𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒 | rini & jolivia oneshots

we've been swimming on the edge of a cliff

     "Oat milk latte for a Joshua Bassett?" 

Liv looked up from where she was reading Wuthering Heights. "There's no chance," she muttered under her breath, but he turned around...and there he was. 

Even after the show had very well ended and their breakup was a thing of the past, he still managed to get her heart fluttering like she was a lovesick teenager again. 

"Liv?" he raised his eyebrow and went to take a seat at her table. "Oh my God, it's really you. Who would've thought, after nine years, three months, thirty-seven days, and six dead cats, but who's counting? Uh...hi!"

She blushed and chuckled. "Hi, how are you? Sorry about your cats, by the way."

"Yeah?" he replied. "They did receive a proper burial, though I do tend to hear footsteps in the dead of night for some reason...How's your family?"

"Lola's being Lola, she honestly still can't stop talking about you," Liv answered. "What've you been up to these years, Mr. Bassett? Still with Sab? Releasing a shit-ton of new albums? Oh, right, all of the above."

"Nah, Sab and I were just fucking around, it was never serious," he replied. "You're still reading Wuthering Heights?" 

"What? It's a literary masterpiece," she said, sipping her coffee. 

The silence between them was inevitably awkward, so Josh stood up from his chair. "Well, this was really nice...maybe we can do this again on purpose sometime?"

"You got it," Liv smiled. "How does next Wednesday sound?"

He winked and left the cafe, and Liv heaved a sigh as she thought back to the last time they were, well, within six feet of each other that wasn't related to HSMTMTS. 

-----

"Just admit that she's hot for God's sake!" the brunette girl yelled. "Okay, everyone likes her, she's beautiful, she's sweet, she's literally the definition of a perfect soulmate. Joshua, just tell me!"

"I do not like her!" he yelled back. "Okay, if you can't trust me, what the hell has our relationship been for?"

"Well, yeah, maybe it would be better if we'd never even been together at all!" she exclaimed, running out of the dusty old garage, still angry enough to flip him off before running out of sight. 

Josh watched her leave, a sinking feeling in his chest. 

-----

"The phone's for you!" Liv's roommate, Tate exclaimed. "Come on, it's your ex-boyfriend! Do you want me to punch him for you?"

"Nope," she grinned, taking the phone from her feisty roommate. "Hello?"

"Hey," Josh said. "So...about that second meeting. How about the Olive Garden?"

"Won't that be too nostalgic?" Liv answered uncertainly. "I mean, that's where you took me for our first date..."

"Come on, Livvy," Josh said, and she could hear his pout through the dispatch. "We won't sit at our same old table in the corner, we'll keep it bureaucratic. No bringing up past wrongs, breakups, or media drama, just some ravioli, wine, and some cannolis on the side."

"Fine," she sighed. "Wednesday night, if you're not there, I'll get Tate to punch you."

"Sounds good," he smiled. "Wednesday night, save the date."

Dinner was filled with wine, old jokes, and giving the owner's dog their spare meatballs, much to the other customers' chagrin. Inside, both Josh and Liv were just trying to keep the conversation away from those scared little kids they once were. 

----

Months passed, and the pair eventually found themselves...missing each other. Every time Josh looked at the framed picture of him and Liv that still stayed on his bedside table, his thoughts would almost immediately come back to them. Liv would mindlessly scroll through her contacts and find his contact, which she could never bring herself to delete, no matter how hard she tried. 

On a particularly rainy August night, Josh was playing his drums in the garage and suddenly heard someone banging on the door. He went to open it and was greeted with the sight of the rain-soaked woman that he still, very much still loved.

After all these years, they were finally back in the same garage that had ended it all. 

She took a step closer. 

"Hey."

"Hey."

At that moment, both of them thought, maybe this could be a good story after all.

I HAVEN'T GONE SOFT. THERE'S A 5K WORD ANGST COMING NEXT. 

Keep reading. Keep writing. Keep dreaming. 

-V