THEA LIT THE sage candle and breathed in the scent of sage and walnuts. The smell immediately soothed her frazzled mind. The last couple of days had been difficult to say the least. She'd attended another disastrous training session where it seemed like Kendra was yelling at her for even breathing before returning home to see Orson gorging on junk food. He'd somehow bought more beer bottles and was guzzling it down.

She'd finally snapped this morning. Her living room had become a hoarder's nest with clothes and food tossed everywhere carelessly. The stench was bad enough that she could no longer hide to her room peacefully. Thea had forced Orson into the shower and begun cleaning his stuff while he was gone. She placed an entire load into the laundry before cleaning the grease stains off her couch with the special solution she had bought, specifically for that reason.

Thea glanced around the room and smiled. Her living room was looking more habitable now. She'd cleared some space underneath the tv stand to store Orson's clothes. The luggage was no longer blocking the hallway so that someone would trip every time they were moving. Instead, it was stashed in her own closet. She'd vacuumed every crumb, wiping down the prints on her coffee table as well.  

She really did feel eons better now.

Glancing at the kitchen, she frowned. She'd made lunch but it would be getting cold now. What on earth was taking Orson so long in the shower? Thea walked towards the bathroom, hand poised to knock on the door. She couldn't hear the water running anymore, so he might be getting dressed.

But would he need her help? Now that she recalled, she'd see him change his shirt, but she couldn't remember if he'd been wearing the same sweatpants the entire week. Scowling at her indecision, she knocked, "Hey Orson, do you need any help?"

She heard some rustling on the other side before a bang and a few choice words.

Her voice wavered, "Is everything fine in there?"

"Yep," the gruff voice answered.

She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. Maybe it was better for her to wait here, in case he still needed her help. The door opened and Orson stepped out, looking much better than he had done before.

His dirty-blond hair was wet with strands pointing in different directions, and the black t-shirt he was wearing was plastered to his chest. Thea frowned as she took him under assessment. Orson had always been lean, but he'd lost a lot of the muscle she'd grown accustomed to seeing.

He raised a dark eyebrow at her, "You didn't expect that I could shower myself?"

She pursed her lips, refusing to answer his question, instead she switched the subject. "I made lunch; it's getting cold."

Thea didn't wait for his answer as she passed him into the kitchen. She knew he was following her as the crutches made a small noise as he crossed the room. She quickly fussed around with the plates of food before placing them on her small dining table and sitting down.

Orson leaned against the counter, his eyes confused as he took in the buddha bowls, "You really want me to sit and eat?"

"I haven't poisoned it."

"That thought hadn't even crossed my mind, but thanks."

She wanted to smile but stopped herself. Thea watched as Orson lowered himself on the chair, carefully leaning the crutch against the back counter. She hadn't realized how small her table was. Orson's legs were stretched out on either side of her chair, not touching her but she could feel the heat. The leg with the cast felt much closer than it was. The familiar scent of hibiscus and pineapple filled the air.

"You smell like my bodywash," she pointed out. Thea took a mouthful of quinoa and swallowed—she didn't know why she'd blurted out those words.

"It wasn't like I had much of an option," Orson responded dryly before his eyes met hers. "I guess we are now on speaking terms."

"We aren't," Thea snapped sharply.

Orson paused, his spoon hovering in mid-air. He placed it down, his grey eyes turning violet with dangerous heat, "Tell me why exactly are you so pissed off at me? If anyone had the right to be mad, it's me!"

Thea clenched her fingers tightly. She felt the sharp bite of her nails in her palms. She knew when she unfurled her palms, there would be scars but she couldn't stop herself. It seemed that they were doing this now.

"You are not the victim here," she said with gritted teeth meeting his gaze head on, "I understood that you backed away when you and Claudia began dating. I didn't expect her to be okay with our friendship. It fucking hurt—but I accepted it. I knew I was no longer your best friend, and you were building a life with Claudia, and I was happy for you!

And she had been. Even when it had pained her to do so, she'd retreated, knowing that she did not want to destroy another relationship. Orson had spoken about Claudia differently from the rest of his girlfriends and so when he'd told her about the fights Claudia and him were having about their friendship, Thea had understood and back away. They had spoken on rare occasion but the late-night phone calls, inviting her to awards ceremonies and shows had all stopped.

"Where is this leading?" Orson said flatly. "I don't understand why you're bringing up my ex-girlfriend and what this has to do with you being mad at me!"

Thea took a deep breath to calm herself. Her skin felt warm and clammy. She hated fighting but she needed to get this off her chest. She hadn't realized how much of a burden she'd been carrying around—especially the last few months.

"What I don't—didn't understand is the radio silence from you. Time after time, I reach out to you only to get nothing back. I was grasping for straws for any news about you.  Anything found out about you was from Rashad or the fucking Sportsify! And you didn't even have a girlfriend so don't you dare use the excuse—not with me."

Her cheeks were red as she waited for his response. The last few months had been horrible for her, not knowing what was going on with Orson, her best friend, the boy who'd she grown up with alongside her brother, who sometimes dangerously felt like a piece of soul that she couldn't remove. 

Orson glanced at her with aloof eyes, "I may have been distant during my relationship with Claudia and even afterwards but what kind of fucking 'best friend' doesn't even visit after they know their friend has been severely injured?"

Thea blinked, her warm skin cooling for a moment. "What do you mean I didn't visit Orson? When I heard the news, I was on the next plane out to London!" Her voice broke, "You really think I didn't come to see you?"

Orson scanned her face, as if assessing if she was telling the truth. Thea couldn't believe it. She'd left her team, and received a stern warning from the manager of the Panthers only for him to think she'd abandoned him?

"You weren't there when I woke up."

Thea saw the pain and truth in his grey eyes. The injury hadn't only robbed him physically, but a piece of him was missing. How could he think that she wouldn't visit?

His fists were clutched tightly on either side of the bowl, and she wanted to move her fingers to separate them, but she stopped herself—they didn't have that type of relationship anymore. Instead, she spoke that words that would hopefully give him some closure and show him that even after everything, she had still cared.

"I stopped by your room when after your surgery, but you were still knocked out. I had to fly back to America as I had a game the next day. The manager swore to suspend me for the rest of the season if I didn't come back."

Orson shook his head, "I hadn't known you'd come. Once I was awake, I only saw Claudia and then Rashad visited a few days later."

Thea pursed her lips, "Claudia didn't let you know? She saw me that day."

What she didn't say was his ex-girlfriend had been a huge bitch to her. Claudia tried to prevent Thea from being allowed to visit Orson citing that she was just a fan, but one of the nurses had recognized Thea from an old glamorous shot of them at a red carpet, and had personally vouched for her.

"Wait, if you said that you messaged me, why haven't I received anything?"

He dug into his pocket before pulling out his phone and showing Thea. The last message was from four months ago when Thea had wished him Merry Christmas, and he'd done the same.

Thea frowned, "That can't be right."

She stood up to retrieve her phone from the living room and opened it on Orson's name. "I sent you all these messages and even called you a couple of times, but I received nothing in return."

Orson's eyes flickered to the screen as he read the many messages Thea had sent. She was embarrassed as her text had varied in terms of desperation, but she knew that to clear everything between them, she needed to be honest.

His jaw clenched, before he retreated to his phone.

"What? Your phone was broken or something?" she asked him sarcastically.

His grey eyes met hers as he pushed his phone towards her once again, "No, it seems that someone blocked you on my phone."

Thea let the silence stretch between them. Unbelievable, this whole fight and the heartbreak between them for months was because someone had blocked her on his phone?!

"I'm guessing we both know who it is?"

Orson sighed but didn't say anything. If Thea had disliked Claudia before, it had grown exponentially with this revelation.

She forced herself to take a bite of the now cold food and swallowed. "Where do we go from here?"

"I'm not sure," Orson said quietly, his gaze not quiet meeting hers.

Thea nodded and continued eating as Orson joined her. Things seemed to be unstable right now, but she was sure they would figure it out. Surprisingly, her chest felt lighter, and a small smile made its way onto her face. Her best friend hadn't abandoned her after all. And in the grand scheme of things, it was a small victory, but she would take it.

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Happy New Year! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm glad that Thea and Orson cleared some things up. Where do you think the two of them will go from here? Please remember to comment and vote!