Olivia brought the fetal pig from the back of the classroom and placed it on the lab bench. “Aww Alex, isn’t she so cute?” she cooed.
Alex wrinkled up her nose and moved back some. “Ew, no, Liv! Gross!”
“She’s so cute I could just kiss her!” Olivia continued, holding the fetal pig up in front of her face.
“Liv, if you kiss that thing, I swear, your lips will never touch mine again!”
Olivia smirked. “We have to name her!” she exclaimed excitedly. “What should we name her?”
“Uh…I dunno. Porky?” Alex answered sarcastically.
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Very funny, Alex.”
“Let’s name her Abbie,” Alex joked.
Olivia gave her a look. “Then I’ll end up hating her. No way.”
“Ok…well what about Ginger?” Alex suggested.
Olivia shrugged. “Sounds fine to me.” She picked her up again. “Hey, Ginger. You’re so adorable!”
“Liv, you’re scaring me,” Alex said.
“Come on, hold her!” Olivia insisted.
Alex backed up some more. “She absolutely reeks of formaldehyde!” she complained. “I swear I’m never eating bacon again.”
Olivia chuckled. “Oh come on, babe. It won’t be that bad.”
Alex sighed. “If you say so.” She quickly moved her lab notebook so the pig would not drip on it. “Liv, be careful! I don’t want formaldehyde and pig juices on my notebook!”
“Sorry, sorry,” Olivia said, handing the pig over to Alex. She watched as a smile slowly spread across Alex’s face as she held their pig. “See, you’re really getting the hang of it, sweetie.”
Alex grinned. “Hey, she’s not so bad after all!” She looked at Olivia with a slight pout. “Do we really have to cut her open?”
“Well, not today. We’re supposed to be just familiarizing ourselves with all the external anatomy,” Olivia explained.
Alex grinned. “Well, listen to you. Sounding all scientific.”
Olivia smiled. “Hey, I try.” She turned a page in her lab manual. “Ok, it says to open the mouth and look at the oral cavity. Note the papillae on the tongue. So do the honors, babe.”
Alex pried open the mouth of their fetal pig. “Boy, am I glad we have on gloves,” she muttered.
“Sweetie, we’re just touching her tongue and looking down her throat.”
“Are you sure we don’t have to cut her open at all today? Her mouth will only open so far.”
“Yeah. We don’t need to look any further. Now we need to identify the external ear, external nares, upper and lower eyelid, and then the third eyelid.”
“That’s what they call the nictitating membrane, right?” Alex asked.
“Right.” Olivia read a little further in her manual and said, “Ok, so I guess we do have to do a little cutting. It says cut off the very tip of the umbilicus to more clearly see the umbilical arteries, umbilical vein, and allantoic duct.”
“Ok,” Alex said, picking up the scissors and cutting off the tip.
“And blue latex is veins and red is arteries,” Olivia informed her.
Alex chuckled. “I know that, sweetie.”
“Now it says to identify the mammary papillae. After we do that, we need to locate the digits, knee, ankle, and elbow and then I’ll put her back up.”
“What are we doing the rest of the period?”
“Looking at slides. The main cutting will start Monday,” Olivia answered.
Alex smiled and looked at her. “You know, I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather get stuck doing something as gross as dissecting a dead pig with but you.”
Olivia smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
After they finished identifying the external anatomy, Olivia re-bagged the pig and then they cleaned up and began looking at slides. “What time are Casey and Serena coming over tomorrow?” Olivia asked.
Alex shrugged and switched out the slide under the microscope. She absently began writing notes in her notebook and then answered, “Oh…um, sometime in the afternoon.”
Olivia opened up the second box of slides and said, “Cool. And you’re sure we have the entire house to ourselves?”
“Well, Janice will be there until sometime in the evening. Then we’ll be completely alone.”
Olivia smiled and squeezed Alex’s waist. “So does that mean we can all run naked to the jacuzzi?”
Smiling, Alex gave her a look. “Not quite, babe.”
Olivia snapped her fingers and shook her head. “Damn! Ah well, it was worth a try.”
Alex laughed. “You’re so silly. Wanna go to Steak and Shake after school?”
Olivia grinned from ear to ear. “Mmm…a steakburger and Turtle Caramel Nut milkshake. My taste buds are about to orgasm.”
Alex laughed again. “Good to know.”
Olivia laughed, too. “I’d say.”
After 7th period ended, Alex asked her, “Hey sweetie, will you put my things in my locker? I have to meet with Donnelly.”
Olivia smiled and patted Alex’s upper arm. “Sure, baby. I need to talk to Elliot anyway so I’ll just drop these off on my way.”
“Thanks, babe. You’re a lifesaver,” she said, kissing Olivia quickly on the lips before departing.
After Olivia put Alex’s books in her locker, she went to find Elliot. “Hey, Elliot. Can I talk to you?” she asked.
“Sure, Liv. What’s up?”
Olivia led him to a secluded corner of the commons area. “A total fucking nightmare happened!” she exclaimed, sitting down on a bench.
Elliot regarded her pensively as he sat down beside her. “Define nightmare. Did you and Alex have a fight?”
Olivia looked down briefly. “Well…yeah. But we’re ok now. The nightmare is what caused it.”
“Ok…so what is this nightmare?”
“Well…Abbie gave Alex the case file of my mom’s rape,” Olivia said dejectedly.
“Wait a minute, she did what?” Elliot interrupted.
“Yeah, my sentiments exactly. I found it in Alex’s stuff, so I blew up at her because I thought she’d snuck around behind my back and got it herself.”
“How the hell did Abbie get ahold of that?”
“Alex said Abbie told her she was in her uncle’s office working and she found it there. He’s a prosecutor. She claims she was organizing case files for him and a page of my mom’s file just ‘slipped out.’”
“Slipped out?” Elliot interrupted again. He shook his head. “Nuh uh. Shit like that doesn’t just slip out. She purposely went digging.”
“Oh, I’m sure of it. But anyway, she said Abbie came up to her right after I walked her to Petrovsky’s class and told her she had something to show her but not to tell me because it would make me mad. Abbie wouldn’t tell her what the file contained.”
“Oh man, Liv. I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too. I made a fool of myself yesterday in front of Alex.”
“So what happened when you two fought?”
“Well, we were at her house when I saw she had the file in her bag, so I stormed downstairs and accused her of betraying me. She begged me to let her explain, but I didn’t give her a chance; I just told her to leave me alone and left. Then she took her parents’ car and followed me.”
“So were you two good when she explained how she got the file?” Elliot asked hopefully.
Olivia sighed. “Well…not exactly. She started saying all these supportive things, telling me she loved me unconditionally and it didn’t matter to her that my dad was a rapist because I was nothing like him. And she told me that I’d brought so much meaning into her life and she wouldn’t trade me for the world, but I started snapping at her again because I was just so upset. I didn’t want her to find out this way. Things just got worse from there.”
“Worse how?”
“I…I was drinking. Alex took it and poured it out on the floor. I yelled at her, called her a bitch, and went to the kitchen to get some more rum but she beat me to it and took the bottle and smashed it against the floor. I was furious. She told me I was drinking to drown my pain like my mother and she wasn’t gonna let me turn into her. I took that as an accusation. I told her she didn’t know anything about my mom and she apologized and said she shouldn’t have said that. But I was still on a rampage so I told her to get out. She refused to leave.”
“So what did you do?” Elliot questioned.
“I…I lost it,” Olivia said, shame clouding her voice.
“Liv…” Elliot said, looking at her and shaking his head slowly. “You didn’t hurt her, did you?”
A tear fell down Olivia’s cheek. “No. At least not physically.”
“So what happened, Liv?” Elliot asked, rubbing her upper arm comfortingly.
“Well…she told me she was going to clean up the kitchen. She told me that she hoped I’d stop acting like a petulant child by the time she got back. She was walking to the door when I picked up a lamp and threw it at the wall.”
Elliot dropped his hand to his side. “Liv, you threw a lamp at her? What the hell were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t thinking. But I didn’t throw the lamp at her. I threw it at the wall beside the door a few feet away from her. It shattered; she was so scared. She started crying. So did I.”
“Liv, you have to control your anger. You can’t do something that reckless,” Elliot told her. “What if one of the pieces had hit her?”
“That’s what she said,” Olivia replied sadly. “I felt so bad, so guilty. But luckily she didn’t get cut or anything.”
“Liv, you really have to be careful.”
“I know, El. She was crying and shaking in a ball on the floor; she looked so fragile. I ran over and tried to hold her, but she just flinched when I touched her. And to see the look on her face…my precious angel,” Olivia said, brushing more tears away. “She almost left me, Elliot. But I begged her for another chance.”
“So are you guys ok now?”
“Yeah. We talked some and then I spent the night at her place. But I woke up this morning and she was in the bathroom crying on the floor. Geez El, I promised I’d never hurt her again.”
Elliot sighed. “Well Liv, everyone makes mistakes. That’s what makes us human. But in the future, try to control your temper. You have a great thing going with Alex and you don’t need anything driving a wedge between you.”
“I know, El. I mean, I heard this little voice telling me to stop. You know, quit before I said or did something I regretted. I don’t know why I didn’t listen.”
“We can’t undo the past. But we can stop it from happening again in the future,” he said, patting her on the back.
“I just don’t know why Abbie won’t stop trying. Why can’t she just accept that Alex is happy with me and move on with her life?”
“Because she sees the two of you so happy and in love and she can’t stand to see you guys have something she so desperately wants. Misery loves company.”
“I can’t believe Abbie would do this. I mean, the only reason she gave that file to Alex was to turn her against me—to make her think I was a monster just because of who my father was. We think that dumb bitch has finally left us alone and then she drags up this shit to use as ammunition.”
“She had no right to do what she did. What did you do with the case file? Alex didn’t give it back to Abbie, did she?”
“No. Alex gave it to her dad. He called her uncle last night and dropped the file off this morning.”
“I hope her uncle roasts her ass.”
“Yeah, me too. The good news is that Alex won’t get in any trouble. I just wish there was something I could do to make her leave us alone.”
Elliot patted Olivia’s shoulder. “Why don’t I have a little chat with her?”
Olivia grinned. “I have no objections.”
He stood up. “Well, I’m gonna try to find her. Hopefully she hasn’t already left. You catch up with Alex and I’ll call you later and tell you how it went, ok?”
Olivia stood up beside him and gave him a warm hug. “Thanks, El. I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’re a great friend.”
Elliot smiled and returned her embrace. “No problem. No one fucks with my best friend and gets away with it.”
Olivia threw her bag over her shoulder and replied, “I really appreciate all this.”
He ruffled her hair and said, “It’s nothing. Now run and catch your girlfriend.” Olivia laughed and ran off. Elliot watched her until she disappeared down the hall and then headed in the direction of Abbie’s locker.
Abbie was putting stuff in her locker when Elliot came up to her. “What can I do for you, Elliot?”
He folded his arms and fixed her with a menacing stare. “Well, for one you could stop harassing Liv and Alex.”
Abbie laughed. “I’m not doing anything to either of them.”
“Don’t pull that shit with me, Abbie. You know exactly what you did. But using Olivia’s mom to do your dirty work? A woman who was violated in the most perverse way ever? I never thought that even scum of the Earth like yourself would do something like that.”
Abbie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Your heart is bleeding all over my shirt.”
“You’re a sick fuck, you know that? What does Lexie see in you anyway?”
“Whatever, Elliot.”
“Olivia has a lot of self control dealing with bitches like you.”
Abbie scoffed. “Since when?”
“Since she didn’t beat the crap outta ya for the lowdown shit you pulled.”
“Oh please. She doesn’t scare me. I’d have her arrested before she could raise her fist. Maybe you or Alex will be there to post bail.” She grinned wickedly. “Or better yet, maybe that won’t be necessary. They do send kids who fight at school to Juvenile these days.”
Elliot stepped right up to her. “If you do anything else to hurt my best friend or her girlfriend, you’ll fucking regret it. And you can quote me on that,” he growled.
“Are you threatening me, Elliot?” Abbie asked.
“Just stay away from Olivia and Alex,” he replied, pointing a finger at her face. “Everyone’s tired of your bullshit.”
“None of this is any of your business,” Abbie retorted.
“It’s my business if you’re doing stupid shit to my friends,” Elliot responded, raising his voice. Then in a lower tone, he continued, “I wonder what Lexie would think if she knew how much of your free time you spent trying to get in some other chick’s pants…”
Abbie glared at him. “Don’t you dare go near my girl!”
Elliot gave a cruel smile. “What? Getting scared?”
“Fuck you.” She slammed her locker shut and turned to leave when Elliot grabbed her arm. “Let go of me, you jackass!” she yelled, trying to free her arm from his tight grip.
“Hey, what’s the rush? We were having fun!”
“You stay the hell away from me,” Abbie told him, finally breaking free. She started to stalk off.
“Hey, Abbie. I just have one more question. Were you born such a bitch or is it just a finely honed skill you obtained along the way?”
Abbie stopped in her tracks and turned back around. “Ah, nice to know Olivia’s friends have such a dimwitted sense of humor,” she shot back nastily. “You know, I’d love to stay and entertain a numbskull like yourself, but I actually have a life. And an IQ above 60.” And with that, she turned back around and started walking away again.
“Abbie, it must be really painful for you to walk,” Elliot called out after her. “You know, stick lodged up your ass and all.”
“Go to hell!” Abbie shouted, not bothering to turn back around.
**************
Meanwhile, Alex came out Donnelly’s office to find Olivia waiting for her. “Everything good?” Olivia asked.
Alex nodded and took Olivia’s hand. “Yeah. Thanks for waiting.”
“No problem. So I talked to Elliot about everything,” she replied as they started walking out to her car. “He said he was gonna have a little chat with Abbie.”
Alex gave a sigh of relief. “I hope he scares the shit outta her. God, if I had one wish it would be that she would leave us be!”
Olivia grinned. “It wouldn’t be to have extra cheese on your fries?”
Alex smiled. “That’s a given.”
Olivia stopped and turned to face her. “It wouldn’t be to have me kiss you?”
“That’s a given, too,” Alex replied, grabbing Olivia’s shirt and pulling her in for a sweet kiss.
After their lips separated, Olivia asked, “So we’re ok from yesterday? I mean really?”
Alex brushed some of Olivia’s hair back behind her ear and answered, “Yes. We’ll always bounce back.”
Olivia smiled. “Good to know.” She took her hand again and they continued walking out.