Olivia Jensen is on her way to ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ғᴀsᴛ (sprinted) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2017-04-01 12:04:00 |
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Lita pushed open the door to the LBJ health center, pizza box in hand (sans one slice...she had gotten hungry on the drive over) and started walking toward Nick’s office when she recognized a familiar figure walking in the opposite direction. She stopped, considered her initial intentions, and after a moment’s hesitation, headed away from her boyfriend’s office and in the direction Liv was headed. Taking over some lunch to share with him had been an impulse decision. Lita had the day off and had intended to go over some of the walker cure research she had been helping out with when she was struck with the intense need to refuel with a heaping helping of pepperoni and extra cheese. Nick didn’t even know Lita was on her way to see him so when she decided to change course and pursue Olivia instead, she didn’t feel too bad. She’d make it up to him another time. Besides, she and Liv hadn’t had any one-on-one time lately, especially since the whole shitshow between her and Torrie. Lita wasn’t especially looking forward to confronting the fact that her roommate and close friend had jumped the girl she had come to love like a younger sister but it wasn’t something that was going to simply go away. “I come bearing grease and garlic,” Lita said by way of greeting. She had cornered Olivia in a waiting area of sorts which was thankfully empty except for the two of them. She set the pizza box down on a coffee table but didn’t sit down since she wasn't entirely sure that Olivia wouldn’t simply leave or tell her to get the hell out. “You want in?” Olivia's eyes narrowed at the offering, then raised to meet Lita's gaze. They weren't strangers to each other by any means, and she'd seen Lita more than a handful of times ever since the cat had been let out of the bag, so to speak, but they'd never really had a moment to really talk one on one. That wasn't necessarily a problem, though. Lita was more Savannah and Nick's friend anyway, not hers, so it didn't exactly surprise her that they'd never hashed it out beyond a quick acknowledgement. And it wasn't like she had really egged Lita on to talk more during that one brief acknowledgement, either. And it definitely wasn't like she wasn't unknowingly peeved that Lita hadn't pried for more than what she'd gotten. All things considered, though, holding all of this in was tiring. Even Olivia could recognize that. "Yeah, I'll have some," she said, reaching for some Dick's. She wasn't big on junk food, but she could make an exception for pizza today. "Thanks. Are you, um. Here to hang out with Nick?" “I was,” she acknowledged, taking a slice for herself. There was no use in denying her original reason for being there. “Now I’m here to hang out with you.” "Oh." Olivia glanced over in the direction of where she'd last seen their mutual connection, the look on her face turning skeptical once more. "Okay." Even if Nick had known she was on her way to see him, Lita doubted he would have minded her throwing him over as a lunch date for Liv. He’d consider making an effort to listen Olivia, to try understand where she came from, and to bear whatever recriminations the former scout had for Lita in this whole debacle far more important than a few slices of pizza. “Saw you and Maizie talking to Torrie at the St. Paddy’s day party,” Lita said bluntly after she’d swallowed a mouthful of cheese. She figured if she was going to do this thing, she might as well rip the band-aid off right away. “How’d that go?” "Um, it was fine." The skepticism on Olivia's face deepened again, and this time she made no effort to will it away. She wasn't getting up and leaving, though, and she wasn't opposed to the conversation as a whole. It was just… awkward. "I don't know. She apologized, I said it was whatever, so." Olivia hadn't really known where to go from there, but at least she didn't have Torrie being a dick about it still weighing on her. Not that she was totally unburdened or something, but things were sort of better now. "It sucks, but I can't do anything about it anymore." Lita registered the look of incredulity and doubt on Olivia’s face; whether she was skeptical of Torrie’s apology or to Lita’s concern about the situation as a whole, Lita wasn’t sure. Still, she’d brought the subject up and she cared about both women so Lita pressed on, no matter how uncomfortable discussing the subject was. “Torrie is a stubborn, stone cold bitch,” Lita stated baldly, though not unkindly. Even if there was no sugarcoating it, Torrie’s attitude was both what Lita loved and hated about her roommate. They were similar in that way, even if Lita was more cunning and conniving about it, as opposed to Torrie’s unapologetic, in-your-face defiance. “But she's not a bad person. Still, she did a shitty thing and it was really big of you to listen to her apology, even if you didn't accept it, or forgive her.” Lita wasn’t sure she’d be quite as magnanimous if she had been in Olivia’s position. Even though she and Torrie were in a good place now, she’d certainly held a grudge against Torrie and her choices for a long, long time. At the same time, Lita had never offered an apology to Torrie for working with the people who made her a junkie, for not working harder to get her help, for not getting her out of the tunnels sooner. Olivia was clearly being a better person than Lita could ever strive to be, to Torrie or to anyone. It perhaps was not the accolade the younger woman wanted or cared about, but Lita was proud of her, for whatever it was worth. "Yeah, well." Olivia shook her head, thinking about how uncomfortable that conversation at The Bar had been and how she wouldn't have probably stayed around to hear that apology if Maizie hadn't pushed her into doing so. Lita was saying nice stuff about it, and maybe even meaning it, but Olivia wasn't sure it really meant all that much. “You might not be able to do anything more but I think you’ve done more than Torrie ever expected you to. More than a lot of people have done for her ever, really.” Lita shrugged, unsure if she was making any sense or simply belaboring an awkward conversation. She took another bite of pizza, if only to stop from shoving her entire foot in her mouth. "I guess she gets to be the person who turns over a new leaf and sees the error of her ways or whatever, and I just get to deal with the rest of it." A brief, bitter smile crossed her face then, just like it so often did whenever she thought about how deeply she'd put her trust in the Hellhounds after what had happened to her in 2018 and how she kind of, sort of regretted that blanket trust now. Wasn't that just the same situation, turned around? "And now you live with someone who would've hurt me just to survive back then, and maybe I would've done the same thing if Maizie's life was on the line or whatever. So I don't know what you're looking for by talking to me about this, since Nick has made it pretty clear that being pissed about this or feeling like I was in the wrong here is a waste of time since I should be the bigger person and you're basically saying the same thing. And I'm dealing with it, since I have no choice but to do Torrie Reed a favor." Olivia looked back up at Lita then, expecting her to leave now that they'd both had their say -- and expecting Savannah to yell at her, too, once she eventually heard about this conversation. "Thanks for the pizza slice." Lita listened to Olivia’s monologue quietly, her lips sealed in an impassive line. She heard a dismissal in Olivia’s last words and even though Lita’s whole body screamed to take the younger woman up on it and leave the awkward situation, Lita didn’t move. She let a beat pass, let all of the younger woman’s words sink in. Liv’s bitter acceptance and unspoken accusations hit Lita with a surprising amount of force. Only a lifetime of hiding her true feelings made it possible for Lita to maintain an unmoved, inscrutable expression. “I was just looking to eat some pizza and talk with a friend,” Lita said, throwing her half eaten pizza slice back in the box as a startled expression spread across Olivia's face. Suddenly Lita wasn’t quite so hungry. “And I’ve done that now. You know where I am if you ever want to do the same.” "I, um." Olivia looked down at the box, then back up at the woman who'd brought it to her. Maybe she deserved that kind of sudden brush-off, the way she'd suddenly gone off on her, but -- Ugh, this felt all wrong. All in all, though, who was she to argue? Lita was older, and like, an adult, and she was probably more interested in seeing Nick anyway, especially after she'd received a rude reception. Great, she was totally starting to hear Savannah's scolding voice in the back of her head. "Okay," Olivia said simply, her frown deepening. God, she shouldn't have said anything altogether. "I, um. See you later, then." Lita stood to leave but something stopped her. She sighed and fixed her eyes on Olivia. She’d said what she wanted to say but it somehow felt unfinished and not nearly enough. Lita felt out of her element entirely. Someone like Nick or Savannah would have said something poignant and thoughtful and lovely to Olivia. They’d probably hug or something and everything would be right as rain. When Lita tried to talk it all came out stilted and unpracticed and weird. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything at all. Lita considered how she would have felt if she had simply walked right by Olivia and up to Nick’s office and quickly dismissed it. She didn’t feel any better about the situation certainly, and had very likely made it even more awkward, but the oppressive weight of silence between her and Liv had been lifted. Even uncomfortable conversation was better than tense distance and things left unsaid. Whether or not Olivia talked to her anymore after this or gave a damn about what Lita had said remained to be seen but at least Lita had done something. “I know it must have been scary, what Torrie did,” Lita said, the words sort coming out despite herself. Lita knew Liv had had her share of jumps as a scout for the LBJ but that didn’t mean it made Torrie’s transgression easier to bear or less upsetting. “And to see her just out there, living her life, living with me, not being held accountable for what she did...shit, I know that has be hard for you. You were the…” Lita struggled not to say ‘victim’. “...injured party. Just because she was a junkie back that doesn’t excuse it and it doesn’t erase how the jump affected you. And I’m sorry for that. For all of it." The desire to leave overwhelming now, Lita nodded toward the Dick’s box as she began to walk away. “Right then. Enjoy the pizza. I’ll...I’ll see you when I see you.” Olivia swallowed hard, her gaze settling down on the box of Dick's as she took a deep breath, then another, trying to steady herself. What had happened between her and Torrie was firmly in the past, but she'd gotten through the years after its occurrence oblivious to the fact that the other person ran in such close circles to her. Now that the cat was out of the bag about it or whatever, she knew she had to find a way to deal with this and move on; there was no changing the fact that Torrie wasn't someone she could keep at arm's length. Even still, it already felt a little easier to think about it now. At least her outburst hadn't completely been a total fuck up of a situation, and even if it felt like she'd pried that little speech out of Lita with pliers or whatever, it had felt real all the same, with the kind of honesty that made both of them obviously uncomfortable. That had to count for something, right? "Lita," Olivia called out after a moment; luckily, the woman was still in earshot. Her voice sounded weird and hoarse to her, so she cleared her throat and tried again. "I, um. You forgot your pizza. So you should probably… come back and get it." As soon as Liv’s voice found her ears, Lita stopped. A beat passed before she turned around, her gaze going from Olivia to the box and back again. Having made her decision before she even realized there was one to make, Lita started walking back toward Olivia. “Guess I could go for another slice,” she said, her calculated cool slipping slightly to reveal a small but very relieved smile curling at the corners of her mouth. Lita quickly rearranged her features into something less lame and settled back down on her armchair perch. She picked up the half slice she had abandoned and chewed it thoughtfully. The silence that fell between the two women seemed less fraught than before. Not comfortable exactly but familiar in a way that Lita could work with. She knew there was still work to be done between them but if all else failed, at least they had pizza. |