Unrequited

Chapter 40: A New Light

Author's Note:  For those hanging out for Orianna and Prime to have that awkward first encounter... ALMOST there... Stay tuned!

Orianna P.O.V

Time truly is relative. Einstein was on the money.

When you are having fun and really enjoying yourself, time seems to fly by and all too soon, before you know it, the good times come to an end. However, when you are miserable, having a terrible time or things just aren't going to plan, time drags by interminably.

Unfortunately, for me, it was the later.

Though it had been about three and a half weeks since the events of Shanghai and that train wreck of a night when Prime rejected me, it felt like it was just yesterday. Most mornings I had woken up with puffy eyes from crying myself to sleep. I was lethargic and withdrawn the week after Lennox and the Autobots got back from Shanghai, only leaving my apartment once to get groceries. I had placed myself under some form of house arrest for two reasons; I didn't want to risk bumping into a certain red and blue Autobot leader and because I simply did not care what happened to me.

And so, I sat for large portions of the day, ensconced in my bed or on my lounge in some sort of self-imposed mourning as I tried to deal with the fall out of what had happened.

/Thank God for Lennox!/.

He had been my lifeline in a sea of misery. He had stayed with me for two nights after he returned from Shanghai, at my request. Although it had been a bit awkward at first, and I had been wary about snoring that first night, I soon got over it and simply enjoyed having another heartbeat in the apartment with me. And, in all honesty, I had missed having a warm body in the bed beside me. Lennox had only stayed sporadically since those first two nights as he had been kept busy with work and had joked that he'd soon have to pay rent if kept staying.

I smiled to myself as I raised my glass of ice-cold Pepsi Max, sipping slowly as I stared across Eclipse Bay towards Point Marrianne. Though my thoughts would automatically drift towards Prime as I cast my gaze in that direction, I found myself more and more thinking of Lennox. An enforced coping mechanism at first, as I desperately tried to wean myself from the Autobot Commander. But slowly, as the month of June dragged on, I began to think of him before thoughts of Prime flitted through my mind.

In fact, Lennox and I had been spending quite an increasing amount of time together as he kindly helped me navigate my way through a broken heart. A smile spread across my lips as I placed the drink back on my small glass coffee table and sat back in the wicker chair on my balcony. /I wonder what he is doing right now?/.

I stared at the phone on the coffee table beside me and drummed my fingernails on the glass. ''He is likely busy OC, it's almost 18:00 hours and while he should be clocking off soon, he said he had been kept busy by some new National Security Advisor dick – Galloway.'' I sighed out loud as I brought my knees up under my chin and clicked my tongue against the roof in my mouth. /Then again, the guy's gotta eat, doesn't he?/.

In one swift movement, I leant down and grabbed my phone and selected Lennox's name from the recent call register, bringing the phone to my ear. I raked my hand through my hair as I heard the phone ring. /If he doesn't answer in.../.

''Hey ya OC!'' Lennox's voice erupted enthusiastically over the line, and I smiled brightly at the sound. ''What's up?''

''Nothing Lennox,'' I replied as I fidgeted with my fingernails.

There was a momentary pause on the other end of the line. ''Okay... If nothing is up and you're all good, why did you just ring me? 'Cause as much as I love to..''