It was Jay who walked into Mal's office first thing in the morning.

She was so stunned to see him here, that she felt like she was caught doing something wrong and he was here to accuse and scold her about it. The blond stood up abruptly from her chair, her reading glasses almost falling off her face.

"Jay, what are you doing here?" the question slipped so fast that it was out of her control how rude it sounded.

"Mal, I am sorry to bother you and show up unannounced," Jay replied, an apologetic look filling his features before going stoic once more.

"It's fine. I just didn't expect any visitors at such early hours," Mal forced a smile, trying to hide her anxiousness.

"We need to talk," he stated, closing the door after him.

"Talk about what?"

Mal sat on her chair again, fixing the glasses on her nose without them needing to be fixed. Jay studied her movements, almost like he knew what she was thinking.

"It's about Evie," he began after a long breath of silence. The blond tried to swallow the lump in her throat. The only thought repeating in her head was "Did he know already?". She hoped that the panic was not evident on her face.

His next words proved her wrong.

"It's not what you think," Jay hurriedly said. "Evie is.. fine."

"Did she call you this morning?" Mal asked, the words leaving her mouth on their own accord. She bit her tongue. The blond woman felt like her mind and body were on a different planet.

"What? No," Jay looked at her skeptically. "Why? Is everything good? I heard there was a large outage last night."

Mal let out a shaky breath. He didn't know.

"Y-yes, all good. What'd you wanna talk about?" Mal fixed her glasses again and gazed at the clock on the laptop next to her, Jay's staring made her uncomfortable.

"You should end this thing you have with Evie," Jay stated without moving his eyes, his voice even.

"What?" Mal couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

Jay's face stayed serious, Mal felt like she did not know this man standing before her.

"Whatever this is you have with Evie, you need to stop," he stated again indicating that he has really thought about what he was going to say to her here. Jay has come to Mal with purpose and she didn't like how it was unraveling.

"I don't know what you are talking about, me and Evie are just good friends," Mal tried not to think how it felt kissing her last night.

Jay leaned forward, a sigh leaving his lips.

"Listen, Mal. I am not a fool, I have eyes and I trust what I see. There are things that you don't know and you won't understand. I'm standing here as a friend to you and to her. You will break her heart and she will break yours. End this before it goes too far." his gaze not moving even an inch of her as he spoke. 

Little did he know, it already did.

Mal wanted to know more, because what he was saying - didn't make sense to her. She knew of course that there was something more between her and Evie. The previous night was enough proof, but she couldn't understand why he was telling her all this so purposefully. She was aware that their friendship was on thin ice and that was dangerous for both of them.

"As I said, we are just friends,"

"No one told me to come here Mal, and tell you all this. Especially, Evie, she didn't send me here. I came because I grew fond of you as a friend and I don't want to see you hurt. Neither of you. I grew up taking care of Evie every time someone broke her, tore her apart. I was always there to pick up the pieces each time harder than the last. You don't deserve whatever comes next. It's best to call it quits before it suffocates you - this relationship you have."

Mal wanted to press more, to know more, to understand. Instead, she saw only an overprotective friend; he knew Evie long before her, was Jay trying to warn her about Evie's intentions? She knew of course, about Evie's one-night stands. It almost flew out of her mind the previous night. Was Jay trying to warn her about that?

"You don't know that part of her as I do. You haven't seen her in a relationship with anyone. It's all fun and amazing for a while. And then she starts playing hot and cold. Before you know it, she will cut you off. I've seen that she can be cruel in her own ways. So please, back off." the long-haired man added.

"Well, you are not the one to decide that," slipped past her lips, anger slowly building in her. Mal wanted to defy his words. Evie wasn't like that, she would never act like that. Would she?

Mal was thankful that Uma flew into her office to cut out the tense conversation she and Jay had fallen into.

"Oh wow, sorry. I didn't know you had a meeting," Uma glanced at her watch. "..this early?"

"I was just leaving," Jay stood up glancing at Mal one last time. "Have a nice day, ladies," he said before walking past Uma.

Uma looked at her blond friend confused, "What was that all about?"

"Nothing,"

-

Later that day, when Mal walked into her apartment she still couldn't shake the conversation out of her head. She had spent all day trying to figure it out not even knowing if there is anything to figure out.

Mal fed Ben after taking off the weight of the work day before making herself a cup of tea. As she was making her way to her balcony, the realization of the possibility that she and Evie will see each other or speak to each other suddenly crashed into her, stopping her mid-walk. What would they say to each other? Where did they stand in their "friendship"? Were they going to address the previous night's events?

Mal was afraid of that conversation. The "after the kiss with your friend" one. She had been there, a long time ago. It did not end well. She cursed under her breath, she had ruined everything with her stupid desires and stupid mind. The blond decided to walk out anyways.

Evie was not there. She wasn't in her apartment as well. There was no light coming from her living room. And Mal didn't know why she even knocked on the glass imagining how she would emerge out of nowhere and greet her with a flawless smile.

Mal suddenly wanted to talk to her right now. She wanted to ask Evie what Jay meant, and what were they doing. She wanted to know if she was a bad kisser. She would feel relieved even if Evie appeared out of thin air and told her how disappointed she is in her for ruining their friendship. And she would reply that she would kiss her again.

Mal felt like crying from the pressure of it all but instead, she started laughing at how stupid it all sounded. She wanted something that she couldn't have right now. It made sense wanting to talk about it now, that Evie is not there to talk to. The blond wanted to feel relieved, really, but she only pushed it down and decided it will happen naturally, eventually.

The next two nights were the longest of her life.

Mal stayed up most of them having imaginary conversations in her head. Different scenarios rolling over and over again. She tried contacting Evie, she really tried. She knocked on her front door, rang the bell; tried calling her; texting her. She decided against reaching out to Jay or Carlos to ask them if everything was alright. She didn't want Jay to talk or look at her that way again. Mal even called her studio only to be told that she was out of town.

"No shit," she had said after ending the call.

After all the attempts to reach out to Evie, the destructive thoughts crept into her mind driving her insane.

What if she caused all this? What if she made her leave? What if she reached out sooner? What if she never sees Evie again?

So many "what if"s filled out her mind like bees on a flower.

The next morning Mal slipped out of work earlier than expected, but she decided zoning out during important conversations with Uma was enough for both of them. She wanted to go home and have a good sleep. Without thinking, without overthinking and doubting, and the made-up scenarios in her head. It sounded too good to be true. And Mal was almost sure it will happen like that. If it wasn't for a familiar figure standing in front of her apartment door.

"What are you doing here?"