Chapter One - Coffee Shop

“You seem a little out of it today.”

Olivia Grant’s head snapped up at his words. She managed a weak smile, unconsciously finger the three stone necklace around her neck before she replied, “I’m just tired.”

“Do you like it?” Nate asked, his thoughts seemingly focused on something else altogether. He twisted his fork around the spaghetti and took a sip from his glass of red wine.

“It’s beautiful. Like everything else you’ve gotten me.”

He raised an eyebrow, hearing the underlying tone in her words. “I’m not sure that answers the question.”

Olivia shook her head slightly. She had finally caught his attention… now was the time to ask him the question she had been dreading for seemingly forever at this point. She let out a heavy sigh before she looked down, suddenly enamored with the spaghetti, “What are we doing, Nate?”

He studied her for a moment, as if trying to decipher her words for a hidden meaning, before he took another sip of wine, “I’m not sure I understand what you’re asking.”

“Nate, please,” Olivia whispered, brushing a piece of her long brown hair out of her face. “Don’t… not now.”

“Your question can be answered with a multitude of answers.” He paused for a moment, his blue orbs settling on her face, “There’s only one that you want though.”

Olivia smiled weakly again. After all these years, he was still Nate and he still knew her so well. That should’ve bothered her at that moment but she found it comforting instead. “So, answer it.” She gathered up her courage, lifted her head and matched their gazes, brown staring into blue. “What are we doing?”

“We’re having dinner.”

He was being a smart-aleck now. She didn’t have to reply, the look on her face was answer enough that what he said was obviously not the reply she wanted.

Nate crossed his arms over his chest, as if in defense before he spoke again, “I don’t know what type of answer you want from me, Olivia. In your mind, you already have one picked out but I don’t know what it is.” A short gap of silence filled the air before he asked, “What do you want to hear?”

She looked away, wanting so badly to tell him her thoughts. She silently wished there was some way she could pour her feelings and emotions into her words but all she could manage was a simple, “The truth.”

It wasn’t the answer he expected. Vagueness and cryptic words were usually in his arena but they had been together for four years, their mannerisms had rubbed off on each other.

Even so, there seemed to be a distance between them now, growing with every passing second of silence.

“We’ve been together for four years, Olivia, and you know that I’ve always been truthful with you, even when I knew it would hurt you. I’ve never kept anything from you and I don’t plan to start now. So, I’ll say it again, what do you want to hear?”

She still couldn’t look at him. She should’ve been searching her mind for the reason to that but all she could focus on was a reply. Her next words could cause the breakdown or the downfall of a relationship that practically defined her life now. She bit her lower lip before she spoke softly, “I want to hear that we’ll be okay.”

Nate’s brow furrowed at this answer, he took another sip of his glass of wine, desperately wanting it to be a beer, and looked at her. Before he could ask the question formulated in his mind, she continued.

“Because it hasn’t for the past few months, maybe even longer,” she paused for a moment. The air suddenly seemed heavier around her; she could feel it weighing down upon her shoulders.

“We are okay,” Nate insisted, his eyes stormy with flickering specks of gray. “Olivia, I don’t even know where this is coming from.”

Olivia watched him silently, wanting to believe his words and write off her suspicions as mere delusions but she could see in the tightness of his stature and shifty eyes that he knew exactly what she was speaking of. He just wanted to remain in denial.

A large part of her did as well. All she had to do now was nod, take his words as false truths and somehow deceive herself into believing that he was right and all the thoughts manifesting in her head could be erased. It would be so easy to lie and to pretend and go back to where they were before. But, she couldn’t do it.

She loved him too much to do that to him and their relationship, no matter how weak or confusing it was at this point, meant too much to her for her to write the problem off as a lie.

Instead of continuing what she had started, Olivia knew that it was going nowhere – as usual, so she changed the subject so quickly that Nate didn't even have time to think.

“Do you want me to drive you to group?” She asked softly, wiping the edges of her mouth with a napkin.

“No, I'll be fine by myself.” He said. “What time do I have to be there at?”

She laughed in her head, at the irony. He was going to be 'fine by himself' yet he wanted her to tell him what time he had to be there at.

“Seven thirty.” She sighed, looking down at her watch. It was a quarter to, and since Nate's group therapy met across town, he would be leaving now.

“Alright, then I'm going to leave.” He said, taking another sip of wine, and then wiping his mouth with a napkin. He stood up, placing his plate over by the sink and made his way over to her to peck her on the cheek.

“Good luck.” She whispered, as he left. She took her wine glass and gulped it down, knowing that it wasn't going to be her last glass of wine that night.

He was nervous, he could feel it. Nate was never really nervous about anything, he was usually pretty confident about himself. He was smart, wealthy and extremely good-looking, with his golden locks and blue eyes that sparkled in just the right way.

He made his way up the steps of the building. This was his first time being there, and he had hoped that he had gotten the right address. He had been in and out of rehab for several months, not wanting Olivia to be alone, and was just now starting to simmer down on his drinking. He pulled the door opened and walked into the room, not knowing what to expect.

“Nathanial? Nathanial Barrett?” He heard someone say behind him, taping his shoulder. Turning around, he was faced with an older woman, in about her early 50s.

“It's Nate.” He corrected.

“Oh,” She smiled. “Well, my name is Harper, I'll be your counselor for the next several weeks, please, take a seat,” She said. “We're just about to begin.”

Nate did as he was told, and took a seat next to a young man, all dressed in black. He glanced over at the woman who had had her beautiful green eyes on him since the moment he had walked into the room. Without moving her head, she looked up at him, and smiled. He didn't respond though, he just wanted to get this over with and go back home.

“Now, before we begin our normal routine,” Harper started, brushing her sandy locks out of her face. “We have a new member to our team,” She smiled. “Please welcome, Nathanial Barrett.”

Nate stood up, uneasily. “It's Nate.” He corrected again, softly.

“Right.” She said, laughing. “Why don't you tell us why you're here, Nate?”

He nodded, sitting back down. He had never really openly admitted it before. It was the first time he was going to tell a stranger, or seven, about his personal problems, and he didn't know if he was comfortable with that.

He sighed, knowing he'd have to speak up sooner or later. “I'm… uh…”

“It's okay, Nate, take your time.” Harper said, easily.

He nodded again, more confidently this time. “I am here, because I'm addicted to alcohol… well I'm an alcoholic.” He announced, waiting for people to start commenting, or even laughing for that matter. But they didn't. They all looked at Nate like they knew what he was going through – for the first time in a long time, someone was listening to what he had to say.

“How has this addiction affected your life, Nate?” Harper questioned.

Nate shrugged. “I”ve just been an ass… I mean, I've treated my family and my friends horribly. I wish I could take it back… I want to change.” He said.

“Why do you think you've become an alcoholic?”

This was probably the easiest question Nate could ever answer. He knew exactly why he had become addicted to alcohol. “Pressure – from work. My father passed away last year, and everyone expects me to live up to him… be the same man he was, and I just don't know if I can be.”

“Do you have any support at home? You said you have loved ones? Your mother? Wife?”

Nate felt a bit uncomfortable talking about things that were so personal – especially to people he didn't know.

“I do have a mother, who supports me a lot,” He started, nervously. “And I'm living with my girlfriend of four years right now.”

Harper nodded, jotting all this down. “How do you think she feels about your sudden addiction?”

Nate had to think for a moment. He had never actually sat down and thought about how Olivia felt, or how his alcohol abuse affected her. “I don't know,” He shrugged sadly. “She's scared… probably really worried, she's always been a worrier…” He trailed.

The subject quickly moved to the other two new members, and was then followed by several weekly routines.

After an hour of hearing people talk about their bullshit stories, Nate was finally glad it was over. He left the building in a hurry and made his way to his car, wanting to just go home and tell Olivia how much he loved her.

“Hey, wait!” He heard a soft voice from behind him.

He turned around, it was the girl from group. He hadn't heard her talk at all, she had been playing with the dead ends of her hair the whole time. Her sleek, long jet black hair ran smoothly to just below her rib cage, and her green eyes stood out tremendously in her pale skin and the black outfit she was wearing.

“I thought I'd introduce myself, since you're a new member to our team,” She started. “I'm Evelyn – call me Eve, suicidal.” She stated, holding out her hand for him to shake it.

He nodded, shaking her hand nervously, he didn't know why she was talking to him in the first place. “I'm Nate, alc-”

“Alcoholic, I know, I heard.” She said. He nodded, and began fiddling for his keys. “Nate?” She questioned.

“Yeah?” He responded.

“Um, there's this little coffee shop around the corner, and I was wondering if you wanted to grab a cup of coffee and… talk or something?” She questioned.

Knowing that Olivia was waiting for him back at the apartment, he had to turn her down. But there was something about Eve that immediately attracted him to her. He wanted to know more about her, and at that moment, he wasn't thinking about Olivia or how much he loved her at all – he was just thinking about how Eve would look without any clothes on.

Olivia glanced at her watch, it was 9:23 p.m. She wondered where Nate could be, since he was supposed to be home an hour earlier.

She ran her fingers through her hair. Maybe he had gotten lost? No, he would have called. Maybe he had met up with Chase and they had gone to catch a movie? No, he still would have called.

Olivia had tried to come up with a million and one reasons why Nate had not yet returned from his meeting, but she was now too tired to stay up any longer. She decided she'd just go to sleep and hope that Nate would return in the morning.

Meanwhile, at the coffee shop, Nate and Eve had just received their coffees.

“Thanks,” Nate said, as the waiter placed his coffee in front of him. Eve smiled at the waiter as she poured some milk and sugar into her coffee.

Nate couldn't help but stare. Noticing Nate staring at her coffee, Eve bit her lip nervously. “Is there something wrong with my mug, or something?”

Nate looked up at her. “Oh, no, your mug's fine,” He laughed. “It's just you put milk and sugar in your coffee.” He said, as though he had never seen any human being do it before.

“So?” She questioned. Why was he acting so strange? “Is there something wrong with wanting flavor in my coffee?”

Nate laughed again. “No, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that,” He started. “My girlfriend likes it black is all.”

“Ah, the girlfriend,” Eve started. “She got a name?”

“Olivia.” He replied firmly, then smiled thinking of her.

“Pretty name.” Eve commented.

“Pretty girl.” Nate replied.

“Well then, let me ask you a question Nate,” He raised one eyebrow slightly, indicating for her to go on. “Why are you here with me when you've got a pretty girl back at home waiting for you?”

He hesitated at first, but responded. “I don't know,” He said. “I like talking to you.” He said, causing her to blush.

“And you don't like talking to her?”

Nate shrugged. “We're kind of going through a rough patch.”

“Tell me how you met.” Eve said. If anything, Eve wanted to help Nate. Sure – he was attractive, but she wasn't about to hit on someone who had a girlfriend. If Nate and Olivia were going through a rough patch, then maybe being reminded of the love they once shared would help their relationship – though Eve was not exactly a love expert at that moment.

Nate sighed, he remembered that day as though it was yesterday.

He smiled. “We met in Greece,” He started, his mind going back to the memory. “She was there on a trip with a couple of students from her college, and I was there visiting my grandparents,” He smiled. “We ran into each other a couple times, and I asked her out,” he laughed, remembering how she had turned him down the first, second and third time he had asked her out, and it had taken him to throw rocks at her window in order for her to finally say yes. “The same night we… made love.” He said, though he was not feeling uncomfortable bearing his life story to Eve. “I had to leave the next day but I promised her that I'd call her back as soon as I got home, which was Seattle at the time – she was a lawyer-in-training living in New York.” He explained. “Once I got home, I called her, and I guess we decided to just be friends, considering the distance and our busy work schedules,” He said. “But a few months later I got transferred to the city and-”

“And you guys ran into each other, and your romance progressed from there?!” Eve asked, excitedly.

Nate laughed. “You could say that.”

“Wow, I don't think it gets any better then that, does it?” She questioned.

Nate chuckled at the remark. “I guess not.”

“So what happened after that? I mean, what went wrong?”

Nate shrugged. “I guess I just took my father's death really badly, alienated myself from everyone around me. Olivia and I… we stopped having sex, we even stopped sleeping in the same bed.”

“Wow, brutal.” Eve interrupted, and then bit her lip. “Sorry, go on.”

“The only thing that could calm me down was a drink, it got so bad that I started losing count of how many I drank a night.”

“Now you're trying to change?”

“Yeah, I'm trying to change.” He replied.

Eve nodded. “And Olivia?”

Nate shrugged. “She's great – probably the best thing that ever happened to me.” He said, then thought for a moment. “But don't you ever get the feeling that there could be something, or someone else out there for you? That you're really meant to be with?” He questioned.

Eve smiled sweetly and nodded. “Yeah, all the time.”

“That's exactly how I feel right.”

“Me too.” She smiled, as she scooted closer to him.

“Oh shit,”

“What? What is it?” She questioned. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No – God, no you didn't. It's just… pretty late. Olivia's probably really worried, or angry,” He said. “I have to go.”

“Oh,” she said, disappointedly. “I guess I'll see you next week, then?”

“Yeah, Thursday.” He said, placing a ten dollar bill on the table, grabbing his jacket, and jetting out the door.

“Yeah.” Eve mumbled to her self, as she finished her coffee.

Nate walked into his apartment and peeled his jacket off slowly, not wanting to wake sleeping Olivia, who was sprawled comfortably on the couch, where she had obviously fallen asleep.

He sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair, contemplating on whether he should pick her up and carry her to their bedroom or not.

He decided not to, knowing that she had a hard time falling asleep anyway. He pulled a blanket off the lounge chair placed at the corner of their living room and gently placed it on top of her, wrapping it around her body, then kissing her forehead, and walking to back to their bedroom to hopefully fall asleep himself. With sweet dreams of Eve Taylor.