out there in the open

"OK," Amber finally got around to having coffee with Olivia down at the campus coffee shop. "I should have talked to you sooner. Its just I'm not sure what is going on with your great Aunt."

"Like what?" Olivia looked at her as if she didn't understand. They weren't exactly friends. They hardly knew each other. Perhaps that's why she'd kept putting this off.

"Like, you know, maybe she needs to be in assistant living, or something." Amber winced. "I mean, this woman keeps coming by, from time to time, and they visit and talk about old times. Which now... I am a part of... because your aunt told her I'm you."

"What?" It was kind of laugh from Olivia, but not exactly.

"It's like... she's crazy, you know, and then your great aunt isn't. I don't know what to think. I'm kind of at my wits end, and somehow Kyle keeps thinking its all his fault. And its not. It like I'm caught in the middle of something, I didn't even know existed." Amber stirred her coffee and looked her blueberry scone over. She wanted to just eat, yet she had to talk to Olivia. "But now, now this woman wants the two of us to go out to lunch or something, and I told her I didn't know her, and she's like, well, so understanding, and wants to give me time to think about it." Amber sighed then. "Would you come with me to have lunch with her. Please? Because she's not giving up, Olivia. She really wants to get to know me. You. Its you she wants to get to know."

Amber kept waiting for an answer from Olivia, but she kept hesitating. Amber finally took a bit of the scone and even sipped her coffee.

"I promise, what ever this is, I won't let you do this alone." Amber told her. Olivia finally nodded.