When Alex called her mother to tell her she’d be staying at Serena’s, her mother told her Olivia had stopped by looking for her.  “Ok, I’ll call her, Mom,” she said noncommittally.  She had turned off her cell phone after that and was not at all surprised to find a text message from Olivia waiting for her when she turned it back on the next morning.  Serena always left for school late, so after she had stopped by Alex’s house so Alex could get some clothes and finally arrived in the parking lot, they only had a minute before the second bell rang.

 

Alex normally would’ve panicked to not make it to class on time, but she was thankful that she wouldn’t have to see Olivia waiting by her locker.  Now what am I gonna do about second period? she thought.

 

Feigning illness, Alex asked if she could go to the nurse’s station 20 minutes through class.  After being given a pass by Mr. Stevens, Alex trudged to Mrs. Taylor’s office.  Alex lied and said she’d been throwing up and coughing all morning and that she didn’t think she could make it through the day.  After calling her mother, Mrs. Taylor told her that Mrs. Cabot was sending their driver to come pick her up.  Alex went back to Mr. Stevens’ room to get her stuff.  Dropping her books off at her locker, she went to the office and waited until Sam came to pick her up.

 

When first period ended, Olivia rushed across the hall to wait by Mr. Stevens’ door.  She did a quick scan of the room but saw no sign of Alex.  Seeing Serena come out, she grabbed her by the arm and pulled her aside.  “Hey Serena, where’s Alex?”

 

Serena started to tell Olivia that it was none of her business but after seeing the pain and desperation on Olivia’s face, she decided against it.  Prying Olivia’s fingers off her arm, she replied, “She went home sick.”

 

“Sick?” Olivia asked, worried.  “What’s wrong with her?”

 

“I dunno.  She’ll probably be back at school tomorrow, though.  But hey, I gotta run.  Petrovsky is gonna have my ass if I’m late for constitutional law again,” Serena said, turning around and rushing down the hall.

 

Olivia’s heart sank.  Letting out an exasperated sigh, she went off to French and slumped into her desk.  This is gonna be a long day, she thought.

 

When it was time for lunch, Olivia grabbed an apple and some juice and sat down at the table she and Elliot normally sat at.  When he sat down across from her, he took a huge bite out of his slice of pizza but stopped chewing when he noticed Olivia’s sullen expression.  “That’s all you’re eating, Liv?”

 

“Yeah, I’m not hungry,” Olivia said, looking down and trying hard to suppress the tears that were threatening to fall.

 

Putting his slice of pizza down, Elliot gave Olivia a concerned look.  “Liv, what’s wrong?”

 

“Alex,” is all she said.

 

“Did you guys have a fight or something?” Elliot prodded.

 

“Kinda,” Olivia said, giving yet another one word answer.

 

“What’s ‘kinda’ supposed to mean?” Elliot demanded.

 

Using a hand to push her hair out of her face, Olivia looked up.  “Alex and I were making out when I pushed her away because I was afraid Cragen was gonna catch us.  Then that jerk Brian Cassidy comes up and shoves Alex and tells her to get off me because I’m not a dyke.  Alex gets all up in his face and tells him he doesn’t know anything about me.  He tells her that he knows I’m not a dyke because he slept with me.”

 

“Oh shit, Liv,” Elliot interjected. 

 

“So she turns to me and asks me if it’s true.  I tell her it is but that it wasn’t like that, and she storms off.  I try to run after her but Cragen practically drags me back into the locker room.  I stopped by her house, I tried calling, but she’s completely ignoring me.  I was hoping I could get a chance to talk to her after first period, but Serena said she’d gone home sick,” Olivia continued, taking a bite out of her apple and throwing it down on the table.

 

“Ouch, Liv.  That doesn’t sound good,” Elliot observed.

 

Olivia glared at him.  “You’re not fucking helping, Elliot.”

 

“Sorry, Liv,” Elliot said, smiling sympathetically.  “Just give her time to cool off.  She’ll come around.”

 

“But what if she doesn’t, El?  I don’t know what to do.  I can’t fucking lose her.  I just can’t.”  Olivia looked up at him, her eyes big and scared.  “I’ve fallen for her, Elliot.”

 

Elliot’s heart went out to Olivia when he heard her revelation.  He reached across the table to lay a hand on hers.  “You won’t, Liv.”

 

“How can you be so sure?  I don’t even know why she’s so upset.  That thing with Brian was last year.  Alex and I didn’t even really know each other then,” Olivia muttered, taking a swig of her grape juice.

 

“Did you tell her that?” Elliot asked.

 

“No,” she admitted.  Suddenly, realization dawned on her face.  “Oh shit, El!  She probably thinks I slept with him since we were together!”  Rubbing her hands over her face, she muttered, “Ah, fuck!”

 

“Wow,” Elliot responded.  “Sounds like you have some damage control to do, Liv.”

 

“She ran off before I could explain!  I was gonna tell her everything that happened but by the time our meeting was over, I couldn’t find her!” Olivia exclaimed.

 

“Whoa, Liv.  Calm down.  You’ll get a chance to explain it to her.  Just don’t let her run away from you,” Elliot advised.

           

Olivia took a few more bites of her apple before pulling out her cell phone to call Alex.  Olivia wasn’t surprised when Alex didn’t answer.  “Shit,” she muttered.  “She’s not answering.  She’s probably lying in her bed miserable and sick and I can’t even hold her in my arms.”  A single tear rolled down her cheek.

 

“Don’t cry, Olivia.  She’s gonna be ok.  You both will,” he reassured her.

 

“I sure hope so,” Olivia mumbled quietly.

 

That night, Olivia called Alex again.  When she still received no answer, she lay down on her bed and hugged her pillow, praying that Alex would be at school tomorrow.