Chapter 8
If Only She Knew
"Hey, Olivia!" Amanda said, sliding into the seat next to her at the study hall. "No Elliot yet?"
"Hey, Amanda! Nope, not yet. Even though he's supposedly the one with big news." Olivia responded, flipping through the pages of her law book.
"Hmm. I wonder what it is. Probably nothing important," Amanda chuckled.
"Yeah, probably not," Olivia agreed with a small smile.
Just then, Elliot came darting through the study hall, flinging himself in the chair across from Olivia and Amanda, causing them to look at him like he was insane.
"You ladies, especially Olivia, are not going to believe the news I found out about our lovely Professor Hot Stuff," Elliot said breathlessly as he flicked his eyes back and forth between them.
Olivia immediately rolled her eyes and sighed before looking back down to her law book.
Not having any of it, Elliot snatched her book away and sat it in his lap.
"Hey!" Olivia said, feeling more than ready to smack Elliot.
Sighing much like Olivia, Amanda said, "What?"
"She is totally into chicks!" Elliot exclaimed, his mouth wide open in a grin, flicking his eyes yet again back and forth between Olivia and Amanda. Not getting the response he was looking for, he tried again. "Hello? Did you just hear me? She likes women!"
"No, she doesn't," Olivia said, unable to hide the truth of her disappointment.
"Yeah, what makes you say that?" Amanda questioned, cracking open her water bottle to take a drink.
"I went to her office hours, right? And there's some woman sitting in there; beautiful, busty, red hair. She whispered to her something like 'I'll catch up with you later, babe.' And she was wearing a pantsuit! A pantsuit, ladies. Do you know who wears pantsuits?" Elliot asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Lawyers?" Olivia said, her own eyebrow raised in return; completely unamused with Elliot's so-called "news."
Amanda snorted in laughter. "Yeah, Elliot. Lawyers. Are you sure it just wasn't one of her friends visiting her?"
"Well, I mean," Elliot started, narrowing his eyes and rubbing the back of his head. "No, but she called her 'babe!'"
"So? Women do that," Olivia said.
"Yeah," Amanda agreed.
"Plus, she has a boyfriend," Olivia admitted, causing Elliot and Amanda to both stare at her, turning the attention away from Elliot.
"A boyfriend? Now how do you know that?" Elliot asked suspiciously.
Olivia shrugged. "It may have come up during one of my office hours visits."
"How does that come up casually?" Amanda inquired.
"We were just talking about things," was all the explanation Olivia was willing to give in that moment.
"Things?" Elliot questioned.
"Yes, things. Not everything has to be about class, you know."
"Ahh, I see," Elliot said as he nodded his head, shooting a wink at Olivia.
Olivia only glared at him in response, arms folded.
"You're buttering her up so she'll keep giving you A's!"
Olivia again rolled her eyes and scoffed, holding her hand outwards to demand her law book back.
"You know, you're kind of annoying," Olivia said with a slight smile.
"Yeah, you are, Elliot," Amanda agreed.
"Yeah, I know," Elliot smiled back, acting like he was going to hand Olivia her book back, but then suddenly jerked it back away from her. Laughing after the action, he finally handed it to her.
Blowing a puff of air out of her nose, Olivia began skimming the pages of her book once more.
"Come in!" Alex said after hearing knocking against her office door. Looking up from her papers, she couldn't contain the smile that immediately formed once she saw who was entering.
"Hey, Olivia! Back again?"
"Yup!" Olivia said, plopping herself down in her usual chair.
"What's up?" Alex asked, laying her pen against the desk.
"Oh, not much, actually. Just wanted to pop in," Olivia said with a grin.
"Oh, okay! No questions about class or anything?" Alex asked.
Olivia shook her head. "No. Honestly, this sounds cheesy, but I was just bored and wanted to come see what you were up to."
Flashing her own smile at Olivia, Alex moved all of the papers in front of her aside and relaxed her head in her hands, completely abandoning her grading now.
"Well, I'm up to a whole lot of nothing, other than grading."
"Do you want me to come back later?" Olivia asked, worried Alex had more important things to do.
Alex put her hand out to signal Olivia to stay. "No, please stay. I can grade at home."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive, Olivia," Alex smiled. "Say, I took your suggestion from last week."
Turning her eyebrows up in confusion, Olivia asked, "What suggestion?"
"The Office."
"No way!" Olivia said with a ton of enthusiasm. "You started watching it?!"
Alex nodded. "I did! I'm up to season 3 already. Please tell me Jim and Pam get together. I can't stand this any longer, they're so cute together."
Olivia shook her head. "No way, I'm not giving away any spoilers!"
"Aww, come on! Not even just a little hint?" Alex begged, pouting her bottom lip out just slightly.
Olivia couldn't help but immediately dart her eyes to Alex's lips, biting the inside of her own cheek. God, did she just want to be biting Alex's lip instead.
"Nope. Even with the pouting, not doing it."
Alex sighed, letting her head hang slightly to the side. "Fine. I guess I'll just have to keep watching."
"I guess you will," Olivia grinned.
"So," Alex started, changing the topic. "A Thursday night and you come to see your professor, because you're bored."
"Yeah, I guess so," Olivia shrugged with a laugh.
"No girlfriend?" Alex asked, picking up her coffee to take a drink, eyeing Olivia carefully.
Olivia shook her head. "Nope."
"Well, surely there has to be a girl you're interested in. I find it hard to believe someone as pretty as you is single."
Alex almost couldn't believe the words that just left her mouth. That totally wasn't appropriate to say to your student. But before she could apologize, Olivia was responding.
Fiddling with the lanyard of her keyring, she said, "Well, there might be. But it will never work. Thanks, though."
"Why won't it work?" Alex asked, her eyebrows furrowed. "You're very sweet and intelligent, Olivia. Girls like that, you know."
Smiling a half smile, Olivia continued, "Because she has a boyfriend."
"Oh," Alex said, nodding her head. "Yes, well. That may be an issue. Do you know if she likes girls at all?"
Olivia shook her head again. "I don't think she does. Plus, she's way out of my league anyways. It would never work, in a hundred years."
"Don't sell yourself short, Olivia. Plus, you never know what can happen. She may surprise you."
If only she knew, I'm sure she wouldn't be saying any of this.
Olivia shrugged. "I won't have my hopes up for it."
Alex gave her a soft and understanding smile. "I think I already know the answer, but have you talked to her about any of your feelings?"
Olivia just shook her head. "I don't think it's a conversation that would go over well."
Alex again gave a soft smile as she nodded. "I understand, Olivia. Say, have you had dinner yet?"
Surprised by the question, Olivia gave a shy smile. "No, I haven't."
"Okay. Well, you said you like Chinese food, and I'm craving some. Care to eat with me? I'll order in. I don't think anyone else will be stopping by tonight since office hours are almost over."
"Uhh, sure! I'd love to, actually."
Pulling out a menu from her desk, Alex laid it in front of Olivia. "Great, what will you be having?"
Alex gasped, nearly choking on the noodles she was eating. "Michael did not."
Olivia laid her head back as she chewed her own food, laughing with her mouth closed as Michael told Todd Packer about his Jamaican vacation with his boss, Jan, on her laptop screen.
"Yeah," Olivia said muffled as she swallowed. "He totally did."
Alex gasped yet again as Michael sent the photo of him and a topless Jan to the packaging department at Dunder Mifflin instead of his intended target.
"Michael! You absolute idiot!" Alex said.
Olivia continued laughing. "This is such a good episode."
"What is honestly wrong with him?" Alex asked with a chuckle, shoveling more of her noodles in her mouth.
"I have no idea. He's like this the whole time. It's amazing, the things he gets into," Olivia responded.
The two continued to enjoy their dinner together, watching an additional episode of The Office before Olivia's laptop signaled the battery was only at 20% remaining.
"Shoot. I didn't bring my charger," Olivia said.
"That's okay," Alex said, checking her watch. "Honestly, I probably should head home. Trevor is probably concerned I'm working too hard."
Olivia felt her stomach drop at the sound of that name; the one she assumed to be Alex's boyfriend.
"Ah, the boyfriend?" Olivia asked, doing her best to mask her sadness at the end of their encounter.
"Sorry, yes. I guess I never told you his name," Alex said, cleaning up the empty food containers.
"How long have you been together?" Olivia asked, putting her laptop back in her backpack as she stood up.
"A little over 4 years," Alex said, putting her papers in her briefcase.
"Wow, that's quite a long time," Olivia said. "How did you meet?"
"We worked together on a case several years back and, I don't know. We just clicked. He's a very sweet and charming man."
"Besides the 'no cats' rule," Olivia said, causing Alex to chuckle.
"Yes, besides the 'no cats' rule! But, I guess we can't expect perfection," Alex said, gathering the rest of her things and heading towards the door, Olivia on her heels.
"After you," Olivia said, motioning for Alex to exit the room first ahead of her.
Flashing a smile, Alex bowed her head towards Olivia as she exited the room, Olivia following her right after. Once they were both outside of Alex's office, Alex locked the door and began the walk down the dimly lit hallway towards the front door. As they walked, they could see a flash of lightning outside the building.
"Do you have a far walk?" Alex asked, looking at Olivia next to her.
"No, not too bad. About ten minutes," Olivia responded.
"Would you like me to drop you off? It looks like it could get bad out there."
"Oh, you don't have to do that, really," Olivia said. "I have an umbrella in my backpack."
"Which is a good way to get struck by lightning," Alex said with a half laugh, opening the front door and motioning for Olivia to go through the door first.
"I mean, if you're really insisting." Olivia gave a smile to Alex as a rumble of thunder and another flash of lightning rang throughout the night sky.
"Yes, I am. There's my answer," Alex said, pointing to the sky.
Just then, the rain started to slowly drizzle around them, pattering against the sidewalk.
"Okay, we better hurry to the car." Alex grabbed out her keys and unlocked her car, whose taillights blinked twice. She then quickly made her way to her BMW, tossing her briefcase in the backseat before practically jumping in the driver's seat, squeaking as she got in, the rain now pouring down in sheets.
Throwing her backpack at her feet, Olivia slid into the passenger seat and shivered, blasted by the air conditioning that was rapidly cooling the droplets of water on her skin.
Noticing her shaking, Alex quickly flipped the heat on and looked over at Olivia, their eyes meeting in an intense stare.
"Thanks," Olivia finally said, tucking her hair behind her ear and wiping off some of the rain on her arms. "I guess I didn't realize it was going to rain like this."
"Neither did I. So, where are you staying?" Alex asked, adjusting the position of her seat before buckling her seatbelt.
"Collegetown Crossing. It's just down the road."
"Perfect, show me the way!" Alex said, backing out of the parking lot as she headed towards the apartment complex.
As she drove, turning from the college onto the road ahead of them, Olivia couldn't help but stare at Alex. Her dress was pushed up slightly higher than normal, revealing the expanse of her creamy white thighs, flexing as she switched from the brake to the gas pedal. She let her eyes travel up higher, exploring the swell of her breasts and up even further to her slender and perfect neck. She couldn't help but imagine what that neck would feel like under her lips and teeth, and the thought sent a spark directly between her legs. But Alex's next words broke her out of her daydream.
"Okay, this is it, right?" Alex asked, pointing to an apartment complex on the left.
"Yup, this is me!" Olivia said, grabbing her backpack as Alex pulled up to the complex. "Thanks again, really. I appreciate the drive, and the dinner."
"Of course, Olivia. It was my pleasure. You really brightened my evening," Alex said, flashing Olivia a giant smile.
Unable to control her blushing, Olivia stuttered her next sentence as she looked down at her lap. "Oh, uhh, well… m-mine too, really. It was the best night I've had in a while, honestly."
"I'm very glad to hear that. Any time you want to come by, I mean it. My Thursday hours are usually very uneventful, so next time you're bored, I'm sure I will be too," Alex chuckled.
Giving her a smile, Olivia met her eyes once more. "Thanks, Professor Cabot."
"You can call me Alex outside of class, if you wish."
Biting her lip slightly as she smiled, Olivia responded, "Okay. Thanks, Alex. I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow morning, Miss Benson," Alex giggled, switching the roles.
Biting her lip again, Olivia chuckled as she got out of the car. She waved to Alex as she told her goodbye a final time and shut the door, making her way quickly to the inside of the apartment complex.
Alex watched her intently, making sure she made her way inside before pulling away. She couldn't exactly pinpoint the reason why, but she couldn't stop smiling. It really had been an incredible evening.