Flux and Flow

"I'm so bored!" Olivia shouted in her tiny apartment one week later. She had made no friends while she was up and about. She had also never seen that beautiful Dan Flint again. He was probably a mirage, she had thought.

Olivia sighed and slipped on her shoes. She grabbed some cash and went for a walk. She would make friends if it killed her. Which it just might.

After walking around for what seemed like hours, but was only 30 minutes she found a coffee shop to seek refuge in. She ordered an iced coffee and sat down looking at the people in the shop. There were couples, young and old. There was the mandatory group of irritating teenage girls and then the group of boys on the other side of the shop.

"Dan," She mumbled when she spotted the man who saved her from walking into traffic a week ago. He sat there in a corner of the shop with another woman, too old to be a girlfriend unless he was into older women. Olivia decided to save herself the overreaction and decided it was his mother.

"So you're not a mirage," She mumbled to herself. Olivia loved the way he moved, she loved his smile. There was something about his eyes that never gave much away. "Jesus Christ, I'm a stalker."

Olivia decided it was best she left. She thought how bad it might look to Dan if he spotted her. He might think she had purposely gone looking for him. She hadn't ever looked for him again, she had only hoped she'd run into him. Olivia got up and walked briskly out of the coffee shop and jogged to the corner store. She grabbed a water and a package of cigarettes. She was never much of a smoker, but she felt maybe it could help ease this anxiety she continuously felt.

"I didn't know you smoked," Came a familiar voice behind her. Olivia turned around and spotted him.

"Dan," She smiled awkwardly. "Hey."

"Hey, mate. How're you doing?" He smiled, grabbing a quart of milk.

"I'm okay," Olivia nodded.

No I'm not. I'm lonely as fuck and you're the closest thing I have to a friend right now, except I'm sure you can't remember my name. Olivia's mind was screaming at her to get out.

"How are you?" She asked.

"I'm pretty great," Dan smiled. "Out for the day with my mum. She's just out front waiting for me."

"That's nice," Olivia smiled up at him after looking front to spot a pretty woman standing out there looking at potted flowers.

"Listen," Dan stated, paying for the milk and walking with Olivia to the front of the store. "Did you want to hang out some time? I know you said you're new here and you kind of seem like you're having a rough go at it."

"You don't have to do that," Olivia replied, shaking her head.

"I'd like to," Dan shrugged. "You can never have too many friends, but if you don't want to I understand."

"No, I want to!" Olivia corrected herself quickly. "I mean, yes. I would like to hang out some time."

Olivia hoped that she wasn't Dan's charity case. She didn't want him to hang out with her because he felt sorry for the poor, lonely American girl.

"Okay," Dan smiled. "Do you have a phone on you?"

Olivia nodded and put his number in her phone, and Dan put her's in his.

"I'll give you a call later this week?" Dan suggested.

"Okay," Olivia nodded.

"I better get back to my mum before she buys all those flowers," Dan smiled. "Talk to you later, mate."

"See ya," Olivia stated, waving softly. She watched as Dan walked out to his mother and he pretend scolded her. She laughed and they walked away.

Olivia sighed and walked home by herself. She wondered why Dan was being so nice to her and why he cared so much. He'd only met her one time and now he wanted to hang out. She didn't know what his angle was or why he was doing this, but she went with it. She wasn't in any position to be turning down friends.

Olivia went home and sat in her bathtub. No water or anything, just wearing her clothes in the bathtub. It was something she had done ever since she was a child when she was overwhelmed.

Olivia told herself that it didn't make her a bad person to be hanging out with Dan, it wasn't a date and even if it was it didn't matter. She was free to date, she was no longer married. She was also no longer single. She would never be a single woman again. She would always be a divorced woman.

Tyler had made her feel like she didn't deserve to have friends and that she didn't deserve to have the attention of others. To have Dan take an interest in her and ask her to hang out with him made her feel overwhelmed.

Olivia closed her eyes and heard her mother's voice telling her it was okay, that this was all okay. Olivia was envious of Dan today. He had his mother with him and he obviously appreciated her.

Olivia couldn't get over how much she wished her mother was there with her while she embarked on this brand new chapter in her life. A new place to live, a new job, and a possible new friend and she was all alone.