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“You're not going to go all single, very white female on me, are you? You know, cut your hair like Peyton, try and crawl into bed with me?”
-Ravi, “Astroburger”
Liv stands to the side of the crime scene, holding a green smoothie that Peyton had graciously made for her that morning. She watches as Ravi bends over the dead body, eyebrows drawn together in concentration, his nose slightly scrunched. Liv slurps the smoothie loudly.
Ravi presses his fingers to his temple and sighs. He tries to muster enough patience and says, “Can you perhaps quit standing around and come over here and help me examine the body instead of chugging down that--is that a smoothie?”
“Yeah. Peyton insisted that I have one for health reasons. Despite the fact that I’m--you know…” She wraps a hand around her throat, sticks her tongue out, and flops her head to one side.
“Quit that!” Ravi snaps quietly. “Someone might see. There’s people with cameras. No respect for privacy, I tell you.” He snaps his gloves off and stands up. His tiredness is evident in his tangled hair and downcast eyes. But Ravi would probably insist he looks spectacular, sleep or no sleep.
Liv looks up at him. “You are in quite the mood today,” she comments and then takes another annoying slurp from her smoothie.
Ravi rolls his head to look up at the sky. “I went to the bar with Major last night. Don’t know how you were ever engaged to him. Totally not your type.” Liv smirks up at him. “Okay, fine. Totally your type. Honestly, that green smoothie must taste disgusting.”
“Can’t taste it. Although, I snuck some hot sauce in. My personal secret recipe.” She tilts it towards him and raises her eyebrows.
He reluctantly takes it from her and takes a sip. He contorts his face with disgust, swallows it, and spats, “Disgusting. You should market that.”
Liv shrugs and takes it back. “So...the victim?”
“Probably trauma. Probably murder. Bad news--”
“She’s dead. Kind of hard to top that.”
“Well--how do I say this? She used to occupy the comic store I may or may not frequently visit during my lunch breaks. To say it lightly, she was a bit obsessed with me. Head over heels. Completely cuckoo for me.”
“Inevitable. Sure you appreciated that,” Liv remarks.
Ravi turns to face her fully. “Liv, do you understand what this means?” He looks down at her, his face stone serious.
Liv blinks and then it hits her. “Ohh...I see,” she says, a smile creeping up on her face. “I have to eat her brains--”she points to the dead body “--to figure out how she died. And she used to be obsessed with--” she points to Ravi “--you. And since I take on the personality of the brain I eat, then I’ll be dumb-struck in love with you.” She bites the straw of her drink, still smirking. “Should be interesting.”
“No,” Ravi says sternly, “it will not be interesting because you will not be eating her brain.”
Liv tilts her head from side to side, humming, before starting to walk away from Ravi, towards Clive.
“Liv--” Ravi starts, but stops short when he reaches her and Clive. “Detective Babineaux.”
Clive raises his eyebrows in suspicion, looking back and forth between Liv and Ravi. He sighs and says, “Any ideas of the cause of death?”
“Not yet,” Ravi admits. Liv eyes him knowingly.
“Well, that’s why we have Liv. Keep me updated. Also, Liv, keep that green smoothie stuff out of the office. Don’t tell me you’re going vegan on me,” Cliv says shortly. He turns on his heel and walks off.
Liv raises her smoothie and Ravi takes it from her, rolling his eyes. She skips after Clive, turning back around quickly to give Ravi a vulgar look before following Clive into his car. Ravi sighs and heads in the opposite direction.
“So, tell me, what was your deal with this girl? Did she ask you out and you rejected her? Oh my God, did she, like, put a note in a comic book you were checking out?” Liv asks, leaning her elbows on the morgue table Ravi is currently wiping down.
Ravi stops, spray bottle raised as he gives her a “Not-Having-It” look before continuing to clean around her.
Liv sighs and joins him on the other side of the table. “It’s just--” she splays her hands out in front of her. “I need to get a feel for what it’s going to be like when I...eat her brains.” She looks over her shoulder to see the pale complexion of the girl who couldn’t be older than twenty-five, her long blonde hair dangling lifelessly. She probably wasn’t all bad. Ravi just knew one side of her, something so small, so--
“You’re not going to eat her brain. Problem solved,” Ravi says without looking up.
“Ravi, I have to. What am I gonna tell Clive? ‘Sorry my psychic powers aren’t working, turns out the victim had a thing for Ravi and it’s affecting my voodoo magic?’”
Ravi finally breaks and lets out a short laugh. “Voodoo magic?” But then he quickly regains his composure and slams the cleaning bottle on the morgue table. “Listen, Liv, you can’t eat the brain. As your boss, I’m telling you not to eat the brain. There’s still leftover Automobile Accident Alfie in the fridge.” He sprays cleaning mist on the table and runs a rag over it.
Liv presses her lips together. “Hold on,” she says slowly, “you don’t want me eating Sally’s brains--”
“Her name’s actually Crystal.”
“--Crystal’s brains because you think I’m going to get all super-annoying-crazy-in-love with you? Right?” Ravi nods slowly, warily. “I can keep my fanaticism of you in tact. Easy.”
“No offense, Liv, but have you seen yourself when you’re under the influence of brains?” Ravi inquires, looking down at her, eyebrows raised.
Liv scoffs.
“Besides, you should be asking me things like ‘Do you think anyone had anything against her?’ Like as a witness.”
Liv squints and tilts her head. “I think you’re a bit biased. No offense.”
Ravi’s mouth gapes open. “I am offended.” He walks around to the other side of the table and puts the cleaning materials in one of the cabinets.
Liv trails behind him. “Are we gonna talk about this or not?”
He turns around abruptly and suddenly finds himself face-to-face with Liv. Well, not face-to-face . He stumbles back into the counter, hands gripping it behind him. Liv folds her hands behind her back and bounces on her toes, poised expectantly.
“Uhh--” he stutters, “we’ll t-talk about this later. I can’t deal with this right now.” He gestures abstractly to her.
Liv shrugs and Ravi stumbles up the stairs to the police department. She waltzes over to Crystal’s dead body. With practiced care, she drills into her skull with a bone saw and pulls her brain out. Classic Ravi, leaving the brain right in front of me, she thinks. He’s more of a talker than a doer. She goes over to the kitchen, pulls out the blender, and throws a handful of kale, spinach, and pieces of Crystal’s brain inside, and turns it on. The smoothie turns out more pink than green, but Peyton would be happy to know her food inspiration is paying off. Plus, she can easily pass it off as a strawberry smoothie in front of Clive. She adds a dash of hot sauce and heads upstairs.
“Strawberry? C’mon, Liv,” Clive chides.
“It’s not vegan. It has milk in it,” Liv lies. And brains. Actual, human brains. That just happened to once belong to a slightly bubbly twenty-something. The lie comes easy. As does the perception of Clive’s apparent attractiveness. But not her type, Liv notes.
Clive knocks on the door and it opens, revealing a distraught middle-aged woman clad in an oversized robe and clutching a tissue.
Liv steps forward. “I’m so sorry--”
“I’m Detective Babineaux of Seattle PD. We’re sorry for your loss, but we heard Crystal Stuart used to live here. Mind if we look around?”
The woman reluctantly nods and steps back out of their way. “She hadn’t been home for a week. Before her death.” Her eyes follow them as they scout around the living room, which is filled with yellowing furniture. “Her room’s at the end of the hall, if you’re wondering.” She points to a hallway to their left.
Clive nods and heads towards it, so Liv follows him.
As soon as their out of earshot, Liv hounds him, “She’s obviously distraught. She’s probably been just crying everyday, alone, with no one to comfort her, meanwhile we just barge in here--”
“She’s Crystal’s mother. Crystal lived with her while she took classes over at the local university. Psych major,” Clive says in a monotone voice. “This must be her room.” He pushes opens a door with a poster of some celebrity Liv doesn’t recognize plastered on it.
The room is littered with clothing and books, spilling out from under her bed. The wall is so covered in posters (most of them of the superhero variety) that the original color of the wall isn’t visible. Clive flicks on the light and begins looking around.
Liv steps over to him. “I think we should try to get help for Mrs. Stuart. She’s mourning and...and she doesn’t have anyone to comfort her.”
“That’s not my problem,” Clive says shortly. “Everything’s matching up. Ravi came in and told me she worked at that comic book store he likes to go to.”
Weird. Liv blinks and finds herself unconsciously smiling. Like, hardcore smiling and her chest starts to hurt and her ears start to burn. Clive slowly looks up and stares at her. She giggles and tucks her hair behind her ear. “I don’t--just--Ravi came to you?” she asks quietly. She immediately distracts herself with a comic book, flipping through it absently.
“Yeah…”
“Do you guys, like, talk a lot?”
“No--are you scared I’m going to take your boy away from you?” Clive asks, walking to the other side of the room.
“Uh- what?” Liv says a bit too loudly, a smile plastered on her face. “Why would--you think he’s my boy?” She fists her hands and shoves them into her jacket pockets.
“You’re always hanging around in the that morgue together. I mean, you’ve got...Lilywhite. This isn’t the time to talk about this. Have you got any visions yet?”
Liv flips an action figure in her hands. “Nope.” She rifles through a few pages of what looks like homework. But nothing comes to her because she’s still thinking about Ravi. It’s almost like she just wants to leave the house and head straight to the morgue to see him. But she can’t do that, so she just continues prodding Clive about him. “Do you think Ravi’s more of a Batman or a Robin?”
She hears something clatter as Clive drops a stack of books he was looking through. “I don’t know anything about superheroes, Liv,” Clive reminds her. He moves his hands to his hips and faces her. “If you’re not getting anything, it’s kind of pointless to be here.”
Liv’s stomach somersaults. “Boo,” she mumbles in an anything-but-glum tone. Her eye lands on a hidden poster of Robert Pattinson. She gasps and immediately grabs it, showing it to Clive. And almost without consciousness she says quickly, “It’s Robert Pattinson! I had a sex dream about him once.”
Despite all her giddiness to see Ravi, as soon as she sees his face, she feels... angry. Hearing her walk in, Ravi swivels around in his chair where he’s sitting in front of the computer. He gives her a short wave. She stares at him for a few seconds. Then she walks over and pushes herself up on the computer desk.
Ravi turns to face her, steepling his fingers. “So...how’d it go? Investigating low on brain gas?” he asks her.
She stares at him some more, toeing the line between acceptable staring and obviously creepy staring. “Fine. Automobile Accident Alfie gave me a lot of relevant flashbacks. Horrifying stuff,” she lies. And then she tilts her head forward and tries to awkwardly bat her eyelashes at him. She’s in this weird limbo of being angry at him for some unknown reason and wanting to grab his face and make out with him, so she plays it off like she’s just hard to get. Where she’s so angry and he just wants her so bad. But the other half of the equation isn’t working and as she lifts up her legs to rest them on the arm of his swivel chair, she teeters over the edge and falls to the floor.
Ravi pushes his chair back and stands up. “Liv are you okay?” He bends down next to her
Liv brushes him off. “I’m fine. I’m okay.” But she lets him pull her up anyway, his hand wrapped around her forearm. Once she’s back on her feet, she shuts her eyes for a second and smiles. When she opens her eyes, Ravi is looking at her quizzically, his hand no longer on her forearm. “What?” she asks.
“You smell like cinnamon,” he says softly.
Liv avoids looking at him and walks away to sit on one of the morgue tables. “And?”
“I don’t know,” he admits. He scratches the back of his neck and falls back into his chair. He rolls over to her. “You sure you should be sitting up there? Might fall and bust your head open.” He scrunches up his nose and tilts his head to the side.
Liv has the urge to throw a scalpel at his head. “God, you’re annoying.” She stretches her legs out and succeeds in resting the heels of her boots on the armrest of the chair. She crosses her ankles while Ravi looks at her feet.
“Why are your disgusting feet on my armrest?” he asks, pointing at the feet in question.
Liv pretends to think about it, and then says. “Don’t know. How’d they get there?”
He draws his eyebrows together, leans back into his seat, and crosses his arms over his chest. “You’re acting weird.”
“Not really.” She hooks her feet over the armrest and tries to pull him towards her but because of her mass and other physics stuff, he remains immobile and she just scoots to the edge of the table. “Hey, d’you wanna go get drinks together?”
Ravi looks down into his lap, still trying to analyze the situation. “I can’t...I have work to do.” He rolls back over to the computer, leaving Liv’s feet dangling.
“Come on. So invested in work. Have a little fun,” she says, strolling over to him. She rests her arms on the back of his chair.
“Dealing with you and all your...zombieness is fun enough.” He clicks through a couple files and Liv watches blindly for a few seconds before groaning and pushing away from him.
“Fine, it’ll be a work date then!” she calls from the kitchen as she brings a chair out. She positions it next to Ravi and plops down into it, resting her elbows on the desk.
“Automobile Accident Alfie must’ve had a thing for handsome British men,” Ravi notes absently.
Liv gives a short laugh. “It’s kind of hot in here,” she says, starting to pull off her jacket.
“Liv, we’re in a morgue. It’s never hot--”
He stops as he sees her Star Wars shirt, which she picked up on her way to the morgue.
“What?” Liv asks nonchalantly, as if the Stars Wars shirt was just a normal staple to her everyday look.
Ravi blinks at her chest.
“My eyes are up here, Ravi.”
He pulls his eyes away and goes back to the computer screen. “I didn’t know you’ve seen Star Wars.”
“It’s a pretty popular movie. Very easy to find online.” She scoots closer to him. Not too close that it’s obvious, but just close enough that her shoulder brushes up again his arm. “Haven’t seen the new one yet. Maybe we can watch it together.” She looks up at him.
He looks down at her, his eyes flicking back and forth between her shoulder and his arm. He scoots away. “I think you should cool down, Liv. Take the rest of the night off. Get some rest.”
Liv contorts her face with anger and stands up. “Fine.” She grabs her coat and gives her chair a kick, causing it to bump into Ravi’s leg. He flinches, but doesn’t react much.
When Liv gets home, she almost writes angry poetry about Ravi. But she doesn’t.
Ravi considers himself to be quite intelligent. He realizes Liv falls into three categories:
- Co-Worker (and subordinate).
- Friend.
- Super Cool Zombie That Brings Needed Excitement Into His Life
She most certainly didn’t fall into any “romantic” range. Not even close. But the smell of cinnamon, the stupid Star Wars shirt, her feet on the arm rest replay in his head. Sure, Liv was cool and was probably the best thing to ever happen in the seven years he worked for the morgue. But she was just that. Nothing more.
Liv considers herself to be quite intelligent. She realizes Ravi falls into three categories:
- Co-Worker (and her boss).
- Friend.
- (Current/Temporary) Crush
Liv doesn’t realize how bad Crystal’s brain is until she tries to fall asleep. Her thoughts circle through random psychology theories, then comic book scenes, and then stupid Ravi, including her reliving her embarrassing herself in front of him. Sure, Liv was thankful and basically owed everything to Ravi for taking her in after she became a zombie. Without him, she’d probably be scavenging the streets, killing helpless humans. Or dead. But after this brain wore off, everything would go back to normal.
“Be aware, I totally hate you right now. Like I’m practically chin-deep in it. So I’m trying my best to be civil,” Liv tells Peyton before hiding behind her mug of coffee.
Peyton shuts the fridge and glances at her as she moves to the little island in the middle of their kitchen. “Was the green smoothie that bad?”
Liv shrugs. “Can’t taste it. So no.” She watches Peyton carefully peel and chop up a banana. “It’s because you used to date Ravi.”
Peyton almost loses her concentration. Almost. “Wow. This is new.”
“It’s because I kind of ate the brain of some girl that had a pretty big crush on him,” Liv explains quickly. “I don’t actually have...feelings for him.”
Nodding slowly, Peyton tosses the banana slices into the blender. “Right.”
Liv sets her coffee mug on the table and raises her eyebrows. “That’s it?”
Peyton doesn’t answer, but just turns the blender on. Then she says, “Yeah. I mean...hold on.” She pours the smoothie into a cup, sticks a straw in it, and joins Liv on the couch. “Like, I always got the feeling that Ravi was more into me than I was into him.”
Liv draws her legs up into her chest and rests her chin on her knees.
“And I know this is a temporary thing, but, honestly, if your feelings were legitimate, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Peyton continues, looking at Liv over her smoothie.
Liv feels Crystal’s giddy nature start to rise in her stomach, but Liv tries to push it down. “Um...what?”
Peyton laughs, leaning back. “I don’t know. I feel like Ravi’s attraction to me was because he was secretly attracted to you in a weird way. Subconsciously, of course. But, you know, him being your boss and everything might have put a dent in that. And I was the next best thing.”
“Stop being insecure. You’re Peyton Fucking Charles.”
“I’m not being insecure,” she says honestly. “Just observations. Analyzed observations.”
Liv leans back next to her, drawing her eyebrows together. “Huh. Weird.” And then she feels a bout of energy and blurts out, “Does he talk about me a lot? Oh my God--sorry. Ignore that last part.
Peyton almost spits out her smoothie, trying to hold in a laugh. “You’re pretty much the only thing we have in common, so, yeah, a bit.” She stirs her straws through the thick yellow juice. “I mean, I could be wrong. You guys are always doing stuff down in that morgue...alone.”
“There are dead bodies, you perv!” Liv scolds. Peyton throws her head back with laughter. “I mean, logically, I’m confused, but oddly intrigued. However, the brain is ecstatic and kind of likes you a bit better.”
“Gee, thanks. Ravi’s nice, but...I think I’m more into blondes.”
Liv gasps and her eyes widen as she’s thrust into a vision.
Ravi stands in front of her, rows of comic books stretched out behind him. He’s swaying back and forth, avoiding looking at her. He’s wearing his usual long coat, messenger bag draped across his body.
“It’s not--it’s just...I’m not really into blondes,” he mumbles to the floor. “You’re a nice girl and all but--”
The vision cuts off and Liv finds herself looking at Peyton calmly stirring her smoothie.
“You back?” she asks.
“Son of a bitch,” Liv mutters. “Ravi’s not into blondes.” She’s already picked up her coffee mug and is heading to the kitchen.
“Come on. You’re technically not blonde. More white-ish,” Peyton reassures her, her feet now resting on the coffee table.
Liv practically throws the mug into the sink and then heads to her room. She shrugs off her shirt and pajama pants, and throws on a blouse and a skirt. “I’m livid, Peyton. Almost irrationally. Can you believe that excuse?” She shoves her feet into a pair of boots, grabs her bag, and heads towards the door.
When she reaches the door, she looks over her shoulder to see Peyton smiling with her mouth closed. “Don’t hurt him or anything,” Peyton says.
Liv groans. “I will try not to.” She throws open the door and storms out.
Liv speeds towards the morgue. But sometimes she lets off the gas a little as she really thinks about it. Ravi did have a cute smile. It was hard to be mad at his cute smile. Plus, Peyton hinted that he might kind of like her. It made her feel actual butterflies in her stomach.
“Oh my God. Turn it off,” she mutters, slamming her palm against the steering wheel.
She musters all her confidence and barges into the morgue. Ravi’s just taking his coat off when he turns around and sees her.
“Liv! You’re early. I--uh--brought some bagels if you wanted--”
“You’re not into blondes? Is that the best you’ve got?” she accuses.
“Wh--I knew it! You smelt like cinnamon. Crystal always smelt like cinnamon. You ate her brain, didn’t you?” He strides over to her.
Liv draws her eyebrows together. “Um, no I didn’t. Peyton told me you weren’t into blondes. Yeah, I was a little bit interested, so I asked Peyton some questions…”
“Okay, sure, Olivia. I must admit, I knew it was only a matter of time, but I don’t believe you.”
Liv rolls her eyes. “Yeah, Ravi, you better believe it.” She tries to act nonchalant because she doesn’t want him to see through her facade, plus Crystal kind of really doesn’t wanna embarrass herself in front of Ravi again. She tosses her bag onto a chair, which promptly falls over and several stacks of comic books spill out of it onto the floor. “Shit. I forgot I had those in there.”
Ravi crosses his arms over his chest and shakes his head. “And to think I got you bagels.” He snatches the bag of bagels and walks away into the kitchen.
Liv groans and follows him. “You don’t even know what I’ve had to deal with. I got three hours of sleep last night. And, right now, all I want to do is pin you against the kitchen counter and kiss you senseless.”
Ravi stops, a mortified look glazed on his face. “Good Lord.”
“You’d think she’d be harmless, but her brain never shuts up. I’ve just been analyzing everyone around me. I have you pegged as a narcissist!” Liv leaves the kitchen and tries to distract herself by flipping through the report of a patient.
“Well, I have you pegged as a--a person who doesn’t listen and do what she’s told. Only cares about herself,” Ravi argues back, walking over to her, bagel in hand.
“Selfish?” Liv says without looking up.
Ravi angrily bites into his bagel and with his mouth full, mumbles, “I’m very angry at you right now.”
“The feeling’s mutual.”
They’re silent for a few seconds, save for Ravi’s annoying munching. Liv’s stealing glances at Ravi out of the corner of her eye, as if, by chance, she hasn’t memorized every aspect and feature of his face.
Finally Ravi says, “So, like, are you dying right now? Like can’t-keep-it-in-your-pants dying?”
“You flatter yourself.”
“Have you had a sex dream about me?”
“Oh my God. Shut up, shut up, shut up.”
He walks a bit closer to her. And closer. Until he has to crane his neck to look down at her. Liv glances at him quickly before looking at her feet, her ears growing hot. He grins, raising his eyebrows.
“Absolutely fascinating,” he says, stepping back.
Liv lets out her breath and tucks her hair behind her ears.
“You know, I thought this would be awful, but it’s probably the most interesting brain yet.” He moves her bag from the swivel chair and falls into the chair. He finishes his bagel and crosses his ankle over his knee.
Liv fumbles with the clipboard and drops the report on the floor. “I can’t work with you staring at me.”
“And I can’t work with you practically throwing yourself all over me,” Ravi says back.
“That’s a bit sexist, considering I’m not throwing myself all over you,” Liv informs him. “But I have thought of you in tights and a cape several times. Like, right now.” She walks over towards him and leans against the morgue table. “It’s very satisfying.”
“Are you aroused? ” He uncrosses his legs and leans forward, elbows on his knees.
“Very. Brain’s wearing off a bit, though.” She pushes away from the morgue table and squeezes onto the armrest of the swivel chair, almost falling over onto Ravi, but she catches herself this time. “You don’t think that’s weird, right? You probably like it.”
Ravi scoffs. “No , I don’t like it,” he blatantly lies.
“In fact, you probably liked that she liked you. Maybe you didn’t like her, but...you like being liked,” Liv continues. “You have insecure tendencies.”
“I thought you said I was a narcissist,” he deadpans. “And stop psychoanalyzing me.” He stands up suddenly, shaking the swivel chair, which causes Liv to topple into the chair.
She quickly turns in the seat, so that she’s sitting upright. “Nice view,” she notes, indicating his butt with a slight tilt of her head. Ravi quickly turns around to face her. “Crystal’s not very open about her feelings. You know, like, she wouldn’t tell you she fantasizes you in tight clothing, but because her brain is in me…”
“She stared at me alot. And always followed me around the store. I think it was pretty obvious,” Ravi mutters to the floor.
Liv groans and throws herself up. “It took a lot for her to ask you out,” she tells him.
Ravi looks at her sheepishly, his head still bent, looking at the floor. “Okay? I should’ve been more respectful...but she’s dead now. Unless…” he snaps his head up and his eyes grow wide. “Liv, you’re not suggesting we--canoodle, are you?”
Liv presses her hands to her forehead. “God, no--actually, that’s a great idea--no, no it’s not.” She doubles over and mumbles, “I’m not suggesting anything. You’re good. She’s dead. Shit, I shouldn’t have said that. I’m hungry.” She stumbles into the kitchen and pulls open the fridge. The rest of Crystal’s brain sits in a plastic container, her name neatly written on it. The evidence was right in front of you, Rav. She pulls it out, but before she takes off the lid, she considers passing it up. Throwing it out or handing it off to Blaine or someone. But she had to admit Ravi was a bit cute when he was angry.
Liv doesn’t know how and why, but she’s at Ravi’s door, fist raised, ready to knock. She decides to ring the doorbell instead. She hears footsteps before the door opens to reveal Ravi dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants.
“Liv! Are you here for Major? He just left--”
“I’m here to see you...actually,” she mumbles. She takes a hesitant step forward. “Can I---?”
“Oh, right.” He steps back to let her in. She walks past him and he stumbles in behind her. “Sorry, but why are you here?”
Liv waltzes over to the couch, plopping down on it. “Can’t I just, you know, check on you? Hang out?” She shrugs.
“It’s nine in the morning. On a Sunday. And you didn’t call or text me,” Ravi says, rubbing his eyes. He falls down next to her, his long legs stretched out in front of him. “Oh wait, it’s the brain. I forgot.”
Liv sighs. “Yeah...that’s it.”
They sit for awhile. Ravi, slumped down with his chin against his chest. Liv, sitting rigidly with her ankles crossed and her hands in her lap. Ravi reaches forward and turns on the television, flipping channels until it lands on the morning news. Liv bites her lips and musters some courage.
“Ravi?” she asks.
He turns his head. “Yeah?”
She reaches forward, grabs the front of his shirt, and kisses him. He’s frozen for a few seconds, which makes Liv feel pretty stupid, but she kind of expected it. But then he relaxes and actually kisses her back. Surprisingly, she’s enjoying it. Not that she thought Ravi would be a bad kisser. She pulls back, her eyes still closed and her hand still fisted in his shirt.
“Oh my God. Oh my God,” Ravi whispers. He detaches himself and stands up. He begins pacing around the room, running his hands through his hair. “Oh my God.”
Liv gapes. “Holy hell. You kissed me back.” She lets out a laugh.
He finally stops and turns to face her. “Liv, you really shouldn’t have done that. Oh, this is awful. Terrible.” He rubs his face with his hands. “I’m your boss, Liv. This--this--” and gestures between them “--is not--can’t happen.”
“Relax, it was just a kiss,” Liv says, sounding more calm than she feels. Her heart is still pounding against her chest.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want you to eat the brain in the first place. I mean, I didn’t think it would go this far--”
“Ravi?”
“Let’s just pretend this never happened. Right? Nothing is...we’re fine.” He drops his hands and tries to smile at her. “We’re good.”
“Ravi, Crystal’s brain kind of started wearing off a few days ago. I’m running on Automobile Accident Alfie’s brain right now,” Liv says slowly, twisting a ring on her finger.
Ravi stands still, staring at her blankly. “So...Automobile Accident Alfie does have a thing for handsome British lads?” he jokes.
Liv laughs. “No. I mean...I don’t know.” She looks down at her lap. “Maybe not him…”
“Oh gross, Liv,” he teases, a genuine smile on his face. He stumbles over to her and collapse down next to her. He tilts his head, trying to get her to make eye contact with him. “Come on. It’s alright.” He pats her shoulder.
“You just said this was, and I quote, awful. And terrible. And can’t happen,” she mumbles.
“I did kiss you back, didn’t I?” he acknowledges.
When she looks, up she notices how close he is. She lets out a choked laugh. “Hm.”
He pulls her into an awkward hug. Liv rests her face on his chest and pretends to blow her nose in his shirt. He pulls back. “Okay, that was disgusting.”
They don’t say anything for a bit. Then Liv says quietly, “So...we’re…doing this?”
“Yeah. I mean, if you want--”
“Yes,” Liv says. “It’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”
Liv smiles. Ravi kisses the top of her head before resting his forehead against hers. “As much I’m enjoying this right now, you do still have to go back on Crystal’s brain, right? Actually solve the case?”