End Game

Fragile

"No, I'm good. We can watch a movie downstairs with everyone... I just want things to be normal— or at least to feel normal."

Showing a tight lipped smile, Spencer nodded his head, knowing how she felt. He gathered everyone in the living and let the girls pick the movie. Jordan and him were not really going to be watching it anyways, considering what was happening.

The next day Coop was the first one to pick up her shift when the girls drove to school together. She accompanied Liv to her classes and picked her up right after. Layla and her switched at Lunch time, the. Patience took over for the rest of the day.

They had decided that she wouldn't go to work for now, because it'd be unprofessional for someone to chaperone her there. The boys, Layla and Coop had professional engagements, so they were going to be come home late. Not wanting to he home alone, Patience and Olivia decided to stop at her office to pick up a some material to work on from home.

The LA tribune online's offices were almost empty, except for a few faces that were wrapping up.

"I'll just grab a few things then we can go." Olivia told Patience.

She was too busy scanning the room to really listen to Olivia, and the latter didn't mind.

"Uh oh." Patience suddenly said, midway into Olivia's collect.

"What?!"

Olivia's face shot up, ready to see her worst nightmare appear in front of her, but it was nothing of the sort.

"Noah..." Liv trailed off.

Patience gave her an apologetic look, realizing the rush of emotions she had just made her friend go through.

"Hey, Liv. I didn't think I'd see you today."

"Uhm, I just wanted to grab a few things for the next couple of days. You remember Patience, right?"

"Yes! Nice to see you again!" He told her.

Patience smiled awkwardly, not knowing where to put herself.

"How are you holding up?" He asked Olivia.

"I'm good... How did you know?"

"Ahem, since I was at the scene the first time, your mom called to tell me to be careful. We don't really know what he's capable of."

"Makes sense. I'm glad you're okay." Liv added.

After gathering everything, Olivia looked up and smiled softly.

"I'll be heading out now."

"Let me drop you girls off... I want to help too." He replied.

"It's fine, really."

"Olivia, you're my friend. Let me help out." He insisted.

Feeling guilty as it, Liv didn't want him to start begging to help so she agreed. She was grateful to him for the first time and this time around as well. She was forever indebted to him in that sense.

Once they reached the house, Patience asked Noah to go in until the others were home so that it was not just the two of them in the house. She felt like someone was looking at them but didn't want to alarm Liv. Having a man in the house sounded like the solution.

"I'm gonna take a shower. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Patience hugged Liv and exited towards her room. Noah and her sat down in an awkward silence, not knowing what topic they could speak about.

"How have you been? I know we see each other at work, but we haven't really hung out in a while." He expressed.

"I've been good... I wanted to talk to you, but I didn't know if you hated me still." Olivia admitted.

"I could never hate you, Liv."

Thankful for that answer, Olivia relaxed a bit. She knew she didn't deserve his forgiveness, for the way she ended things with him, but that was Noah. He had a genuinely good heart.

"What are you working on lately?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood.

She smiled as she tried explaining her newest project. Midway into the conversation, she could see Noah squirming uncomfortably in his chair.

"Do you maybe want to use the bathroom?" She questioned.

He looked over at where Patience left a few minutes ago before drawing his attention back to Liv.

"If you're waiting for patience to come back before you go to the toilet, you're going to end up damaging your bowel." She laughed. "Go, I'll just wait for you here."

"I don't know if it's a good idea."

"Noah, come on. We're in my house and we've locked everything."

Having fought his urge for way too long, Noah had no choice but to oblige. Running to the bathroom, more so to come back faster, he left Liv in the kitchen/living area. Having been scared for her safety the entire day, Liv wanted to make sure she didn't feel unsafe in her own home.

Her mother was already on her way over and Spencer was going to call her as soon as practice was done. She just had to hold tight for ten more minutes.

"Hey, princess."

That voice froze her into place. An ineffable feeling took over her brain, urging her to react and put herself at safety.

"Christopher." She said.

She threw a few glances at the guest bathroom for any signs of Noah, but he didn't seem to be coming back.

"Are you waiting for someone? Ah, your little friend Noah? I locked him in the bathroom. I'm no expert, so I don't know how long it'll hold but it's going to be long enough for us to leave before anyone else gets here."

Walking towards her, Christopher picked up a knife on his way to prevent her from trying anything. Refusing to let him see fear in her eyes, she kept retracting backwards until her back reached the bottom of the stairs.

Sensing what she was planning, Christopher started running after her while she tried to get away from him any way possible. She knew that all she had to do was hold on another ten minutes until her Mom got home.

Now it was just a matter of who would reach his/her goal first.