.

Otis nodded, taking in her meaning, then studied her, noting the wariness and confusion in her frame and her eyes. "You deserve so much better than how I've been treating you. I should have come and talked to you sooner. I shouldn't have said what I said last week. I'm sorry."

"Did you mean it?" Maeve asked, failing to conceal the hurt in her voice.

"No," Otis sighed, ashamed. "Not… no…"

"Then why did you say it?" Maeve asked.

"I was stupid. I was… confused. Things have been so complicated ever since I met you and I thought that if I cut you out of my life things would go back to being uncomplicated."

Maeve frowned, unsure how to respond.

"Roland made me realize that's stupid," Otis continued. "Life is never going to be uncomplicated."

"Who's Roland?" Maeve asked.

"Ruby's dad."

"He told you to come here?" she asked, stomach churning at the implications of Otis talking to Ruby's dad.

"He told me you deserved more than I was giving you."

Maeve bit her lip. "Are you and Ruby seeing each other again?" she asked, cautiously.

"No," Otis said. "She… she just thought I might want to talk to her dad."

"Why?" Maeve softly asked.

"She was concerned about me. She thought I needed to talk to someone."

Maeve was silent for a moment then asked, hesitantly, "Are you hoping to get back together with her?"

"She let me know that wasn't on the table."

"Do you love her?" Maeve asked, not caring whether she had a right to ask that question or not.

"Not as much as she loves me," Otis murmured after a moment, hesitated, then continued, "Not as much as I love you."

Maeve kept her face as neutral as she could.

"I'm sorry," Otis said, sadly. "I probably shouldn't say that, considering the way I've been treating you."

Maeve was silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts, then asked, "What were you hoping for, coming here?"

"Just a chance to talk for a bit. I know it's late. I don't want to be long. I just wanted to let you know… I wanted to let you know there is a whole chunk of my life that's empty when you're not a part of it and let you know I'm hoping you can forgive me."

Maeve was silent for a long moment, simply staring at him before she finally said in a soft voice containing the most vulnerability he had ever heard from her, "It really hurt, Otis."

"I know," Otis said quietly. Ashamed.

"The things you said at your party. Not wanting to talk to me. They hurt but I… I can understand those. But saying you wished you had never met me was worse than cutting me out of your life with a text."

"I shouldn't have done that either. You deserved so much better than that."

Maeve was silent for a moment, torn between two conflicting desires then murmured, "I can't talk tonight."

Otis nodded to himself, disappointed.

"Maybe… maybe tomorrow…" she said.

"Okay," Otis said, regaining a little hope.

"I'll come see you tomorrow."

"I'll understand if you don't-"

"I'll come see you," Maeve repeated, softly but firmly.

"Thank you," Otis said. "I really am sorry, Maeve."

Maeve nodded. Otis gazed at her a moment then turned and started to walk away.

"Thanks for coming over," Maeve said then waited until he turned to face her. "This is…" She halted, swallowed, pressed her lips together and sniffed in a quick breath. "This is all I wanted. All I was asking for. That you come and talk to me."

"I wish I'd come sooner."

"You came tonight. That means a lot."

"I was so afraid you'd tell me to fuck off," Otis said.

"I thought about it," Maeve murmured with a ghost of a smile. "If seeing you and Jeffrey together hadn't screwed up my head, I probably would have."

Maeve opened the back door of Aimee's car and leaned inside to remove Goat from her container. She closed the back door, opened the front and sat in the passenger seat then closed the door.

She gently scratched Goat under the chin.

Aimee looked at her and asked, flatly, "How's your life today, love?"

"DS, DD," Maeve murmured with a shrug.

"What?" Aimee asked, puzzled.

"Different Shit, Different Day," Maeve said.

"Did something happen? Did Isaac say something?" Aimee asked, concerned.

"No," Maeve said, shaking her head.

"Then what's wrong?"

"I have to be grateful to Ruby," Maeve said with exaggerated gloom.

"What?" Aimee asked, startled and surprised.

Maeve couldn't conceal her smile any longer as she turned to Aimee.

"Otis came over last night. Apologized for what he said last week. For not wanting to talk to me."

"So are you two-?" asked a hopeful but wary Aimee.

"No," Maeve said, shaking her head. "We still need to talk about things but he's willing to talk. That's all I've been hoping for."

"That's great," Aimee said.

"He said he still loved me," Maeve said, biting her lip.

"And did you tell him you still loved him?"

"No," Maeve said, shaking her head. "I couldn't. He woke me up – he knows Jeffrey. That blew my mind. I was just barely holding it together when I saw him. I wasn't sure if he was going to say sorry and then say he couldn't see me anymore anyway. But he wants to talk."

"Do…?" Aimee began tentatively before letting her voice trail away.

"What?" Maeve asked.

"Do you still want to be with him?"

"Of course I do," Maeve sighed.

Aimee gave her a soft smile. "So, do you think he does want to be together with you?"

"I don't know. Maybe… He said he loved me more than… Maybe he'll only want to be friends."

"That's still something, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it is," Maeve said, unconvincingly.

"You started as friends."

"Maybe that's what we're only supposed to be," Maeve sighed. "I mean, everything seemed to go bad for me once I started thinking of him as… more than a friend."

"I think he'll want to be with you. You said he said he still loved you."

"I just don't want to get my hopes up."

Aimee started the car.

"So why do you have to be grateful to Ruby?" she asked.

Otis looked up from the piece of paper in front of himself as Eric and Adam sat down opposite him at a bench in the study room.

"So, how did things go with Ruby last night?" Eric asked, an edge in his voice.

"Fine, Eric," Otis said, blandly, folding the piece of paper and placing it in his pocket.

"I bet they did," Eric muttered.

"You could even say last night was the best night I'd had in five weeks."

"You look different," Adam said, staring intently at Otis.

"Do I?" Otis asked.

"You don't look so tense."

"Of course he doesn't," Eric muttered. "After things with Ruby last night."

"Last night is why I'm not feeling so tense this morning," Otis conceded.

"I bet," Eric muttered. "I know. Your life. Your choice. I still think you're making a mistake, going back to Ruby."

"I'm not going back to Ruby. We didn't have sex, Eric. I went to talk to her dad."

"Her dad?"

"Yeah. Ruby thought I needed to. She thought talking to somebody who had been in a good relationship might help. Give me some… perspective."

"Did it?"

"Yeah," Otis said.

"What perspective?" Adam asked.

"You were right. Your mum was right. Life is complicated. Even when I thought my life was uncomplicated, it really wasn't. I just didn't see it as complicated because I was so used to it. Then when Maeve became a part of my life… that was complicated in a way I wasn't used to and I didn't know how to deal with it. I didn't know how to be in love with her."

"You know now?" Adam asked.

"No," Otis said, shaking his head. "That's something I have to learn."

"How?"

"By being honest."

"About what?" Eric asked.

"What's the one thing I've been doing ever since you realized I was in love with Maeve?"

"Fucking up?"

"Yeah," Otis said, smiling wryly to himself. "Because I kept denying I was in love with her. Kept telling myself I had moved on from her. Kept telling myself that being in love with her didn't matter because I was only hurting her. But I only hurt her because I didn't let myself just be in love with her."

"And you're going to let yourself just be in love with her now?" Eric asked.

"Yes."

"Then you need to go and tell her that and hope – hope – you haven't screwed it up so badly that she never wants to see you again."

"He hasn't," said Maeve's voice from beside them.

Otis quickly turned to see Maeve standing by the bench near them, looking down at him.

"Hi," she said, a touch nervously.

"Hi," he said, not hiding how pleased and relieved he was to see her.

"Um… I've got a free so I'm going to go have a ciggy at… you know, where it all began. If you want to come, we can talk."

"Um…" Otis began, rising to his feet. "I've… I've written something," he continued, taking the piece of paper from his pocket. "I just thought… there's a lot I want to say and I'll probably screw it up if I just talk off the top of my head so…" He held the piece of paper out to her. "I mean, if you don't want to read it – if you prefer I say it…"

Maeve took the piece of paper from him. "It's easier when you write it, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Otis agreed.

"Thanks," Maeve said, looking at the piece of paper.

"I'll give you some time to finish it then… then I'll come see you. Unless you want some time after…"

"That bad, is it?"

"No, no, I just—"

"If I don't like it, I know where Adam's hidden the sledgehammer." She turned to Adam. "You don't mind if you don't come smash things today, do you?"

Adam shook his head.

Maeve turned back to Otis, running her eyes across his face. "I'll see you soon."

"Okay."

Maeve gave him a small smile then walked away to join Aimee who was waiting in the doorway.

Otis sat down again then noticed Eric staring at him, open-mouthed.

"I went to see her last night," Otis said with a shrug.

"About fucking time, New Kid," Adam said.

Aimee sat amidst the rubble of the old toilet block, snuggling Goat and watching Maeve reading the piece of paper.

When she finished, she folded the paper, stared at the ground then sniffled, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Ohhh," said Aimee, disappointed. "Was he still being an arsehole?"

"No," Maeve said, shaking her head.

"What did he say?"

"It's… it's private."

"Was it good?"

"It was good. It was…"

"Does he say he still wants to be with you?"

"Not as such," Maeve said, clearly a little disappointed.

"Maybe he wants to say it in person," Aimee suggested hopefully.

"Yeah, maybe," Maeve agreed.

"Does… does he understand how badly he hurt you?" Aimee asked, tentatively.

"I think so," Maeve said.

"Make sure he does," Aimee said, firmly, then heard a small cough from behind herself and noticed Maeve turning to look in that direction.

"I do," Otis said, quietly. "I think I do," he amended.

Aimee gave Maeve a not-quite-guilty glance, then turned to watch Otis as he slowly walked to stand between the two girls.

"Make sure he does," Aimee repeated to Maeve before getting to her feet and looking at Otis. "You listen to her," she commanded gently.

"I will," Otis said, quietly.

"Catch you later, babe," Aimee said to Maeve then walked away.

Otis watched her go then turned to Maeve and said, sadly, "She doesn't like me much at the moment, does she?"

"She still ships us. We've just spent the week bitching about you, telling each other several million reasons why you were the most selfish prick we ever met," Maeve said, softly smirking but watching him carefully.

"I can imagine some of the things you listed," Otis murmured.

"The way you were dancing at your party is six million seven hundred and three. Do you have any sense of rhythm?"

"I can't dance," Otis murmured with a shrug.

They looked at each other silently for a moment, noticing the soft wariness in each other's eyes.

"Sit down," Maeve finally said. "You're making the place look untidy."

Otis sat down where Aimee had been sitting, a soft smile on his lips.

"What?" she asked.

"That's what Jeffrey always says."

"I still can't believe you know Jeffrey," Maeve murmured.

Otis looked at the piece of paper held in Maeve's hand.

"So, did you read it?" he asked softly.

Maeve nodded.

"I really am sorry about everything," Otis said.

"I know," Maeve said, quietly.

"Is there anything you want to say?"

Maeve lost herself in her thoughts for a moment then murmured, "I've never once wished I'd never met you. There are things I wish you'd never done… times when I didn't want to have anything to do with you… but there was never a moment I wished you had never been part of my life."

Otis watched her silently, sadness and regret washing over him at the pain in her voice.

"When you said you wished you had never met me, it was like you were saying… everything between us had been worthless. That there was nothing good that came out of knowing me."

Otis closed his eyes momentarily, drew in a soft breath then looked at her once more.

"You made me feel that—" She held her thumb and forefinger minutely apart. "—small. I kept telling myself I shouldn't care because what the fuck did your opinion matter, anyway. But it did matter."

Otis sighed. "I knew I'd really hurt you when Ruby told me what you said to her. How you were… You'd never have let her see you had been crying if I hadn't hurt you really badly."

"I meant it. I would never have tried to break you two up."

"I know," Otis said, quietly.

"But it happened anyway because of me," Maeve muttered. "I thought that's why you weren't wanting to talk to me. Because I destroyed both your relationships."

"Ruby and me is not your fault," Otis said firmly.

"But Ola is."

"Ola—" Otis began to softly protest then fell silent, staring at the ground.

Maeve looked over at him, pressing her lips together, regret washing through her.

"I was jealous of her ever since I saw you flirting with her at the shops," she said, quietly. "And then when I saw you at the dance with her even though you said you weren't going… even if I didn't think you were going to be with me, I didn't want you being with her. I wanted you and I didn't care who I hurt to try to get you. I'm sorry."

"Nothing you did that night made any difference with what happened between me and Ola at the dance."

"But it did make a difference when I told you how I felt about you while you were with her. You only broke up with Ola because I did that."

"I broke up with Ola—"

"I know. Aimee told me. Eric told her. But she only put you in that position because of me. Because she knew I was trying to steal you from her. I'm the one who created this mess."

Otis hesitated for a moment then asked, "Why did you tell me how you felt about me? What... what were you hoping for? Did you really expect me to just dump Ola because you said you liked me?"

"I don't know," Maeve said, sighing. "I wasn't thinking properly. Everything was shit. I got kicked off the Quiz Heads. Mum was being a cow. You lost Elsie and didn't seem to give a shit."

"I did," Otis protested, annoyed she would think that.

"I just wanted something good to happen. It just felt so good being near you. I didn't want to lose that. I just never thought you'd get so angry about it."

"Of course I got angry," Otis said with mild disbelief. "I spent months tearing myself inside out about you and you finally tell me that you liked me when I was with someone."

"How was I supposed to know you actually liked me?" Maeve muttered. "You never told me."

"It was obvious," Otis said.

"No, it bloody wasn't," Maeve said.

"It was," Otis asserted, firmly.

"I tried to kiss you and you freaked out."

"That wasn't…" Otis protested, then halted. "You were with Jackson," he continued, lamely.

"I ran away from the fucking dinner with his mums. I wasn't going back to Jackson."

"You did go back to Jackson."

"Only because you wouldn't fucking kiss me," she snapped then immediately regretted it.

"That wasn't…" Otis began, then stopped and sighed. "You must have known how I felt, Maeve."

"I didn't."

Otis pondered for a moment, then said, "You said there was a moment that you thought I liked you."

"At the dance. When you were saying that it was hard liking somebody who didn't like you back. I thought you were talking about me. But when Jackson told me he paid you to tell him what I liked, I knew I was fucking kidding myself. You wouldn't have done that if you liked me."

"I did like you," Otis said, quietly. "I loved you."

"Then why did you take money to set me up with Jackson?"

"I tried to give the money back. He wouldn't listen to me."

"So why did you tell him what I liked?"

"It just slipped out."

"So why didn't you come and tell me?"

"I thought you'd be angry with me."

"More angry than when I did find out?"

"I didn't think you would find out."

"You were hoping it would be a secret forever?" Maeve asked, softly incredulous. "What if we did get together and I didn't know?"

"I wasn't thinking. I was just…"

Maeve was silent for a moment. "So if you did like me back then, why did you choose Ola?"

"I never thought you could like me."

"Why not?"

"I just didn't think I'd be your type."

"I don't have a type."

Otis seemed about to say something then pressed his lips together, frowning.

"What?" Maeve asked.

"Doesn't matter," Otis muttered.

Maeve waved the paper in her hand. "You said you were going to be honest from now on."

Otis sighed then said, "Jackson said you broke up with him because you were in love with me."

Maeve frowned. "When did he tell you that?"

"At the party."

Maeve sighed as if a connection was made in her mind. "Yeah," she said ruefully. "I broke up with Jackson because I was in love with you."

"So why didn't come and tell me then?"

"Because I'm not an Olympic fucking sprinter."

"What?"

"I did come over to tell you but you were kissing Ola."

"What?"

"On the stairs at your place."

"I didn't see you."

"Of course not. You were kissing Ola."

Otis frowned, remembering. "That was after I left the trophy for you."

"Yeah. That's why I was coming to tell you. I love that trophy. I know… I know how much it would have taken you to get it for me. Thank you. If I hadn't said it already."

"You mean if I hadn't… if I'd waited until you got home…"

"Yeah," Maeve said, wryly. "It could have been me you were kissing. Jackson was right. I didn't just like you, Otis. I was in love with you." She hesitated. "I still am."

Otis drew in a deep breath.

"Do… do you still love me?" Maeve asked, hesitantly.

"Of course I do," Otis said without hesitation.

"I need to know. Did you come here hoping we can make something together? Do you want to be with me?"

Otis thought for a moment then murmured, "I don't know."

Author's Notes: I will no longer make any promises about when I can publish the next chapter. I'm sorry if there's a long delay.