Chapter Thirty-Two: Ride With The Tide.

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It's okay if you lie. It has to happen, sometimes.

*****

March 23rd, 2015.

"Could you please blink or something? You're starting to freak me out, Lea."

I hear her talking to me; I can even sense the impatience and concern in her voice, but I can't seem to be able to form a single sentence in my mind. Let alone speak.

All I can think about is how all of the pieces are clicking together inside my head; and how it all finally makes sense to me. His awfully evasive mood, that misterious phone call, everything.

Unlike my mind, which is slowly crawling out of the shock, my body does it rather abruptly as my hands rise to grab my head, covering my face as they do.

"I'm in so much trouble." My voice comes out muffled and my own breathing suffocates me, so I let my hands out of my face. "What am I going to do? This is so bad! Really bad!"

Olivia stands in front of me, staring at me with something that looks a lot like relief in her eyes. I guess she was truly worried about my lack of reaction until now.

Her brown eyes are wide open and fixated on me, watching my every move as she silently and slowly steps forward and places both hands on my shoulders.

"You need to calm down, Lea." She says with a soothing tone, and I try to oblige. "We'll figure something out."

I didn't think it was possible for me to harbor any other feeling other than fear and confusion within me; but as she says those words to me, I discover that I do.

Guilt. Suddenly, I feel guilty as hell. For lying to her, for keeping this whole thing from her even though she asked me about it over and over again. But above all, I feel guilty for forgetting that she is my friend.

"I'm so sorry, Liv." I say to her and she frowns. "For not telling you about it. I just wasn't..."

"Don't worry about that. I get it." She rushes to say, giving me a hug. "I really do. And I'm sorry for pushing you to say something."

We break our embrace and look at each other again. Her smile never falters and I nod, accepting her apology although I don't really think it was necessary in the first place.

"Why did you? Stop pushing me, I mean?" I ask her, suddenly remembering that she has been rather quiet about the subject for a few days now.

"Are you kidding me?" She laughs, turning to the side to push the button on the wall that would send the elevator back for us. "I got all the answers I needed when your beau went all Rocky Balboa on your ex's ass."

Right. There was that issue. And I guess I would have figured that out sooner if I hadn't been so absorbed by other things.

"Of course."

Tracing back to that day, I manage to achieve the impossible: forgetting about the little mess I am now in the middle of. But that blissful oblivion is quickly shattered to pieces the moment we set foot into the lobby.

Veronica is standing by the reception desk, talking to the same guy who greeted me earlier this morning. She seems to be having a conversation with him but her eyes are nailed to the screen of her phone.

The guy, whose name my mind can't seem to remember at the moment, does not look as carefree as he did before and the second he lays eyes on me he points his index finger in my direction.

"There you are." She says when she turns around and sees me. "My office, please."

The walk feels endless as I make my way through the giant room and into her office. All the while, and before I walk through the door, Olivia walks beside me. Her mouth is wisely shut but her hand squeezing mine lets me know that she has my back.

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