Florence
It was Tuesday afternoon, the day of our meetup at the café. Elizabeth had sent me the details on the same day we made the plans. I looked it up beforehand to see where I could park my car without trouble. Please tell me I'm not the only one that does this. The building is on a small back alley away from the tourist traffic of Los Angeles. Nevertheless, it is not dark, actually the contrary. The sun shines straight down the alley, creating a beautiful play of shadows. I would have never imagined a beautiful place like this to be so far from the popular streets. But maybe this was a secret spot for the locals who had a little money. I'm saying this because a look at the menu was enough to see that this was not normal prices for coffee like we had them in the café I work at. It wasn't the most expensive place, just probably not the cheapest either.
Speaking of my café, I actually had the morning shift today, allowing me to meet Lizzie in the afternoon.
I left the house 30 minutes early not wanting to get caught up in work traffic. Fortunately the streets were not that full and I found a parking spot relatively close. That's why when I arrived I still had 15 minutes to spare. I decided to take a little stroll through the alley, looking at the small shops and businesses. There weren't many, since it wasn't a popular street, however I found a cute little flower shop on the corner. Without thinking about it too long I went in and came back with flowers shortly after. You guessed it, sunflowers.
Hopefully she doesn't think it's too much.
When I entered the small coffee shop, I was stopped by a waiter. "Do you have a reservation?", he asks strongly, making me feel nervous.
"Ehm.. I don't know if my friend made.."
That's when I see Elizabeth wave from the corner of the shop. Relived I give her a small smile and turn back to the waiter and point to the blonde. "I'm with her." He turns to see if I'm right and then wishes me a nice stay in their café.
This feels weirdly elite in here. Which little café only works with reservations?
I arrive at our table and Elizabeth has already stood up to greet me. Before I can even think about how to welcome her she just goes in for a hug, which makes me smile on the inside. "Hey Elizabeth, it's good to see you.. I don't know if you like them but I brought you flowers from a little shop across the street", I mumble not wanting to seem to eager.
"Florence, I told you please call me Lizzie!" she smiles and the takes the flowers. "Those are beautiful. I love sunflowers, how did you know?"
I grin happily knowing that she likes them. "I just thought they fit your vibe. You just radiate yellow energy. Sunshine and happiness", I admit not being able to look her in the eyes while saying it.
Lizzie didn't seem to expect anything like this, which is why her cheeks began to blush a little. "No one has ever told me that. But I guess that's the songwriter in you. Always so poetic", she chuckles a little.
The waiter comes and we order our coffees.
"Speaking of songwriting, I saw that you followed my command and posted that song of yours. And like I said people are loving it! I even saw Taylor Swift comment!"
I instantly blush as well and can't force the smile coming up to stay away. She was right, people do love it. The numbers were increasing at an immense speed.
"You do know you don't have to stalk my page all the time right? You could just follow me maybe even comment here or there", I joke and look at her playfully. She runs her fingers through her long hair which gives me time to really take her in.
She was wearing black jeans and a white button up blouse. Her hair was braided into two long braids, which were awfully cute.
"Yeah I could do that.. but we're would the fun be?"
Lizzie gives me a mischievous grin.
"The fun would be that then I could follow you too, maybe even on Instagram. And then I could see what your up to all the time." Hopefully that didn't sound too needy. What am I saying, I have a girlfriend, I'm not needy. I just want her to be a friend.
"Well for that you just need to take a look on the internet", Lizzie mumbles but I can still hear her. My eyes meet her eyes and I think she gets my confusion when she goes on talking. "This is what I wanted to talk to you about here. I was surprised that you didn't knew me when we first met in the store and that you still haven't noticed."
Why would I recognize her? Did we meet before and I forgot about her? That would be embarrassing. But I don't think I would forget meeting her.
"I'm an actress, Florence. And without wanting to sound like I'm bragging but I'm kind of known I guess?", she smiles a little embarrassed but then goes on. "I was actually really happy that you didn't know who I was when I talked to you. And then I was even more happy that you didn't know so you could leak that I was in the shooting. My team wanted to keep my name out of the reports so the media wouldn't put the blame on me.."
Until now I just kept on listening to her talking. Honestly I'm not even as shocked as you would imagine. The money, the mystery, the private café, it all makes sense and Lizzie just fits the look of an actress.
But that's when I interfere.
"Why would the media put the blame on you? You were a victim like everyone else that day. You couldn't had it seen it coming."
Elizabeth's expression shifts and she slowly turns her face, not wanting to make eye contact with me. "That's where you're wrong. I did know the man."
"What?" is everything I can say. My mind wanders through every possible theory it can think of. But I didn't want to judge her or come to conclusions before hearing her tell the whole story.
"The man was in the store because of me. He is a crazy fan who is known to the police because I have reported him multiple times before for coming to close to me, but they've never actually done anything against him. They always said he's just a super fan and that I, as a public figure, had to live with that", the woman continues telling the story. I can see that her mood changed drastically and now there's even tears forming in her eyes. Instantly, I put my hand on top of hers to signal my sympathy. She twitched a little before relaxing.
"That day.. he must've followed my car to the store. I don't know why he was so angry tho. The police told me they found out he had some serious mental disorders", her voice broke down and she was almost crying now. "I just felt so guilty about it all. That's why I didn't contact you sooner. And I'm so sorry for not telling you right there on that parking lot. Because I felt so bad hearing you say that you feel guilty because you saw him before."
I quickly move over to the small woman and embrace her in a warm hug. While doing that I slowly run my fingers over her head, trying to calm her down. "Lizzie, everything is okay. It is definitely not your fault and I understand that you had to take some time for yourself. Please don't let that eat up your happiness."
She puts her head on my shoulder, wiping the little tears of her face and then looks back at me. "You know what, your right. I shouldn't feel that way because some man did something bad."
I smile happily knowing that she's back to her normal self. "That's what I'm talking about. And now back to the whole 'I'm an actress' thing. What's your full name, I wanna see what movies your in!" I take out my phone, ready to google her name.
She chuckles "Elizabeth Olsen, you know.. like the Olsen twins?"
My jaw drops. "You're related to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen?! Oh my gosh, I should've known. I can totally see it now!"
Lizzie playfully rolls her eyes at my sudden excitement. "Of course you know my sisters."
"Duuhh, they invented the iconic 'You got it, dude' phrase! I use that all the time." I say while making the correct hand gesture. "But if it makes you feel better, I think you're better looking sister."
The blonde grins a little and blushes over my comment. It wasn't really necessary to say that, however I feel like she probably gets compared to her sister a lot and just want to make her aware of her beauty.
Then I put her name into the google search bar. Seconds later I was met with an impressive filmography. She was in more stuff than I would've guessed. "You work with Marvel? I love Marvel movies! How did I not recognize you?"
Elizabeth just shrugs and smiles at me. "I don't know. Maybe their wig game is just strong. Or you were too focused on Captain America that you didn't notice little Wanda."
"You play Wanda??? I don't know why I didn't recognize you. That's one of my favorite characters, besides Natasha of course. Scarlett Johansson is just the original badass chick. No offense." I laugh, embarrassed that I showed her my love for her co-star.
"None taken. Scarlett really is the best. Maybe I can introduce you to her someday," she offers politely, which makes me choke on my coffee.
"Please don't joke about that. That would be the best thing to ever happen in my life."
"I wasn't joking, Scarlett and I often hang out together and she likes meeting new people. I'm sure you would get along nicely," she says and I fell like Lizzie is just the best person ever. I cant imagine anyone not liking her precious self.
"I don't even know how I deserve to got to know you. You seem like such a good person", I honestly tell her which makes her eyes sparkle.
"I feel the same way about you, Florence. Well, truth be told. I don't have that many friends outside of work.. and I thought maybe you and I could hang out more often?", she proposes while anxiously playing with her fingers. "I don't usually do this, but for some reason it feels easy to trust you."
My face lights up instantly after hearing her speak. "I would really like that, Lizzie."
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