Part 8; I love you

As he sat down, Mike muttered, “Then we could go over the bases I would like covered while I stay the night there.”
Olivia picked up the plastic fork and pointed it at him accusingly, “Hey I thought you said you were alright with-”
Mike cut her off, “I was just joking, you threw that word bases out there and I had to take advantage of it.”
For a bit both picked through their food in silence, both collecting their thoughts. There was no noise from outside the door. A sign of a comfortable relationship is when a couple can sit in silence and be fine with it, but still feel connected as a couple. Olivia and Mike had perfected this art.
After swallowing her bit Olivia said, “This is really good.”
Mike nodded, “I get it every time, hasn’t failed me yet.
“So while sitting at the bus stop, guess what I saw?”
Between bites, he guessed, “A space ship in the sky.”
Olivia smiled and shook her head.
“A Nome walking the down the street.” Mike got no response, so continued guessing, “A man wearing a hat with a flower in it.”
Olivia frowned and nudged out her bottom lip. “Oddly enough, that is closer. They were wearing hats.”
Mike pointed his fork to the ceiling and despite the food in his mouth said, “So there is a they, it’s a them, the KKK with their white hats walked by.”
Olivia laughed. “Farther, much farther.”
Mike took a few more bites and clicked his toes together, thinking.
“Should I just tell you?”
“No.” Mike snapped his fingers, “Wizards and witches, with their long pointed hats!”
“Nope. They were wearing top hats and had vests, and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them had a pocket watch.”
Mike smiled and cocked his head, “The mad hatter and the white rabbit where just moseying down the street?”
Olivia laughed again, much like their first lunch, Olivia felt like she laughed a lot while Mike told interesting stories and jokes. “No, but there are only two and you are in the right decade, a few centuries off.”
Mike put his fork to his lips and thought. “Early or latter?”
“Latter.” Olivia ate her pasta. She started using her fork to poke the bottom of her Styrofoam dish, making designs. The quiet sounds of the computer could be heard mixed with Olivia puncturing her dish. “You are never going to get it.”
Mike shushed her. “How many centuries off?”
Olivia frowned, “Mmm… Around twenty.”
“Is it a duo you generally see together?”
“I would say so.” Thinking of the posters she saw Rad putting up earlier outside of her door, Olivia said, “You probably saw them right before you came into the office.”
Mike, at first threw his head back and furrowed his brow, more confused, then blurted, “Oh! Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Of course! So what about them again?”
Olivia told him about seeing them at the bus stop early that morning and ended with, “He even had a pipe he was smoking.”
Mike leaned back in his chair. “Odd, I wonder if the play is being done somewhere?”
The silence that prevailed the room was disrupted by Olivia’s chair swiveling around to her computer. She started to open the internet. “I think I will look it up.”
Mike sat up again and scooted to the edge of his chair, his elbows rested on his knees and his hands played with each other fidgeting in midair. The light above this head sent a soft shadow under her playing on the floor and chair. “Uh, before you do that, I think I should tell you something.”
Olivia didn’t turn around, “Yeah.”
“Yeah. It is important.”
Olivia typed in “Fairfax theaters” and “Sherlock Holmes” and said, “Hold on. I just want to see.”
Mike shifted his foot across the beige carpet loser to him and started thumbing his leg . “I might lose my nerve in a sec so I am just going to say it.”
Olivia was still involved in her internet search. “The Williams Theater isn’t showing it. “Let’s look at the FairFax community theater it is close by where I live.”
Mike went on, “We have been dating now for nine months and I have a lot of strong feelings for you.”
Olivia mutter, “Not the community theater. I have a lot of feeling for you too.”
Mike shook his head, “Not just feelings I mean I think I- I mean I haven’t really said this to any one for a long time, but nine months is a long time, but I-”
Olivia had heard Mike use the words “it is important” before and he would end up telling her, her fly was down, or she had some smutch on her nose or just kiss her, so she thought nothing of it to continue looking at the internet, but his tone started to waver, he started stumbling over words and never did Mike not have the right words. She turned around and gave him her full attention. “What are you trying to say Mike?”
Mike took a deep breath, “Olivia I think, I mean I know, I mean… I love you.”
At first Olivia just looked at him, her thoughts wondered, she guessed it had had nine months since they started dating and it was about time they loved each other. It seemed like a logical conclusion, but the question itself of whether she loved Mike or not had never occurred to her. Mike sat with his elbows still on his knees, hands outstretched. She thought about their time spent to together and their relationship. And something odd happened to Olivia. Her chest started to swell with emotions and a smile came to her face. She never felt it before. She said, “I guess that makes sense.”
Mike squinted his eyes. “Well do you love me?”
Olivia started brushing her hair behind her ears and scratching her elbow, then she laughed, “The way you asked that, made me think of Fiddler of the Roof. I guess this hole conversation reminds me of Fiddler on the Roof.”
Mike sat up straight in his chair, “You mean this is some kind of arranged relationship you have concluded you are alright with?”
Olivia waved her hands above the desk. “No I just mean, I have never really questioned whether or not I, you know, feel that way toward you.”
Mike cocked his head, “You mean love. Love. Olivia do you love me?” He said it is a Jewish accent with a f for the v, just like Tevy.
Without thinking Olivia smiled and said, “You’re a fool.”
Mike threw up his hands and stood up. “I know,” He tip toed around the desk, kneeled at her feet and said once more, “But do you love me?”
Olivia smiled, “I suppose I do.”
Mike also smiled, “Well I suppose I love you too.” He stood up and grabbed Olivia hands, pulled her up and hugged her. They stood like that for a while and then Mike said, “So how about you come to Egypt with me.”
Olivia let go and looked Mike in the eyes, “What?”
Sighing heavily, Mike held onto her hands again. “The newspaper wants me to do a report on a program that helps young women get an education in Egypt.”
“Well you have been gone for reports before.”
“Never to Egypt, they want me there for at least two months.”
Olivia lifted one or hands out of Mikes hold and gestured around the office. “Two months. I can’t,” She cut off and started again, “I can’t leave the store for two months.”
“Olivia I have never been gone that long, every time they offered a onsite long term report I have turned it down, because I didn’t want to disturb this,” Mike left go of her other hand and, palm down, made a circling motion between them.
Olivia held a hand up to her temple, “Wait, you have passed up other opportunities like this because of me.”
“Not because of you, you took a lot of work to get a hold of I didn’t want to lose that because of distant.”
“Mike, you love traveling for your job.”
“Yes well and now I love you.”
Olivia bit on her lip, “Well what if I can’t go to Egypt?”
Scratching his throat Mike muttered, “I already told them yes.”
“You told them yes.”
“Roger told me if I don’t start taking some of these more hard core reports they may rethink me being there and I don’t want to lose my job.”
Olivia folded her arms, “Well they can’t do that to you that is totally unethical.”
Mike raised his voice a tone. “Olivia, I want to go.”