Everything Better Plan

"So, what exactly do you need help with?" Samuel's face once again taking up the whole of Olivia's MacBook screen. Alex has dropped her off about a half hour ago, he claimed he had somewhere to go and that she should just let him know her decision whenever, but she still had no idea what to say to him. Part of her really wanted to sleep in an actually comfortable bed, especially since she had no idea how long she'd be in town, but then again that was also a con; how long would she be burdening him? She didn't know if the whole thing was totally weird or just casual, so she had turned to her best friend for help (mostly because he was her only option –not because he was helpful).

"I just need your opinion," Olivia sulked, "should I? Or is it too weird? It's too weird right?" she rambled.

"I think what's weirder is that you haven't gotten in touch with your fiancé in like 4 days," Samuel laughed. Showing concern for her relationship was new for him, usually he didn't care, in fact it often seemed like he hated Derek, so either he actually did care or he just wanted her to spill the beans.

"Okay," Olivia rolled her eyes, like a teenager speaking to their nagging parent, "I sent him a text just telling him I couldn't call him 'cause he's out of area or something," she explained, playing with her fingernails, avoiding eye contact.

"That's clearly a lie, he's rang you plenty of times," Samuel laughed at his friends stupidity, "Please don't tell me he fell for that."

"Well, he hasn't gotten back to me," Olivia admitted, "but, honestly I don't want to hear from him," she looked up now, meeting her friend's judgemental gaze.

"Didn't he say he had like a surprise for you or something though? What if it's shoes? You're making bad decisions," Samuel tsked mockingly.

"Trust me, if it's something he's excited about then it's definitely not something I'm going to be excited about," Olivia laughed, "It's gonna be like, I don't know, a new water cooler at work or something." Samuel let out a loud belly laugh and Olivia joined him with a small giggle. "I just don't know what to do, man," she shrugged, suddenly a frown on her face.

"Go stay with Alex, okay?" Samuel responded; more like a demand, "You'll sleep well and you won't be constantly alone and Skyping me all the time," he joked with a wink.

"Don't you think it's weird though?" Olivia questioned, biting her lip. Something about it just felt a little inappropriate.

"Look, you guys had sex when you were like, what, 16?" Samuel began confidently, Olivia's eyes widening at him, "You're a grown-ass woman in a committed relationship and honestly, I looked him up on Facebook, he's gotta have a girlfriend, I mean fuck me," he raised his eyebrows at her, "if you know what I mean."

"Of course I know what you mean, you just said it," she responded, glaring at him, "For the record, I did not tell you that we slept together, so, where you got that infor-"

"You don't keep a cheeky finger private dude, that shit's boring, you had to have had sex, the way you were being so secretive about it," Samuel chuckled. Olivia gasped at his vulgarity.

"Dude, what the fuck?" she laughed, Samuel shook his head and shrugged; surprised his language still shocked her.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, honestly I'm proud that you were getting it in so early, I really thought you would've been a total prude in high school; like if I had known you I definitely would've had a mean nickname for you, but now I'm thinking we would've been best buds, girl," he joked, teasing her more.

"You're the worst," she shook her head, laughing lightly. A lot of people the pair knew didn't really understand Samuel, a lot of people found him far too much, but she enjoyed his out-there humour and how open and honest he was in general. It got him in trouble sometimes but she was always there to get him out of it; they were a perfect team.

"Anyway, yeah, I think you should stay at this guy's place, you know the guy, you can trust him and plus it's way better than the shitty situation you're in now," Samuel stated, going back to the original subject, "but, I do think you should speak to Derek," his face now serious, "even if it is just a hey what's up dude? text," he laughed, back to his joking ways.

"Yeah, you're right," Olivia nodded, biting the inside of her cheek, "but I swear if I have to sit through a 20 minute conversation about a new copy machine, I'm never speaking to you again."

Samuel laughed, "Okay, deal, see ya chick, love you," he rattled off.

"Bye, love you too," she smiled; a genuine smile before clicking out of the call. She wasn't sure about much, but she was certain that she loved her best friend, despite how annoying he was.

Pulling out her phone, she took a deep breath before dialling Derek's number. She wasn't exactly sure how she was going to excuse her distant behaviour, but she figured maybe he wouldn't even be interested. He did have something to tell her, and typically when he had news that was all he thought about.

-----
Meanwhile, Alex had been spending the past hour and a half running errands; getting some groceries, picking up some dry-cleaning and he even had a few packages he had to collect. Currently, he was on his way to Rian's house, he figured he'd chill there until he heard back from Olivia. He couldn't lie, he had kind of gotten his hopes up that she would say yeah, which worried him a little, because it made him feel like maybe he wasn't just doing this to help her out, but maybe he actually wanted her there. He shook the thought away as he pulled up outside Rian's house, a very different feeling than he had had the previous night turning up here.

Rian answered the door immediately, a beer in hand, he quickly shushed Alex before leaving him at the door and returning to the living area. Alex was instantly hit with the sounds of a basketball game practically on full volume, but surprisingly no other voices besides Rian's – just yelling at his TV, alone.

Alex narrowed his eyes at his friend as he entered the front room, "You're having a watch party alone?" he questioned, a mocking smirk on his face, "I didn't even know there was a game on today," he said, mostly to himself as he drifted into the kitchen to get himself a beverage. One wouldn't hurt.

"Nah, there isn't," Rian responded absent-mindedly, his eyes never leaving the screen, "this is on record."

Alex laughed loudly, "Are you serious, man?" He popped the top off the beer and took a swig, sitting beside his friend and leaning back, one arm up behind his head. Nodding, he recognised this game from a couple nights ago.

"Listen, I work late man, this is all I got," Rian explained, his eyes still glued to the screen, "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" he exclaimed, getting to his feet, arms held out in outrage. Alex chuckled into the neck of his bottle, only just realising Rian was practically wearing a whole basketball uniform. Finally acknowledging his friend's existence, Rian pauses the TV and turns to face Alex, "Why are you here anyway? I thought you'd surely be in a Psych ward by now after the way you acted yesterday," smirking, he nudged his friend, who just rolled his eyes in response.

"I'm fine now, man," he assured, "You made me realise how stupid I was being and so now every thing's good, when I got home last night Olivia fell asleep; she told me she wished her fiancé was more like me; I cooked her pancakes this morning and asked her to move in with me," he continued, enjoying the look of complete confusion on his best friend's face – he got such a kick out of messing with him like that.

"You have got to stop doing that, slow the fuck down," Rian sighed, showing his exasperation.

Alex laughed, "Honestly, that's pretty much the gist of things, she stayed over last night and I was just thinking how it would make so much more sense if she stayed at my place rather than in her hotel, yano?"

"No, I don't know, how does that make more sense?" Rian questioned, his eyebrows practically knitted together on his forehead.

"Because it's Christmas soon and no one should be alone on Christmas, okay Scrooge?" Alex sassed back, taking another swig of his drink.

"Yeah, but after all the things you said last night, I really highly doubt that's your motive, Tiny Tim," Rian retorted, mimicking Alex's odd use of A Christmas Carol reference.

"Okay, first of all, Tiny Tim doesn't do shit, okay? He's not the hero, you're thinking of like his dad, or like one of the ghosts or something," Rian stared at his friend in disbelief as he ranted about this classic Christmas film, "Anyway," Alex coughed a little, picking up on his friend's judging look, "I just wanna help her out, everything I said last night was all just in the moment, I don't feel any of that now," he said, although it felt like he was more trying to convince himself rather than Rian, "There's nothing in this, I'm just a friend helping out another friend."

"Another friend that you're in love with," Rian muttered in a mocking tone, turning away to face the paused TV screen. A flattering shot of some gangly dude about to make a jump shot.

"No, was in love with," Alex corrected, "All is goooooood," he dragged out the vowel in a very unconvincing tone.

"Yeah, sure, very believable," Rian mocked, turning back to pat Alex on the back, "you totally were not in a borderline distressed state yesterday over the thought of merely kissing her," he nodded, continuing with the sarcasm just as Alex's phone went off.

Reaching in his pocket, he shot Rian a glare before looking down to check who he had received a text from, it was Olivia telling him she was taking him up on his offer and that she was ready whenever he was. Rian watched as Alex's grin grew as he looked down at his phone and began typing a response.

Be there in about 20 mins :)

"Is that her?" Rian questioned, throwing his arm out in attempts to snatch Alex's phone from him. Unexpectedly, he actually managed it and turned away to quickly take a read, as his friend began protesting and grabbing at him, "You sent her a smiley face? Are you kidding me, man?" Rian handed back the phone, a look of shame on his face as he shook his head slowly – mock disappointment, or potentially real; Alex couldn't tell.

"Shut up and put your fucking week old game back on," Alex sulked, snatching the phone back and placing in his pocket. Slightly embarrassed, slightly pissed – which just caused Rian to laugh harder as he pressed play and the loud commotion of the game filled the room again.

But, Alex wasn't paying attention to any of it, all he could think about was the fact that Olivia would be staying with him for however long; eating breakfast together; cooking dinner together; spending the evenings watching lame TV as snow fell outside. He knew he shouldn't be thinking like this, but he couldn't help it, he was excited. They would get to spend some real time together and get to know eachother better and that thought provoked a large grin as he sat back and rewatched the same team win again, completely ignoring Rian's over-the-top reactions. Another swig of his beer, this was going to be such a fun couple weeks.

Notes