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There were many things that Olivia had to learn to adjust to when she had gone from living alone to living with another person.
First it had been Brian, which had taken some adjusting, but she had gotten there.
But he was gone almost as quickly as he had come, so she had gone back to her normal ways sooner than expected.
Then Noah had come along.
And while Noah wasn’t much different than Brian in a lot of ways, he had come with more stuff.
Stuff that had made noise and took up more space than she anticipated.
The clothes alone that the child owned had been more than she had bargained for, and soon his closet was spilling over into hers.
But after eight years, they had figured it out and for the most part, they got along pretty well in their space.
Sure, he’d leave his shoes in the middle of the floor every now and then.
Or she’d find a book or a toy dinosaur shoved into the cushions of the couch sometimes.
But it really wasn’t that bad.
They were all things that she could live with.
Until she and Elliot decided that it would be good idea to trade in their two two bedroom apartments for one four bedroom apartment.
And somehow, everything in Olivia’s world had tripled.
Because now there were three guys leaving their shoes in the middle of the foyer at the end of the day.
And sometimes she found headphones and cell phones in the couch cushions along with the toy dinosaurs and school books.
She was learning to live with it though, she was getting better, and so were they.
Especially after Eli had tripped over his own shoes one night and wound up in the ER with two broken fingers.
So all in all, they were harmonious and living together was going very well.
Until she came home from a conference in Pennsylvania and found Elliot sleeping on the left side of the bed.
“You’re on my side of the bed.” She didn’t even greet him properly, no ‘hello’ or hug or kiss, nothing.
Instead she glared at him from her spot in the doorway, her hands on her hips as she watched him glance up from his tablet, glasses perched on the edge of his nose as he smiled.
“Welcome home love.” But she wasn’t as excited to see him as she probably should be.
“Move.” He raised an eyebrow at her and she marched herself into the room and fixed him with a glare. “You stole my side of the bed. Go back over there.”
“Really Liv?” Yes, really.
She had been sleeping on the left side of the bed since she was a teenager and he damn well knew this.
“Yes, Elliot, really.” He let out a sigh as he slid himself across the mattress and onto the right side of the bed.
“Better?” Maybe, but something was still off.
“Did you steal my pillow too?” Because the pillow that was now behind him was the pillow that belonged on her side of the bed.
“What can I say? I missed you.” He offered her a little shoulder shrug and a goofy smile and she couldn’t help but let her shoulders drop as she smiled back.
She guessed that was as good enough as any reason to steal stuff from the person you loved.