ONCE BURNED was made by MEL. Copying, altering, or stealing any of the site's content is prohibited. All of ONCE BURNED's characters are the original work of their owners and may not be replicated or stolen. All images and graphics belong to their rightful owners and ONCE BURNED does not claim to own any of them.
She nodded and looked away for a beat at her surroundings. This could very well be the last night they had here before going back to their reality. Sure, ninety percent of the trip had been dedicated to work but the ten percent had been pretty good, to her.
She'd gotten closer to her boss, not by much but enough to understand part of her motivations. She'd also learned how to be comfortable around her despite still having some difficulties inwardly with her emotions for her.
When asked though, Olivia clammed up for a bit before shrugging. "I've just been learning things about myself, mostly. And about you." She admitted. Though explaining that would be difficult, so she just hoped Teddy didn't ask her to elaborate. "And I'm just like...trying not to be smug about it but I think the settlement we proposed is flawless. Which means we might be going back as early as tomorrow afternoon."
She bit the inside of her cheek and chuckled. "A lot of firsts here."
Fairly, Teddy offered her undivided attention when Olivia was kind enough to answer her need for more information. It wasn't often that she got to look this woman in the eye for long, and now that she was, she wanted to savour it.
"We can only hope." She felt the corner of her mouth twitch downwards at the idea of going home over the perfection of their settlement. "For me, winning is fun. It's one of the best ways to have fun. Getting this exactly right is, honestly, thrilling. It might be frustrating, but the reward is completely worth it." Of course, she mightn't understand that yet. But she would in due time.
"But..." She offered, entering a brief contemplative state for the sake of her current counterpart, "I'm learning that there are other ways do to that. Exploring the city, you know? I would have never bothered to do that if it weren't for you. You're dragging me out of my comfort zone, and I like it."
Olivia bit her lower lip and let a soft breath escape her nose at Teddy's idea of fun. They clearly had different views on that and Olivia respected that Teddy was of that opinion and was honest about it. Because partly, Olivia agreed. It wasn't completely the whole truth for her personally but she understood where it came from.
At the next confession however, Olivia was a little stunned. She hadn't expected Teddy to be so forthcoming about something like that. But it did confuse her slightly. Emmett looked a lot more at ease with herself and Teddy. Surely she's had her fair share of dragging Teddy out of her comfort zone?
"Doesn't Emmett do that for you?" She chuckled lightly. "I would have thought she'd be more than willing."
The mention of Emmett's name clearly surprised Teddy. Her eyes went a little wide at the question. She struggled to draw the line between what she'd said and the mechanic who showed up at her office without warning.
"Well," She had to pause again to think about it, "I mean, she does seem like the type to. But her idea of reaching out of her comfort zone is trying a new kind of beer once a week." Bless her for trying to branch out.
"And her idea of going out is hitting the local bar and asking me which of the nearby girls she should go for." Teddy explained with a laugh. "Trying to pick up for one night stands isn't really my thing." But that didn't mean she'd ever shame her friend for he interests.
Instead, it called for a far better question; "Why would you bring her up?"
While Teddy talked, Olivia got confused by the second. They had an open relationship? How progressive of them? But it still didn't make sense.
"Emmett's your partner, right? I would have thought she would be responsible in pulling you out of your comfort zone the most." She explained, even though she was still confused.
Then, she heard their number being called and she jumped out of her seat to get the food. She shelled out a couple of dollar bills and waited for change while she pondered over what Teddy had said.
Once she was given her change back, she walked back to the table and looked at Teddy. "Did I overstep my bounds?"
When Olivia asked her about her relationship with Teddy, she wanted to be quick to respond. But she was gone ftom her seat before she got the chance to talk. And in moments on her own, she got to piece together the new context of what she'd said. She must have sounded crazy.
She looked at her in disbelief, and the new question didn't help. Laughing, she waved her hand at the idea of overstepping boundaries. "No, of course not. I'd tell you if you had." She was always one to be up front if she wasn't happy with something, she just hasn't had to do so yet.
"Did she tell you that that day in the office?" Teddy asked quickly. It wasn't as if she'd put it past Emmett to joke in such a way. "She's just a friend. She's not my type." And then she paused briefly, eyebrows furrowing. Why bother pointing that out?
She relaxed slightly when Teddy assured her that she hadn't crossed the line. Olivia grimaced when the other woman asked whether Emmett had said it that day. She hadn't but the way she had said they were friends implied that there was something more.
When Teddy told her that Emmett was just a friend and she wasn't the brunette's type, relief seemed to wash over her before dread started to creep in.
"Oh..." was all she could respond with.
She had completely misread everything. No, it didn't mean she could openly hit on her boss but at least she wouldn't feel so guilty whenever she thought of Teddy in a certain way.
"Wow, I completely misread things." She forced a laugh to mask her embarrassment. "Let's just forget I even mentioned that." She pursed her lips briefly before shaking her head. "Sorry, I'm happy that...I helped? You've pulled me out of my comfort zone as well. Like I said, a lot of firsts. Thanks." She gave Teddy a brief glance before gesturing to their food. "We better eat it while it's hot."
She was so ready to put this behind them. She just hoped Teddy was too.
The cycle of Olivia's emotions wasn't lost on Teddy. Her eyes didn't need to be special for her to catch that. She almost looked happy with the news, but that was quickly replaced by something obviously worrisome. Her eyebrows quirked upwards once; it was her way of questioning it all without having to verbally ask.
Then just as quickly, she'd flipped the subject back to what they'd already been talking about. Teddy's mind was still catching up on the ramifications of that prior assumption. She thought of how this woman flinched and shifted every time she made any ounce of contact, save the way she'd held her hand like she owned it earlier in the day. But even then, she'd snapped from it so intensely.
Taking her available way out, Teddy eased into the decent looking food from their unusual surroundings.
"You know you can always ask me about things like that, right?" She continued anyway, as nonchalantly as possible, "If I don't want to answer, I won't. But I don't see a point in secrecy over who I might be dating."
As nonchalant as Teddy had offered those words, Olivia grimaced and gave her a small smile. "It...seemed too private." She admittedly quietly as she fed herself the pasta she had ordered.
Olivia was frustrated with herself for making this such a big deal so she took a few subtle deep breaths and straightened herself before looking at Teddy. "This is pretty good." She remarked. "How excited are you to go back to Stagfort with this obvious win, though?"
To her response, Teddy only shrugged her shoulders. What she spoke about was her own preference, but she understood why someone who worked under her would feel that way. It was better not to press the issue.
Excited? She had to laugh at that. "It's nice to know we've done a little good with our time away." She explained. That had to be the best part of it. "What about you, though? This'll be a momentous occasion for you." The first of such a big win was always going to be a big deal, she just hasn't felt it yet.
Olivia nodded and smiled at Teddy's response before the question was turned back to her. This was crossing personal territory. On the one hand, she didn't want to lie to Teddy, even if it was just a small one. But on the other, she wasn't ready for Teddy's reaction if she told her the truth.
It had been nagging at her since she first met Teddy and she was given the unofficial promotion.
"Uh, yeah. I'm excited for what it means for the partners." She nodded with a forced smile.
Teddy could see there was something new simmering beneath the surface of her answer. She contemplated the right way to go about this, wondering if she should even bother in the first place. There she was, offering to answer potentially demanding questions. Assuming anything similar must have been the wrong approach.
"Are you alright?" She asked her. She'd tried this already and gotten no response, but that didn't mean she couldn't try again. "Is something wrong?"
Why was this woman so damned perceptive though? It wasn't enough that she was highly successful and intelligent and gosh darned pretty. She had to add ridiculously intuitive too.
Grimacing, Olivia set her fork down and slipped both her hands in between her legs and looked at Teddy. "You know how you told me to take advantage of the advantage that I have over my peers by being...baseline?" She paused before continuing with another grimace. "Turns out, not everyone's a fan of that. I knew working in a meta environment was going to be difficult. Hell, coming into it had been difficult but I knew I managed that on my own merit.
"Please don't take this to mean that I'm not grateful for this opportunity because I so am. Working with you has done wonders for my confidence and motivation." She paused and looked away for a bit trying to find the right words so she didn't come off as a victim. "My colleagues have not been happy with the opportunities you've presented me. So going back won't exactly be a...momentous occasion for me."
Teddy should have known this would come up. Of course, she heard the rumblings around the office; her ability made lip reading an absolutr walk in the park. She didn't look at her apologetically, but rather, she opted for the stoic approach.
"What you need to consider is that yes, the thing that brought you here is something no one else has, but it isn't what keeps you here." Teddy explained to her. She leaned in a fraction more, like the information wasn't meant for the general public that swarmed the place. It wasn't the ideal setting to have this conversation, but there they were, and here she went.
"If you'd failed or disappointed me or worse, upset the client, you'd never be back here again. This opportunity would be gone for you. You could have torched your career in a matter of days." After all, who would hire a paralegal who couldnt sell a case with with a gladiator of a lawyer at the helm? "But you didn't. You did well. You earned the spot given to you. I don't think I could say the same for some of your colleagues who only got here because they have... Hyper memories, or built in lie detectors to use in court."
She took the compliments in stride and shrugged. "I'm glad you see me that way. And I appreciate you having a lot of faith in me." She nodded. "It's not like I don't think I've got more to offer because I know where my limits are and I'm not even close to touching it just yet."
Olivia's self confidence was a funny thing. She had a lot of belief in herself on a lot of things and yet she can't hold someone's gaze for too long because self doubt would creep in.
"It's just not going to be a pleasant environment to come back to, I guess?" She briefly glanced at Teddy with a shadow of a smile. "Kind of reminds me of grade school when the teachers always made me be the one to write the misbehaving kids' names on the board when they're out."
She waved a dismissive hand and went back to her dinner. "I'll get over it."
