just dive in [reed bishop spin-off] ✔️

thirty

— t h i r t y —

"WHAT?" CORA SAID, VOICE crackling with surprise over the line. "Taking up my offer so soon? If I recall, it was barely an hour ago that you were drowning your sorrows over Reed with shitty, lukewarm beer and telling me it was complicated."

"Fuck Reed."

He heard the smile in her voice. "Don't you wish?"

Oliver closed his eyes, coming to the distant realisation that he was more drunk than he had originally thought. All those shots and beer were catching up with him, only fuelled by the confusing tangle of emotions he couldn't make sense of. The only conclusion he had managed to come to since getting in the back of this Uber was that he was most angry at himself. Reed had broken his heart but it wasn't his fault, not entirely. He'd made it clear from the outset he wasn't sure about any of this the way Oliver was and that should have been enough of a red flag. Oliver should have known better to get involved with someone who was still questioning so hard, even if that someone was his best friend Reed, who he had liked for years.

"Oliver," Cora said, in a voice that suggested it wasn't the first time she'd said his name. He made a noncommittal sound to indicate he was still there. "Something tells me this sudden urge to call me wasn't unprovoked."

"Reed got back with his ex. Probably," Oliver said, recalling how close they'd been sitting in that utility room and Reed's blatant anger at being interrupted. "Strangely enough, I didn't ask for details. I didn't ask about anything beyond fleeing the scene. One day, maybe I'll be embarrassed about that. Not right now. Too busy hating myself."

Cora whistled under her breath. "Wow. That's probably the most you've ever revealed about your emotional state to me."

"Sorry. Not in the mood for lighthearted flirting."

"Understandable. How drunk are you?"

"Too drunk. Or not drunk enough. Can't decide." Oliver stared out of the window, the world reduced to pitch black. His Uber driver had wordlessly turned down the radio when he took his call and was hopefully getting more entertainment out of this conversation than Oliver was. "Why, worried about taking advantage of me?"

"Straight to the point for once, I see. I don't care if you want to sleep with me as a distraction, but not if you're going to regret it," Cora said. "Especially because I've decided I like you as a friend, Oliver, and I don't want to ruin it by making things unnecessarily awkward. So, will you regret it?"

The words reminded Oliver of a very different night weeks ago, sharing a hot tub with Reed and asking him an echo of Cora's question, needing to know he wouldn't regret it before things went any further. The memory was a knife to his already aching heart and the possibility that Reed might have ended up regretting everything after all was a twist of that knife. Oliver didn't want to sleep with Cora, or anyone other than Reed, for that matter. It might offer a temporary distraction but he knew it wouldn't help much with anything.

"That's what I thought," Cora said, into the silence stretching thin between them. Oliver could picture her rolling her eyes as she said it. "Honestly. Boys. You're all the same, hopeless and utterly stupid."

"Thanks," Oliver said. "That's definitely what I needed to hear right now."

"The truth hurts. Go home and drink lots of water, then sleep for twelve hours," Cora instructed, with the air of someone giving strict medical guidance rather than vague advice. "You'll thank me for it tomorrow."