MARVEL One Shots

Lauren (E. Olsen)

This basically doesn't have an ending but enjoy!
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WORD COUNT: 1240 Words

It isn't unusual for celebrities to want a quiet life, a space away from the fame and the crowds of people following them. This led Elizabeth Olsen to purchase a home in a 'normal' area. It wasn't a gated community but it was exactly well known. It didn't promise her time away from the crazy paparazzi, but it was likely that they wouldn't follow her there. Plus, she wasn't exactly a 'big' celebrity herself at the time.

Fast Forward: 10 years

Elizabeth kept the home, spending as much time as she could there for two reasons. One, it was her escape away from the chaos that fame brought. Two, she befriended her neighbors and their, now teenage-adult, daughter, Lauren. Since establishing a bond, trust with her neighbor, Elizabeth was invited to the family's events and she would invite them to hers as well.

Lauren and Elizabeth became close, as time went on. The two seemed to have no secrets, which may seem not as healthy to some but it worked for them. Lauren wasn't as close with her own mother, which didn't appear to bother Lauren's mother.

The two women, Elizabeth and Lauren, hung out as often as their schedules allowed. Both virtually and in person when Elizabeth was back there.

Elizabeth left in the middle of April for a new project. Saying goodbye for weeks wasn't a weird thing, considering Elizabeth was an actress and Lauren was a high school student (& not her daughter). It was the reality of their lives, and space usually didn't hinder their platonic relationship. However, Elizabeth had tried contacting Lauren throughout working on the new project (movie). Lauren didn't answer, despite the spam texts and calls. This was strange, because they seemed to have been on good terms before Elizabeth had to leave.

Elizabeth reached out to Lauren's mother to check in with her, trying to find out if things were okay. Lauren denied that anything was wrong, to her knowledge, and also found it odd because Lauren is almost never without her phone.

Elizabeth returned mid-June to her home in that quiet neighborhood. It was night time when she arrived at her home, and she pulled into her own driveway. Before coming out of her car, Elizabeth saw Lauren sitting on the front porch next door, at her own house, with her phone in hand. She assumed Lauren didn't see her and so she tried to text the girl.

E: Hey, are you busy tonight?

Elizabeth watched as the girl swiped the notification away and continued to do whatever she was doing. She sighed, then got out of her car. Elizabeth considered just letting things be for tonight but she decided to try to find out what was going on. "Hey sweetie..." She said, waving her hand as she walked onto the girl's porch and stood in front of her.

Lauren glanced up to Elizabeth, not recognizing her immediately, and looked back to her phone. Then it clicked in her brain who the woman was, she looked at Elizabeth. "Elizabeth? ... Hey! Oh my gosh! You're here, you're back!" she said, genuinely surprised.

Elizabeth nodded her head, smiling even wider as she laughed. "Yeah! I mean, I wasn't leaving forever." She laughed again, before pulling her into a hug. "I... I missed you. A lot." She pulled back from the hug, taking a second to observe the girl. "I tried talking to you... I called, texted. But no answer. Why?" Although she wanted to be serious the question, she laughed once more. "You could've replied 'stop calling me', sweetheart."

"I am sorry..." Lauren sighed, with a frown.

"It's okay." Elizabeth smiled, and then she looked at the girl's phone in her hand. "But you had your phone on?" Elizabeth asked, tilting her head. "You saw the texts. Why didn't you answer?"

"I am a teenager," Lauren shrugged. "I forget, and push it off to do later."

"It's been like two months, sweetie." Elizabeth said. Lauren stayed quiet. "Okay, fine. You forgot, but you never thought about me? You never sat in your bed and remembered that I texted or called?"

"Well, yeah...maybe I was in the bathroom."

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at her response. "You spent weeks in the bathroom? You must've gone through a shit ton of toilet paper. Do you need to see a doctor?" She smirked, trying to tease the girl. "Oh, and you didn't check your phone as well at any time during or after. For more than three weeks, you just forgot to... oh, I don't know, check your phone? Or look at your texts?"

Lauren hesitated, not knowing what to say. She smiled and nodded her head, despite it obviously being not true. And a joke.

Elizabeth wanted to know if she were actually forgetting to text or return phone calls to other friends, or just her. "Let me see your phone. Show me your last messages." Elizabeth asked, not really being mean about it, but just wanting to know if she really did forget. She knew what Lauren's would show her, and Lauren knew it too.

"Fine, I just didn't want to reply to you," Lauren said, her tone defensive as she handed over her phone.

Elizabeth looked at Lauren's phone, now in her hand. She felt bad for asking to look into it or even going to look at it now. Lauren had a couple chats muted, but not Elizabeth's. The muted chats had unread messages, but Elizabeth's messages were opened. Elizabeth assumed that the girl could have turned her read receipts off but it hurt to see the confirmation that she did. Lauren wanted the read receipts on in the first place. She could understand why her friend might have been feeling some distance between them. Maybe she had been overbearing lately? Elizabeth handed Lauren's phone back to her, still frowning.

They both seemed to feel the sudden tension between them. They stood there in silence for a few moments, engaging in eye contact. Each of the two women could see hurt in the other's eyes.

Lauren felt bad about ignoring Elizabeth, and being so distant.

Elizabeth worries about Lauren entirely, including trying to think of her mental state. Was Lauren okay? She knew that something had changed between them. Maybe it was the moment she left? Maybe it was even before then? Elizabeth wonders why she felt so strongly about Lauren not talking to her like normal. Was she being too overbearing? Was she imposing too much? She didn't want to push Lauren away, but she couldn't help but wonder if she was doing just that over time.

It might have taken years, but it may have been happening the whole time.

Elizabeth turned her head to the side, breaking eye contact. She could feel the tears wanting to fill her eyes. She cleared her throat and returned her gaze to Lauren. "Goodnight... Lauren," she said softly, a tinge of regret in her voice. It had been a while since Elizabeth had addressed the girl as Lauren. She still wasn't sure if she was the one who was causing all the distance between them, or if something else was going on, but she feared that she might be losing her closest friend. And Elizabeth knew whatever was happening couldn't be magically fixed this evening. She walked off the girl's porch and walked home.

Lauren didn't call after her, despite wanting to. But what could she say? She didn't have a reason. She watched as Elizabeth walked next door to her home.

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No one really reads this book of stories to the end but check out my other works if you like my writing 🧍‍♀️💗

Sometimes I am good at writing, some- most times not. But this is all for fun anyways!