[ A/N: I saw these cuties^^ on tumblr and they kinda reminded of Liv & Reece, can you guess who would be who?
On a more serious note; I apologise sincerely if I did not portray any medical conditions properly. I swear I did a hell of a lot research writing the last two chapters. (Excuses excuses...) With that said, please feel free to correct me anytime with anything and I'll make changes! Future notification warning: I'll be editing some chapters soon too! :]
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When Reece opens the door, I'm greeted by a large ball of black and white fur. I grinned, bending down to pet the excited husky, "He's adorable!" I cooed.
"And deprived of affection, so he'll probably cling to you now." Reece said, his voice light.
I look up to properly acknowledge Reece, he's leaning against the door frame, a ghost of a smile on his lips. He's wearing a grey sweater that hangs on his thin frame and black jeans that hug to his long legs. He's practically looming over me, I've forgotten how tall he actually is.
I raised an accusing eyebrow. "You haven't been playing with him?"
He shrugged, titling his head back, hair falling into his eyes, "I've only had him for two days. He's taken more time out of my work than he should." He said.
I laughed, scratching the dog's chin. The husky bares his teeth and tips it's head, evidently pleased. "I'm flattered you spared your precious time to come find me then." I said, only half teasing.
Reece rolled his eyes, lazily motioning me inside before closing the door. The unit is as cosy as I remembered it to be, the lights are dimmer than I'm use to and it's not as unnecessarily spacious as home, it feels...welcoming. "I brought Cyber along for the ride, so it wasn't entirely a wasted trip." He said, taking the stairs two steps at a time. I've been quite cautious of stairs since the falling incident and I follow him up at a slow pace while the dog, who must've been Cyber, trails up between us, filling in widening the gap.
"Cyber, huh? It suits him." I said, "Did you name him?"
"My friend's little sister, Brianna." Reece said, "She adopted him on a whim and totally forgot her dad had an allergy."
I nodded, grimacing at the thought of being allergic to such a thing. Like Brian with cats. "Ah, so you're taking care of him." I said.
"Until she finds him a new owner." He confirmed, walking into the room furthest down the hall, Cyber and I follow him in.
His room is...interesting. It reminded me strangely of the split dye hairstyle people would have, I have no idea why that comparison of all else came to mind, but it worked. Walking in is immediately shocking. The welcoming half of his room was messy, the other half was neat, almost empty. Like two different halves of two different rooms of opposite people. The messy half was littered with an array of tech and yellow sticky notes attached to every inch of his desk, his textbook-filled bookshelf and his wall. The other half was really, just his closet, his neatly made bed, a standing keyboard and a lamp. Strangely enough, the room suited the Reece I've known known shortly of.
"Wow." I voiced aloud, "What is it exactly you do?"
"Computer software engineer." He answered, pulling out his chair, turning it around and sitting down. I allow myself to sit down onto his bed, Cyber hops up beside me too.
"I have no idea what exactly that is... but I'm impressed." I admitted.
Reece half smiled, which is amusing to me in his room.
"So... I kind of came here on a whim." I finally said.
"Not for Cyber at all?" He drawled.
My stomach saves me from answering as it growls. Cyber perks up at this and bumps his nose into my stomach. I laughed sheepishly, stroking the space between his ears.
"Catch." Reece said, I look up, a blur of black spiralling towards me. I catch it by mere luck with my bad arm. It's his phone. "What's this for? Want me to eat it?" I joked.
He rolled his eyes, smirking nonetheless, "Call for pizza." He said.
I nodded, very relieved at this. The thought of pizza sounded heavenly right now. Well it always does, but now especially. "What pizza do you like?" I asked, beginning to dial.
"Whatever is fine." He answered simply, turning side to side in his desk chair.
"Are you the type who likes pineapple on it then?"
He shrugged, "Never really cared."
"I guess you're easy to please with food, I'll just order pepperoni." I said, putting the phone to my ear. I begin to request the pizza and the man on the line says the large order of pizza comes with a bonus offer. I mouth it to Reece, and he just smiles, amused. I almost forget I'm currently on the phone whilst staring at Reece until the man on the line asks once again. I take his smile as a yes and proceed to tell the man the address.
I tossed Reece's phone back with a satisfied grin, "One large pepperoni pizza, a bottle of soft drink and some garlic bread. Done!"
He caught his phone and dropped it onto his desk.
I pulled my own phone out of the leather jacket. "Sorry for getting too comfortable, but do you have a charger?" I asked.
Reece drummed his fingers along the back of his chair. "Yeah." He got up and began waltzing over to the neater half of his room, past his bed and down to his knees near the lamp where an unoccupied phone charger was plugged into the electrical socket. He held out his hand and I kicked my shoes off, crawling up the bed to hand my phone for him to plug in for me. "Thanks!" I said cheerily.
My phone begins charging and I sit back onto his bed post, pulling the blanket up to my knees.
"Please, make yourself at home." He drawled, getting up and looking over at me flatly. I flashed him a sweet smile, "Of course." I countered, mimicking his.
He walked back to his seat and Cyber hopped off the bed to jump up onto Reece's lap. I'm surprised at the sudden movement, Reece however is not, he lets out a soft laugh, unfaltering under Cyber's weight. I don't know how heavy Cyber is, but he, a full grown dog, certainly can't be light.
I watch Reece play with Cyber on his chair. Cyber seems to like biting Reece, and Reece doesn't seem to mind having his fingers in a canine's mouth, teasing the dog.
"Thanks Reece." I said after a moment, watching them- suddenly aware I'm smiling stupidly.
"How's your shoulder?" He responds instead.
"I just took my sling off today actually. It's holding up well, I got to go to work." I answered happily.
"Work?" He echoed with mild interested, or so I think, I've wondered if it's just how he talks. Every movement, every word- could be interpreted as half-arsed. Maybe that's why Ash, the wholehearted brother didn't get along too well with Reece. Though I suppose there's a lot more to it. I'll be sure to pry a little...
"Yeah. At a café." I said, almost forgetting to respond.
Soon, we hear the doorbell downstairs ring and Reece gets up lazily, a movement slow enough for me to beat him to the chase. "I'll help carry!" I said, heading past him. I'm so god damn hungry.
I hear his footsteps slowly follow after mine. I happily greet the delivery man and begin to reach for our food when a pair of large hands come out from above me and grab them overhead instead. Reece is impossibly close. "Thanks." Reece said to the delivery man, handing over some cash and flashing a friendly smile that was both endearing and strange on him.
Reece tugs on my jacket with his free hand, pulling me inside so he can close the door.
"I'll pay you back soon." I said, smiling sheepishly.
"You know, I told you to order the pizza, right?" Reece said, raising an eyebrow.
I shrugged, grabbing the box of garlic bread and bottle cola from atop the pizza box to help him out. I help him carry these up into his room. "I'd just feel in your favour." I said.
"Ah, of course." he said wryly.
I hold out the bottom end of the cola and push into into his back as we ascended the stairs. "I feel bad for wasting your time earlier. And for coming here on really short notice..."
Reece sighed, "When you've got someone like Kimmy in your life, you get use to it. "
"How'd you become friends with her? Through Ash?" I asked, subtly trying to dig my way into a certain topic.
Reece casually pushed a few textbooks off his desk and placed the pizza box down, he took the cola and garlic bread out of my hands and placed them down too. "She weaselled her way into my life. I can't seem to get rid of her." he said simply.
I laughed, sitting back down onto his bed next to a curled up Cyber, "She's great, I'm so happy I met her. I have Ash to thanks."
"You're trying to get me to talk about Ashton, aren't you?" He said coolly, opening the pizza box and grabbing us both a slice. He has the perception of a hawk, it's both frightening and refreshing.
"I'm that obvious?" I caved, taking the pizza.
He shrugged and bit into his.
I narrowed my eyes, "Are you guys okay now? You and Ash?"
"Speaking for myself, yes." he answered nonchalantly.
I frowned with a mouthful of pizza, which probably looks ridiculous and could probably explain the amused expression of Reece's face. "You know what I mean. Last time I saw you guys, you were at each other's throats." I said seriously.
"If you're going to bring up the past, couldn't you at least recall it properly?" he smirked, "He was at mine."
"You're...unbelievable."
He winked, "I know, Olivia."
I pretended to gag, but I just ended up laughing, "Oh gosh." I said, "If you don't stop with the innuendos, could you stop with the name?"
A sliver of bemusement. "Isn't it your name?"
"Well, yes. But I don't... like it." I admitted.
There was a question written all over his face. It's strange, at times I can hardly decipher him and some quick moments like this he's an open book, perhaps a moment of vulnerability... or comfort? My response must've been written all over my face too because his lips curl up into a bitter smile. "All the more reason to use it then." He said.
I finished off the slice and fell back onto his bed, sighing heavily. "You seem to enjoy creating uncomfortable moments." I voiced aloud.
"Are you uncomfortable?"
"Mostly just curious, aren't you?" I sat back up and looked at him seriously, he meets me with an unwavering gaze and I can't tell what I'm feeling in this moment but it's certainly not uncomfortable.
He tilted his head, "You get a lot of answers from reactions."
"Well, got any answers from me?" I asked playfully, leaning forward.
Reece began to answer only to stop, then, "The scar on your palm," he started, "you touch it a lot, usually when you seem anxious."
It feels like a wound that suddenly hurts because it's presence is announced. My fingers twitch and I ball my hand into a fist. "You noticed? When? I don't remember ever sharing a high-five with you." I joked.
He attempted to cover his smile by biting into the pizza, the split second I catch him and he knows it is when his smile broadens and he tips his head forward slightly, his hair falling back into his eyes. "When you were giving me the Sponge-Bob bandaid."
I laughed, "I remember that, you-" Oh. "Sly bastard." I said, "You grabbed my hand and said I had crooked fingers. You were just trying to look at my scar!"
"You do have crooked fingers though." He excused.
"Yeah, I broke them a lot."
"I'm not surprised, you did fall down a flight of stairs just the other day." He mused.
"Because you didn't catch me!" I cried exasperatedly, "You saved yourself and moved out of the way!"
Reece scrunched up his nose, all the blunted moments suddenly made up for with this innocently childlike expression, "Why would I want to fall down with you?"
"You could've caught me! You even carried me to my bedroom after!"
"I was in an easier position to hold you then because I could adjust to your weight." He replied, "I just would've fallen with you too if I tried to catch you and that wouldn't be good for either of us."
"I'd have a soft landing if you did!" I grinned.
Reece laughed, "I'm eighty percent bone, I would've hurt you Olivia."
My face hurts from smiling. "Be it falling down a flight of stairs, everything's better when you're not doing it alone. We'd both have dislocated shoulders, like a less permanent, more painful matching tattoo."
He shook his head, smiling nonetheless, "You're... unbelievable."