Undercover

Chapter 18

She's still amazed by how effortless and easy things are with him. At times where she feels she's never been more embarrassed in her life and swears she's never showing her face again he can change it all in an instant-with one look, one smile, one joke, or even something as simple as a brief graze of his hand. Hes like a talented puppeteer who pulls a string and can somehow change the entire element of any encounter for her. He can quickly set the tone from chaotic to calm, sad to happy, nervous to comfortable- it feels like the type of quality only your soulmate would possess- no one else has ever been able to alter her emotions so effortlessly.

They collect the bottle of wine and he guides her to the door with a hand perched on the small of her back. They make their way down to the car and leave the restaurant. They turn on the radio as they make their way through downtown. The building lights and street lights filling the dark of the night is something that they both find themselves admiring. They're about 10 minutes away from Livs apartment when the song Hungry Eyes by Eric Carmen comes on and within the first 10 notes they're both nervously smiling and avoiding eye contact.

Elliot leans towards his window resting his arm on the windowsill and covering his mouth with his hand. Liv shifts her body as far away from his as she can and nervously looks out the window both of them undeniably embarrassed as they listen to the lyrics of the song, knowing how they feel about each other.

Elliot peers out of the corners of his eyes at her long legs and she mimics his behavior using her peripheral vision to check out his muscular forearms. Approximately a minute into the song when it arrives at the chorus their eyes continue roaming each other's bodies and they both start chuckling lightly, they try to muzzle the noise to stop themselves from laughing inconsolably . The laughter bubbles up inside of them and they both inevitably burst into a heap of snorts and cackles.

"This is like the cheesiest song ever." Elliot says still trying to collect himself "It really is. But it's totally accurate for uhh.. some people" she trails off. "It's okay to say it's our cheesy asses." He adds and they both laugh aloud. They arrive at Liv's apartment and he quickly runs to help her out of the car. As they make their way to her front door Elliot stares at Olivia's ass and long legs. "I've got.. huuunnngrry eyes." Elliot sings out loud as Liv unlocks the door and she cackles causing him to laugh obnoxiously in return.

"Shhh be quiet El you're going to wake Noah." She says trying to appear serious despite her infectious laugh.

They relieve the babysitter and Elliot grabs 2 wine glasses. He sets them on the counter and begins searching for a corkscrew to open the wine. When he doesn't find one in her silverware drawer he turns to ask her where it is and pauses when he sees her settling into the couch and slipping her heels off. He can see the tension built up in her body and decides against asking her.

He opens a drawer near the sink and when he sees a pool of miscellaneous items he concludes that it's a junk drawer and begins looking for a corkscrew. He shuffles a few items and finds a small picture of himself that he remembers her taking of him years ago at one of Captain Cragen's anniversary parties.

It was a restaurants with an attached bar. Cragen was a known alcoholic but regularly had parties at establishments that served alcohol for his guests. John heads towards the door and stops at the bar on his way out to ask if Elliot received his text. "No what is it?" He takes his phone out and finds his way to John's chat, Liv subconsciously watches his screen as she waits so they can resume talking. "It's just the address of that new Chinese place you were asking about yesterday." "Oh, thanks man. Have a nice night." "You too." John mutters as he walks away. As Elliot closes out of Johns chat she notices his contact picture for her. "You did not put that photo as my contact photo??" She professes playfully as she rips his phone from his hand and he laughs. "What that's my favorite photo of you." He responds-flirting subtly with a laugh.

"I had noodles hanging out of my mouth. I can't believe you betrayed me like that, this is unacceptable." She rambles jokingly. She takes her phone out and begins searching for some viable options. "What are you doing? he asks as he takes a sip of his beer. "Helping you replace this awful photo with a better one." "You're no fun." He jokes with a smile and she sends him a few pictures. "Wait if you get to change mine I'm definitely changing whatever terrible picture you have of me" He asserts playfully. "I don't have a picture of you for your contact photo" she replies all too eagerly. "Oh come on yes you do. Play fair let me change it." He prods with a smile as he reaches for her phone and she jerks away.

"What you got a dirty picture on there you don't want me to see or something." He prods jokingly. "Oh my God, no!" She exclaims smacking his arm. "A new bf?" "No" she smiles nervously "Well then what's the holdup?" He says with a facetious grin. She caves and hands him the phone. "Liar. Why'd you say you didn't have a contact photo." He tilts his head playfully. "I didn't lie. It's not a picture of you it's a picture of us." "You made it sound like you didn't have one at all."

She shrugs her shoulders nervously and he finds her reaction peculiar. "It's the only photo I had. Let me take one of you." She grabs her phone and snaps a photo. He was wearing a dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, he was leaning over onto his arm on top of the bar with a beer in his hand, his body angled towards hers. His head was tilted slightly in an almost arrogant way as he smiled for the camera. "There, perfect." She mutters turning her phone to show him.

"El?" He emerges from the memory. "Yeah?" He calls from the kitchen. "Where you at with that wine?" "I'm coming." He says grabbing the picture and the corkscrew. He quickly opens the bottle of wine on top of the counter before retrieving the glasses and heading into the living room.

He rounds the corner of the couch with the stems of 2 wine glasses tucked between the fingers of his large hand and a bottle of wine pinned between his forearm and his body. She swallows hard as her eyes admire his arms and hands. She's always loved his large rough hands and she used to imagine them touching and caressing her. Now that his hand has actually been on her body the thought is much more vivid and sends shivers up her spine.

He can't help but notice how her eyes are focused on his arms.

"Cold chill?" He asks smugly with a knowing grin.

He loves watching her squirm nervously and can't wait to see her desperately grasping at straws to provide an excuse for why she has a picture of him in her junk drawer.