"And in the end it's you against you."
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Lizzie
"What's going on with you? You're acting weird" Gracie asks me as we walk side by side towards campus.
"Nothing" I lie, it's not like I could just say oh well remember how your boyfriend got his ass handed by Pembroke college well I basically had lunch with the captain.
"Hm" she hums, I love Gracie, she is my best friend and I trust her with my life but when a topic involves her boyfriend I have no doubt she would tell him.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, hey I am an advocate for healthy relationships but I would rather not have Logan tell Archie or any of his teammates, I cannot lose my friends.
And I am probably overthinking the whole thing, probably making a bigger deal of something so simple, something that happened a month ago.
A MONTH AGO!!
That's how deep I am making it, thankfully I have avoided every possible way of seeing Luke Beckett again.
"You haven't been listening to anything I have been saying have you." Gracie says shoving me slightly causing me to turn my attention back to my best friend.
"Hm, I have!" I defend,
"Tell me more about...Ah gosh look at that it's Logan!" I say enthusiastically as I spot her boyfriend walking towards us.
Gracie narrows her eyes at me but her expression grows soft when Logan approaches us and slings his arm over her shoulder while peppering kisses on her face.
I do a good job of fake gagging as I watch the happy couple ignoring the weird feeling that stirs in my stomach. Sure I don't think I will date in college but that doesn't mean that a girl can't dream.
"Hey Liz" Logan finally greets me as I wave at some girls walking past.
"You coming to the Halloween party?" Logan says in a wannabe spooky tone, I slap his hands away when he tries to spook me causing Gracie to giggle, Logan smiles down at her with a look of contentment all over his face. Stupid love.
"The one off campus?" I ask, every year for Halloween there are usually multiple parties and the biggest ones are the ones where the jocks turn up, So this year that is at a house off campus since the hockey guys aren't hosting.
"I'll think about it" I say knowing Gracie won't take no for an answer, my phone buzzes in my bag and I seize the moment to make an escape from Logan and Gracie.
I call out my goodbyes to them before answering the call.
"Hey mum" I casually answer while walking towards the building where my class is.
"Honey-" she sniffles into the phone and my body tenses, my mum has only cried in front of me a handful of times.
"What's going on mum?" I ask panicked,
"Everything is fine, I j-just wanted to let you know that um" she stutters,
"Your father fell when I was out picking up Benny from kindergarten-" I take a sharp breath in "he had to go to the hospital. I didn't want it to be a surprise to you when you came back but everything is fine now." Her words are meant to soothe me but they don't. They don't soothe the urge I have to break down.
My dad has suffered with stage three cancer for as long as I can remember, he always tells us he can't feel the pain and that he is fine but there are moments I catch him wincing or shaking that makes me want to break.
I walk into class while my mum goes over the medication the doctor gave my dad, my mind is in a haze as I bump into someone dropping my phone.
I scramble to pick it up again and then look up ready to take out all my anger on the person who bumped into me, I let out a breath when I realise that it's just Levi, my table buddy.
I give him a half hearted smile before settling down in my seat.
"I have to go mum, send my love to dad and Benny for me. I love you loads." I hang up the phone and focus back on to getting my stuff out of my tote bag.
"Hey, everything alright?" Levi whispers from next to me, I shoot my head up from my notebook to look at him.
"Yeah just out of it. What gave it away?" I say putting on a smile,
"Well you keep on scribbling in your notebook, harshly" he says chuckling, I feel heat pour onto my cheeks as I drop my pen.
"Ms Myers and Mr Crew is there something you would like to share with the class?" The professor asks from the podium, if I wasn't red as a tomato five minutes ago I am sure as fuck red now.
I slowly shake my head and watch as Levi mirrors my actions. I spend the rest of the class with my head in my text book trying to recover from the trauma of my professor calling me out.
"Ms Myers please stay back" I freeze once I hear my professor, god this would be awkward. I shuffle out of my seat and make my way towards my professor.
"What you did in class today must not happen again?" I literally nearly scoff but decide against it, I was talking in class, it's not a big deal.
"It's distracting to all my students." He continues,
"Levi was doing it as well, no offence intended Mr Craig but why is it just me here?" I nearly clamp my hand over my mouth as soon as I talk back, what the fuck.
"I don't appreciate this tone Ms Myers, I also don't appreciate what you are insinuating. Please make your way out of my classroom, I will see you next week with hopefully a better attitude "
Professor Craig has a lot of rumours about him on campus, some being more widely disturbing then others.
The most disgusting one I have heard is that a few years ago he has a thing going on with a senior girl, she made a whole thing about trying to get them to go public when he wouldn't agree and she kept asking he slapped her.
She transferred shortly afterwards.
I turn on my heel and make my way out of the building, my vision blurry as I quicken my steps.
A hand tugs on my wrist halting me in place, I turn to look at the face of the person I am about to slap with a scowl.
"Luke?!" I say shocked at the sight of him leaning against a pillar, his hands come out of his pockets of his grey sweats as he assess me. He switches his black baseball cap so it's backwards as he steps closer to me causing me to take a step back.
"What happened?" His jaw flexes,
"What are you doing here?" I say completely ignoring his question, I am certain I look like a mess, my eyes rimmed red with tears, It's not exactly how I want him to see me, actually fuck that I couldn't give two fucks what Luke Beckett thinks about me.
"You said you have class on Thursdays so I waited here, now what happened?" He says so casually, like hello what?!
"Nothing, go back home." I say as I wiggle out of his grasp and start walking, there are only a few people around since it's already dark and class ended ten minutes ago but I still feel self conscious as people continue to stare at me.
"Lizzie!" He calls after me but I continue walking, we aren't friends, we aren't anything. There is no reason for Luke to be here, if someone saw me with me. I internally groan even thinking about it.
"Lizzie it's dark and about to rain, just let me take you home."
"Luke please, I'm fine. Go home" I say looking down to wipe my tears, he takes advantage of my slow pace and runs in front of me forcing me to stop.
"Lizzie, what happened?" He says sternly, then I break.
My body, my mind, my skin, my bones, I break.
I shatter.
My body falls weak as it collides with Luke's. He stumbles backwards but settles quickly, wrapping his arms around my body to stabilise me.
"My dad is dying, I am tackling four shifts a week to put a roof over my family and my professor is fucking sexist." I cry.
My body shakes as more cries flood out of me, I expect Luke to push me away, to tell me that he needs to go.
But he doesn't, instead he pulls me closer. He rubs my back in circles, and every now and then he whispers into my hair telling me it will okay.
And I almost believe it.
"You are absolutely fucking amazing Elizabeth." He whispers into my hair.
"Im a mess, I can't even afford groceries" I admit as I cry, cradling him closer.
"Don't say that baby, you're not a mess, you are so strong. I promise"
I don't know how long it's been, how long I have been crying into his shirt. I unravel my hands around his waist to look up at him suddenly realising what I have just done.
"Im so sorry" I say frantically,
"Don't apologise Lizzie, just please let me take you home" he says, I can't fight him anymore, I don't have the strength.
He leads me towards his parked car and opens the passenger seat for me, I give him a grateful nod in return and let the blasting heater in his car swallow me in warmth.
"Why is it the only time we talk you're in my car?' Luke says breaking the silence we had for the last seven minutes and 34 seconds.
"What were you doing here Luke?" I ask,
"I never got your number, I want to be friends." He admits, I dart my gaze towards him in shock breaking the one rule I set myself when I hopped in the car.
Don't look at him.
"It's been a month since we last talked." I say,
"Good to know you can tell time" he chuckles,
"Seriously Luke." I say as he parks his car outside of my dorms,
"Here let me walk you in" before I have time to protest he jumps out of his car and makes his way next to me.
"It's not necessary" I tell him but he doesn't listen, we come to a stop outside of the entrance.
"Thank you, I'm sorry that I ruined your shirt" I say quietly still not holding his gaze,
"You don't have to apologise Lizzie, give me your phone."
"What-" he snatches my unlocked phone from my hand and starts typing into it, a moment later his own phone rings.
"Here you go. Now I have your number" he chirps making me roll my eyes,
"I'll be seeing you around Friend!" He calls after me as I walk inside, I turn around as a smile appears on my face.
"No you won't!" I say repeating the same parting words as a month ago.
My smile falters as my gaze collided with our receptionist Joe. Her eyes are moving back and forth from me to Luke who is probably far gone by now but I don't dare look back to check.
"Be careful love" is the only thing she says to me before walking into the back room.
Before I have time to shake off the encounter my phone buzzes from its spot in my pocket and my smile immediately comes back to life.
*LBeckett requested to follow you*
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Comment some scenes you want😉💖
okay like this was really sad 😞
Lizzie is so precious I cannot😩🥰