After another shift of the same thing passed by, though one exciting thing was Oliver got to finally use his new stapler, which was much more efficient than his last one, and so shiny. As usual, he left the office after turning off all of the unplugged sockets and headed over to the restaurant, where Cody used to work—used to work. No, Cody is just temporarily not working there. He's going to come back anytime now, and Oliver will see and sit at the bar and watch him cook whilst sipping coffee, and they'll talk and go home together.

But for now, Cody wasn't there.

Oliver was greeted by Heather and the other workers whom Oliver had finally learned their names, occasionally having spoken to them with awkward small talk. Oliver never considered himself farouche, yes he did feel overwhelmed with large crowds, but that was more of perhaps claustrophobia, being surrounded and trapped and disliking being touched by strangers even if it is just the minor brushing of shoulders. Then there was the loud and continuous din that overwhelmed his senses. But talking to small groups or someone one-on-one, Oliver was fine with, though when with someone new, Oliver did most of the time overthink what to say, how to engage with this stranger and worry about how they would react and respond to the point that he would remain silent and seem disinterested in conversation, though sometimes he was actually disinterested. Perhaps in time, he would develop more of a friendship, or at least be on speaking terms beyond greetings and small talk with the rest of the team.

Since there weren't any other customers around, Oliver was allowed to make himself his own coffee using the machine, and made some for the rest of the staff, Heather showing him her progress in latte art. Oliver sat at the bar, adding some mint syrup to his coffee and scrolled through his phone as he waited for Darren to finish work and drive him to another therapy session.

His time of quiet before therapy was interrupted as the door to the restaurant swung open, the bell ringing a bit more violently than normal from the aggression as a woman with long blonde hair came in, carrying a ridiculously large handbag, the handbag almost knocked over a menu stand as she made her way to the bar.

"Ugh, Colene," Heather mumbled, making a face of disgust in secret, which Oliver caught.

Colene? Wasn't that Cody's ex-girlfriend's name?

Colene went to the bar, standing right next to the seated Oliver, and asked, "is Cody here today?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Heather replied in customer service mode.

"Any idea when he'll be back?"

"No, sorry."

Colene bit her lip, and forced a smile. "Thank you," she said, though it seemed more out of politeness since she didn't receive any information. "Do you know his phone number? Has he got a new one? I tried messaging him, but it says the number was out of use."

Heather hesitated in answering.

"Look, I just want to know if he's alright after what happened."

"He does have a new number," Oliver intervened, saving Heather from the awkward situation. "He's got a new phone," he explained, though leaving the part out that Cody did so because it reminded him of when he was taken by Snickleway and anytime he tried contacting people on his phone, it would just be a reply of his own haunting voice.

"You know Cody?" Colene turned to him. "Do you have his new number?"

Oliver swallowed. "I can ask him if giving him your number is okay."

Colene stared at him for a moment and then smiled and nodded. "Thank you," she said, this time genuinely meaning it as she sat down on the stool next to Oliver. "I'm Colene by the way." She offered her hand, and Oliver stiffly shook it in greeting.

"Oliver," he said.

Colene frowned. "I don't think I've heard him mention an Oliver before..."

"I'm a fairly new friend," Oliver replied, feeling odd saying the word 'friend' but he supposed that was what they technically were, friends that have slept together once and tried to organise a date but got kidnapped by some form of eldritch horror that wanted to eat them, that kind of friend. "Known him since the start of the year."

Known him since the start of the year, and it was now nearing May. Soon Oliver would have only seen Cody for half of the time that they had known each other. It had almost been two months since he had last seen Cody in person,.They had been talking to each other through messages, but that wasn't the same.

"Ah." Colene nodded, glancing at the floor. "Well, I don't know if he ever mentioned me, but I'm his ex. You probably met him after we broke up, so... don't think he would have said anything about me," she laughed nervously, stuttering.

Oliver didn't reply. Yes, he had mentioned you, why? Because your brother beat him up.

"I want to talk to him because I'm worried about him," Colene continued to ramble nervously. "Not because I want to get back together, but because of what happened to him, do you know what happened to him?" she asked slowly as if feeling guilty that she mentioned something that was private knowledge about Cody.

Oliver nodded. "Snickleway," he said quietly, not wanting to mention that he was also kidnapped too, no this conversation was about Cody, not him, especially since Cody is the one who needs the support, not himself since he was only gone for an hour.

"Right." Colene bit her lip, her hands fidgeting with her oversized handbag, and Oliver wondered what could possibly be in it. Maybe it had a dog inside? Did people do that in real life?

"I just want to know how he is," continued Colene. "When Cody went missing, my brother was a suspect, and for a moment I thought he could have done it, and it would have been all my fault-" She forced a laugh, her eyes watering slightly. "Sorry, I'm just unloading everything on you, I just want to talk to Cody to make sure he's alright." She looked at Oliver's phone that was on the bar.

Oliver stared back at her for a moment, then at the phone. "Uh, yeah... I'll send him a message to see if he's alright with me giving you his number."

Colene smiled, sniffing as she wiped a forming tear with the back of her hand.

Oliver went to his contacts on his phone, pausing as he saw the last message from Cody, which was three days ago. It was just a normal conversation about their day that was short and grew stagnant. This was not how Oliver wanted another conversation to start, but he sent the message anyway, informing Cody of the situation.

Oliver: hey Cody, I've bumped into Colene and she wants to talk you. Are you okay with me giving her your new number?

After sending it, Oliver turned back to Colene, and she smiled sweetly at him.

And then they sat in silence.

"Thank you," Colene eventually said to break that awkwardness.

"No problem," Oliver muttered in reply.

And then silence again.

Oliver hoped that Cody would respond soon, because the alternative was to give Colene his own number so that he could give Cody's number to her and he didn't particularly like the idea of giving his number out to a stranger, a stranger who used to be Cody's partner, Cody who... who was almost a thing, but didn't become a thing because of Snickleway, and might become a thing in the future, 'might' being the key word, maybe yes, maybe no, maybe coming back, maybe being gone forever and-

And Cody sent a message back.

Cody: you can give her my number, its okay, cheers (smiley face)

Oliver looked up and saw Colene watching him in anticipation. "Uh, yeah, he's alright if you have his number."

"Oh, thank you!" Colene retrieved her own phone after a lot of rummaging through her oversized handbag and added the number to her contacts. She almost immediately sent a message.

Oliver looked at his messages. He had wanted to talk to Cody more, but perhaps later, if he would be too busy or distracted by whatever conversation he was going to have with Colene.

Colene's phone started to buzz: a phone call, and Olivier caught a glimpse of Cody's name, something twisting in his stomach.

"Thank you, again," Colene said, answering the phone as she walked out of the restaurant to sit in the outside area, and Oliver heard her say Cody's name.

Oliver returned to finish his coffee before Darren arrived outside to give him a lift to his therapy session. After thanking Heather and the rest of the staff, Oliver exited the restaurant, hearing snippets of conversation, Colene smiling softly as she listened to Cody's voice on the other side of the phone.

Darren peered out of the car window. "Is that Colene?"

"Yeah," Oliver mumbled as he buckled himself in.

Darren glanced at Oliver. "Did she talk to you?" he asked hesitantly. "I mean, do you know she's-"

Oliver nodded. "I gave her Cody's new number so she can talk to him."

"Oh," was all Darren managed to say. "You know, you're pretty mature. If I were you, I would have been pretty petty."

"Her brother was the main suspect in Cody's disappearance, I think she wants to know how he is." Though Oliver didn't know what was worse, to think your brother killed your ex, or that it was a monster that kidnapped your ex and will take you too one day.

"Yeah, that's pretty fair."

There was a pause.

"They won't get back together," said Darren.

"I wasn't thinking that," said Oliver.

"I would be worrying about that." Darren looked at Oliver. "Maybe I'm just a bit insecure, I guess. Sasha and I don't have exes, so I don't know how I would deal with any jealousy."

"That is understandable," said Oliver. "It all depends on how you leave things with your ex; sometimes you remain good friends, like me and Kara." He paused. "I've had boyfriends that were jealous of my friendship with her, didn't like how close we were and thought I was cheating even though I tell them that I am explicitly gay and she's a lesbian."

"So, you're not jealous of Colene? I mean, you have no reason to."

Oliver stared at Colene, still smiling and laughing as she was on the phone. "Cody and I slept together once and almost had one date," he finally answered. "We're not in a relationship, and he's free to talk to whoever he wants."

Jealous of Colene? No. It was more that Oliver was just more frustrated at himself, at how bad he was at messaging and keeping in touch, and the more he realised how short their text conversations were, the more he felt that they were ill-matched. Colene was already beating their record for the length of a conversation. And then Oliver thought back to the days of carpooling with Cody, wondering if Cody only talked to Oliver because of forced proximity, but now that they were free to talk to each other whenever they wanted, Cody might realise how little he actually wanted to talk to Oliver, how exhausting it was, that talking to him the car was because of nothing else to do.

Darren cleared his throat, his hands fiddling and tapping the steering wheel. "Sorry, I don't know why I brought it all up. I was just... if Cody did want to get back together with Colene or get into a relationship with someone else, he would tell you and not go behind your back, is all I'm trying to say."

"He doesn't need to do that, we were never together; he has no obligation to tell me."

"If you start dating someone else, would you tell him?"

Oliver swallowed and glanced away. "Yes, I suppose I would."

Darren bit his lip. "I think I'm going to start shutting my mouth now. This isn't exactly the best thing to talk about right before therapy; that's what your therapist is for."

"No, I-" Oliver hesitated. "I appreciate you being honest and frank with me."

Darren nodded, smiling slightly. "You got it; I'll tell you how it is." He finally started the car and began driving off to the therapy session place, Colene still on the phone to Cody as they drove past.