Thread: Liv and Rachel Chat Who: Olivia and Rachel When: Backdated to Friday, January 13th Where Olivia’s house What: Rachel and Liv talk boys, future trips, and general melancholy.
Rachel walked through the front door of her friend’s house, sighing deeply. Today had been a very long day.
Things had been great between her and Jaime, ever since they’d exchanged their “I love you”s and learned that they had a long, happy future ahead of them. Honestly, if she’d been attached to him before, now that she knew that love was what they’d shared? Their reliance on each other was starting to become borderline unhealthy. How many seventeen-year-olds fell to sleep each night being cuddled by their boyfriends?
Case and point, their relationship still being a secret for the most part necessitated their staying apart during the school day. She’d been fine by herself - she was an independent and self sufficent woman that thrived on adversity, after all - but she couldn’t say that she was happy about it. All day, she’d just wished she could kiss him, or hug him maybe. Make this distance hurt less.
As she walked to the room that was hers while she stayed, she found herself walking into Olivia’s open door and plopping herself onto the girl’s bed. “I miss my boyfriend. Does that make me codependent and pathetic? Speaking of which, I apologize for not showing up the other night. We both traveled to the future where he was about to propose and I was delirious from time travel. Oh, and we told each other ‘I love you.’” She didn’t move from her position on the bed, content to pout into the comforter. “Maybe I should have broken that up some.”
Olivia had been trying to work on some homework when Rachel came in and started talking to her. She had her mind full of things other than homework, and she hadn’t been doing a good job on trying to concentrate. Her brain was glad for the rest when Rachel came in to talk.
Then she focused on what Rachel was saying to her. “No, I don’t think that’s codependent, I miss Noah most of the time. So it makes sense to me.” She then listened to all the rest of it, her brain trying to focus on the revelations that Rachel was laying on her. “So, you’re still together with Jaime in the future, and he was going to propose?” She asked, incredulous. This was definitely taking her mind off her own problems.
“And yes, Ray Ray, maybe you should have broken that up a little.” She said, laughing a little. “How do you feel about all of that?” She asked, closing her book and her notebook and leaning back against her bed.
“I feel...” She trailed, laying backwards to give herself the opportunity to muddle through her thoughts, “like I love him. Like, I don’t want to be away from him anymore than I have to, but I also don’t want to make the same mistakes I’ve made before. I’ve unwittingly put my career on the back burner for my relationships before, and I never want to do that again. I never want my independence to suffer because I’m in a relationship. But I don’t want to lose him, either. How do I balance that?”
Olivia wasn’t sure how to answer that one. She was new to this whole exclusive relationship thing, so she wasn’t sure what to tell her. She’d never had to put her career before men or women before because she had never had the opportunity to. “Well, I don’t know, Rachel. It’s a delicate balance, and every relationship is different. I am new to this whole thing. But you shouldn’t have to give up anything to be with Jaime, and I don’t think he’d ask you to. But you also know that you’re with him in the future, so there’s something.” She said.
She had long been wondering if she should ask Rachel what she knew of her future, but she didn’t know if she wanted to know, and once she knew, she couldn’t unlearn it. She was a little jealous that Rachel had that information handy. She said, “I am glad you guys said you loved each other, it was a great feeling when Noah and I said that to each other.” She said, and ran a hand through her long hair.
“So do you think you’d have to put your career before Jaime?”
Rachel sighed, unsure of how to answer that. She knew Jaime would support her, no matter what she chose, but would it be unfair to him to go full-tilt for her career, pushing him to the side? “I don’t know. I don’t want to. All I know is that I intended for this all to be a moot point. my goal was to not find the love of my life until I was twenty-three, and my career was long since established. Jaime, though... I honestly think he may be it for me, and I haven’t even graduated high school yet. I did not plan for this. Maybe I just need to think on it more.”
Looking up at her friend, Rachel decided that maybe a change of subject was in order. “How are you, though? Are you feeling alright? How have things been with you and Noah?”
“Things with me and Noah are just fine.” Olivia said, smiling. She couldn’t help but smile every time she thought about Noah. She didn’t know how she had gotten so lucky, but she wasn’t going to do anything to screw it up if she could help it. She knew having a baby with him was going to just bring them closer, they already loved each other so much. “I’m feeling alright, I guess.” She said, shrugging.
“You guess?” Rachel replied. As the designated live-in friend, she had taken it upon herself to assure that Olivia took good care of herself. This pregnancy was already considered high risk, and she wasn’t willing to take anymore chances. Olivia and Noah both meant a lot to her, and she wanted to make sure that everything would turn out alright for them. If that meant a little more than average attention to her vulnerable friend, then so be it.
“That doesn’t really assure me in any way. Have you eaten today?” Rachel said, standing up. “Because nutrition is of utmost importance in this stage in the pregnancy. I’d be willing to go get you something if you need it, within reasonable nutritional limits, of course.”
Had she eaten that day? Olivia wasn’t sure exactly. She remembered a bagel in the morning, and possibly a piece of fruit. She said, “Um, yes?” She looked at Rachel. “I ate but probably not sufficiently enough to satisfy you. Or David, if he was here.” She added. She’d been too busy working on her homework to really think about food. “I had homework to do, I was mostly thinking about that since I loathe and abhor it.”
“Olivia!” Rachel exclaimed, “That’s unacceptable. Are you feeling sick? Is something wrong? I’ll just have to cook you something, then. What are you craving? Soup? Soup sounds like a safe solution. What kind of soup would you like?” She was fully aware that she was rambling, but Rachel couldn’t help it. She was excitable. She stared at Olivia expectantly, waiting for her friend to respond.
Blushing, Olivia wasn’t sure what she wanted to eat. She thought for a minute, and then said, “I think soup’s fine. I like chicken noodle the best, but if I have some tomato I can have a grilled cheese sandwich with it and that sounds really good.” She heard her stomach rumble and said, “Yes, that’s definitely fine. I’ll come to the kitchen with you though.” She slowly got up and got into her chair.
Rachel helped Olivia as best she could, pushing her into the kitchen and settling her at the table. Then, she got to work. She was quiet for a long time, gathering everything necessary to make her friend’s sandwich and getting to work. As she worked, though, her mind wandered back to the evening she and Jaime had traveled to the future. As normally was the case with these trips, there were blanks in her memory in regards to any interaction with her older self. Still, she had a feeling that something major had been revealed. Jaime hadn’t told her anything, and she hadn’t had it in her to ask at the time, but she just knew it. And for some reason, the question that came out of her mouth did so completely outside of Rachel’s awareness.
“Do you regret it? Getting pregnant, I mean.” Immediately after she said it, Rachel’s eyes widened and she wanted to apologize profusely to her friend for even suggesting such a thing. She had gotten so good at social cues, at processing things before she said them. Clearly, she still needed work. “Oh my god, Olivia I didn’t mean to imply anything with that question, I’m so sorry. I don’t even know where that came from.”
Shaking her head, Olivia wheeled herself around the kitchen. She settled next to the counter where Rachel was working. She wanted to help, but she knew she’d get told to just sit there and rest so that’s what she did. “No, I don’t, but I’m not mad at you for asking it. It’s going to be hard. And Noah and I maybe should have used condoms too, besides my birth control.”
Rachel nodded, still embarrassed at the question she’d asked. She honestly had no idea where it’d even come from. Maybe she needed to eat, as well. Clearly she was getting lightheaded. “Well, I’m happy for you both. I know you’ll be great parents. And once again, I’m sorry.”
She was quiet again as she fixed Olivia’s meal, finishing everything up and sitting it in front of her friend. Sitting down beside her with her own vegan lentil soup, she began to eat. “You know, I am very happy and very fortunate that we’re friends. Clearly you have a high tolerance for extreme personalities, and I’m really glad that I found you. You know I’ll help you any way you need, right?”
Nodding, Olivia smiled at her as she started eating. “I know, and I appreciate it, Rachel. You are the best friend I have ever had. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” She gave her friend a smile and then laughed. “This is really good, Rach.”