Chapter Text
“Liv.” Rafael hastily said before Olivia could walk out of his office.
“Yes.” Olivia turned, waiting for him to say what he wanted to say. Rafael was standing behind his desk, his fingers skirting the edges of the file on his desk.
Rafael took a deep breath. He really shouldn’t be so nervous about this. It wasn’t like he hadn’t done this before. This was Olivia though and that made all the difference. “Are you free tonight?”
She managed to swallow the gasp that threatened to escape. Was he finally going to ask her out? She’d been hoping he would do so for a while now. Sometimes it seemed like he was about to ask her and then he always seemed to stop himself. Of course she could ask him out too, yet she was unsure if she was reading the signs right. The fact hat he was her best friend and she didn’t dare to risk their friendship played a big part in her apprehension too. She could see the uncertainty in his green eyes the longer she kept quiet. “I am.” Lucy was dropping Noah off at Amanda’s for a sleepover. Noah was very excited about it.
“Would you like to come to games night at my place?” He asked his eyes cast downward on his desk. He couldn’t look at her if she were to reject him.
“Games night?” This was not what she’d expected him to ask. She’d thought maybe he wanted to have dinner. Games? Rafael played games? What kind of games? “What kind of games?”
“Board games.” He finally looked at her to gauge if she was open to the idea. He only saw confusion on her face. Her dark brown eyes wide, her nose a bit scrunched.
“Board games.” She repeated his words again.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to.” He quickly said. “Forget I asked.” He preferred to take back his invitation than to hear her reject him.
“No, no, no.” She didn’t want to forget it. She also didn’t like how quickly he rescinded his offer. “You surprised me.” She shrugged. “That’s all.” She waited for him to look at her again. “I’d like to come if the offer still stands.” His reaction, a shy smile, made her heart skip a beat.
“Of course.” He straightened his back, feeling his confidence come back to him again. “My place, 8 o’clock?”
“I’ll be there. Is there anything I can bring?” Did she need to bring a board game? She only had the ones she played with Noah.
He shook his head. “Just yourself.”
“I guess I’ll see you tonight then.” Olivia spoke after a moment of silence. She turned on her heels and left, hearing him say goodbye softly.
The moment Olivia left his office, Rafael slumped down in his chair. He took a deep breath. He felt relieved. He’d tried several times before to ask her out but had backed away each time. He wasn’t sure if he read the signs right and if she wasn’t interested it might ruin their friendship. The phone ringing signaled the end of his thoughts on Olivia. Time to get back to work.
“Any plans tonight?” Amanda asked, stepping back to let Noah and Olivia into her apartment. Noah quickly ran inside to find Jesse.
Olivia put Noah’s small overnight bag on the floor under the coatrack. “I do actually.”
“Really?” Amanda was surprised, expecting Olivia to have a quiet relaxing evening at home.
She nodded. “I’m going to Rafael’s place.”
“He finally asked you out?” Amanda had closely watched how her friend and the ADA had grown closer and closer of the years. She’d often wanted to push the two together and tell them to see what was right in front of them. To her it was obvious the two were perfect for each other.
“He did.” She smiled happily. Amanda followed Olivia to the living room where Noah and Jesse were playing.
“I’ll see you tomorrow okay, sweet boy?” Olivia crouched down next to her son, running her hand over his curls. “Be good for Aunt Amanda and Jesse.”
“I will momma.” Noah gave his mom a quick hug before his focus was back on his game with Jesse.
Walking back to the front door Amanda couldn’t stop herself from teasing a bit. “You know, it’s no problem for Noah to stay a bit longer tomorrow in case you’re otherwise occupied.”
“Amanda.” Olivia rolled her eyes at her friend though she suspected Amanda could see her blush.
Laughing Amanda pushed her friend out the door. “Go, enjoy yourself.”Just before closing the door she added. “I expect to hear all about it tomorrow.”
Knocking on Rafael’s apartment door, Olivia felt a nervous flutter in her stomach. She hoped that tonight wouldn’t end up in disappointment. Expecting Rafael to open the door, to say she was surprised was an understatement when it was Rita who opened the door.
“Olivia, come on in.” Rita smiled, stepping back to let Olivia step inside the apartment.
She didn’t understand why Rita was here. Hearing laughter coming from inside the apartment Olivia realized that besides Rafael and Rita there was another person, a man. After hanging up her coat, Olivia followed Rita to the living room. There was Eddie Garcia, the other male voice she’d heard. He was at the table which was set up to play games. That’s when the disappointment of this evening not being the date she’d expected it to be hit her. She swallowed thickly feeling overwhelmed, hurt and angry. Angry that she’d let herself believe, hurt that he’d let her believe. She wanted to turn around and run, go home, curl up on her couch with a blanket wrapped around her and have a good cry. Her pride wasn’t going to let her do that though. No, she was going to struggle through, find a way to leave early and quickly forget about this evening.
“Miss Benson.” Eddie greeted her warmly. “Good to see you again.”
“You too.” Olivia greeted Rafael’s friend politely. “Call me Olivia.”
Back in the kitchen, Rafael tried to calm his nerves. Tonight needed to go perfect, it was why he was nervous. It had taken him too long to find the courage to ask Olivia out and now that he had he didn’t want her to be disappointed. Eddie and Rita were the ones who’d kept pushing him to ask her out both knowing he was head over heels in love with Olivia Benson. His friends also were very aware of his fears of taking this step. He knew it was pathetic to have his friends here, especially because he’d been alone with Olivia many times before. But never on a date and never when there was this much on the line. Quietly he walked to his friends, his eyes on Olivia. She was wearing jeans with a burgundy v-neck sweater. He loved that color on her. She was beautiful. His nerves shot up a level when he saw that she felt uncomfortable. Her shoulders were tense and her eyes kept darting around the room as if she was ready to flee at any moment. He berated himself for that. He wanted this to be a relaxing evening for the both of them. Yet he’d neglected to tell her Rita and Eddie would be present too tonight. He’d neglected to tell he was so afraid of her rejection that he needed his friends. He was pathetic.
“Hi, Liv.” Rafael finally greeted her. He wanted to go to her and greet her with a soft kiss on her cheek. He also wanted to take away the discomfort he’d causes.
Happy to see him she felt herself relax a bit. “Hey, Rafael.”
“I’m glad you’re here.”
Feeling three sets of eyes on her, Olivia shifted on her feet feeling very uncomfortable with all the staring.
“Can I get you something to drink, Olivia?” Rita was the one to break the awkward silence.
“Red wine please.”
“Go sit down. I’ll get you your glass of wine and then the games can begin.”
Nodding, Olivia walked to the table. She spotted which seat was hers just as she saw Rafael wasn’t seated next to her. She felt the same disappointment again. She really didn’t understand what was going on here. Why did Rafael ask her to be here?
TBC...