Coffee Shop | Elizabeth Olsen

12: Dinner

"Liz?" "Yeah." "You have a few minutes to talk?" "Um yeah." I flip MK off of me and she giggles as I take the phone and stand up going into the guest room. "Hey," I say closing the door and taking it off speaker. "Hey." "I'm sorry I've been a sucky friend." "You haven't." "I've ignored your messages and I haven't seen you in months." "It's fine, we've both been busy working." "Yeah but I don't know. I found time to hang with Scar and your sisters so I guess I should have made time for you too." "You've both been in the same state so it helps." I joke. "Yeah, I guess." "Are you in LA next month?" "Yeah. I think as long as nothing pops up." "Well, Mum asked me to ask you if you want to join us for Cassie's birthday? None of her friends will be there just family so don't worry it's at our place on the beach." "Yeah, I'll be there." "I'll let mum know." I smiled. "What should I bring to dinner?" "Nothing, MK has Wine and I'll be cooking." "Okay, casual? Dressy?" "Sweats. You'll have just landed and jet leg will be bad." "Thanks." She chuckled. "Missed you, Liz." "Missed you, Nell." 

We hung up and I went back to MK picked up a pillow and hit her with it. "See she was worried about you. The second she answered she asked about you." "Because I'm a mess she always has to clean up." "Not true it's because she cares." "You're so annoying," I said whilst hitting her repeatedly she was just laughing. 

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I threw myself at her when I opened the door and she chuckled holding me up. I wrapped my legs around her waist and clung to her like a koala. "I missed you," I say, letting her carry me in. "Elizabeth you're being clingy." Ash teased peeling me off of her when we arrived in the lounge. "Hi, it's lovely to see you again." She hugged Ashley and then she and MK did this handshake thing. "Aren't you two besties?" I tease. "They hang out all the time," Ashley says with an eye roll. "Really?" MK didn't tell me that. No one tells me anything. Scar and Nell are going on work trips together and my sister and Nell are besties with special handshakes. 

We sat at the dinner table ate together talking about random things. I mostly watched Nell missing her so much. MK and her went on the just dance game in the games room after dinner and Ash and I cleaned up. "Liz?" "Mhm." "Are you... Do you?" "Spit it out, Ash." I chuckled. "Do you have feelings for Nell?" I froze and turned to face her. "What?" "The way you looked at her at dinner when she was talking it was the way you used to look at Robbie when you first started dating." "And Robbie is a boy," I say like I was talking to a child so she understood my point. "So." "So I'm straight." "But it's okay if you're not. Like no one is going to care." "I don't have a crush on Nell. I missed her." "So if I told you, she and Scarlett have been dating for 2 months now you wouldn't care?" I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. "They're dating?" And none of them thought to tell me? So now I have no friends. Great because they're fucking each other and they'll have no time for me. "Are you upset?" "I don't know," I say going back to washing the dishes. 

"Do you like her?" I shrugged. "It doesn't matter now anyway." "Liz." She says softly. "I don't know okay," I say sharply turning to face my sister. "She makes me feel safe and I don't like when she's with Scarlett and I hated watching them kiss. And I've missed her a lot. But she's a girl and she's with Scarlett now." "I just said to make you react." "Ash." I scolded. "I think you need to figure a few things out." "But what if I like her more than a friend." "That's okay." I shake my head. "Lizzie, we don't care who you love we just want you to be loved, respected and happy." "But what will mum think or Dad or the media and my fans." "Who gives a fuck." She cupped my face. "If you're happy that's all that matters." I nodded. 

"Hey. So MK is going to drive me home." Nell said appearing out of nowhere. I pray she didn't hear anything. "You can stay here." I offer despite it being MK's place. "I think dinner was enough, you guys have been so-"Shut up," MK said and everyone laughed. "You can share Lizzie's room so I don't have to get the guest sheets washed." 

Ash and I kept talking and MK and Nell went elsewhere in the house. Talking through everything with my sister was nice, I was actually making sense of things. "I think I just had an attachment to her because of the way she stood up to Robbie and protected me. I don't think it's anything more than that." I conclude after an hour of talking it through with Ashley. "That makes sense I guess." She didn't seem so sure.

"What are the other two up to?" I asked finally realising they have been pretty quiet this whole time. "They're in the basement," Ash says so we head down there. They were still playing just dance. "You girls having fun?" I asked sitting on the sofa, Ash sat on my lap sideways as we watched them. "Shh. I'm concentrating." MK scolded me, MK was going for it and Nell was natural it was comical to watch. Nell won seemingly again. "That's it, I'm not playing with you anymore, you take all the fun out of it." "I was having fun," Nell says sitting on the floor facing me. 

We play a few rounds and then head up to bed. We laid down and I rolled over to face her. "Hi," I whispered. "Hi." She smiled at me. "Thanks for coming, I know you're probably tired." "It was worth it." "Yeah?" She nodded. "I did miss you." "I missed you." "Oh, I could tell. You're not so chill." I shoved her and she chuckled. "I signed a contract with Rokh, I'm going to be their photographer." "That's great!" I jump up excited. "That's why I've been so busy." "Wow! Why didn't you tell me." "It's not what I do. I thought you were used to this by now." "Well, you're going to start telling me things." "Ew." "Why don't you?" "Because last time I did, they... You know Ria... So I just skip getting close to people." "Will you give me a chance?" "I don't want to replace Ria." "I'm not trying to I just want to be your friend. You know everyone has them." "Nope." "You have friends?" She shook her head. "When Ria passed I shut everyone out and fucked my life up and then dove into work with my dad. So I replaced a social life with work and work was the thing that saved me... that and dad but he's pretty dead right now so work it is." I pouted. "Are you doing okay?" "Honestly?" I nodded. "I'm really tired." I nodded and cupped her face with one of my hands before pulling away quickly realising what I was doing. "You're allowed days off." "I'm scared if I have a day off I will crumble." I didn't know what to say to her so I just held her, she tensed up at first and then relaxed. "I really miss him." "He'd be proud of everything you're doing." She nestles into me and I wrap my leg over hers. "We should sleep." She nodded. I pecked the top of her head.

"Goodnight, Elizabeth." "Goodnight Eleanor."