"𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥
𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠'𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧' 𝐈, 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞"
The second you landed back in your home country, you were immediately met with the infamous British crowd, a Sainsbury's on your left as you speed walked your way out of the airport, the large amount of people making you feel anxious. Being back in England after award season felt more comforting then you could ever expect it to, and you were more than glad to finally go back home to your apartment.
For the next few days, you had absolutely nothing planned. This was done on purpose, giving you both the time and space you needed to recharge from everything. You weren't surprised when you woke up the morning after the Critics with all the memories from the night before still fresh inside of your brain. It was worth it though, because you didn't even feel the need to take an aspirin as you opened the curtains of your hotel room.
This time, you didn't let Emily know when and where to pick you up, as you didn't want to bother her with yet another early morning. Even though you hadn't managed to catch a lot of sleep during your flight, you felt energised. There was something so fulfilling about being back in the country you loved most, as cliché and overdramatic as it sounded.
The one thing you hadn't managed to talk your way out of, was to grab drinks with Emily later tonight, but a part of you was looking forward to it, as there was so much you wanted to tell your best friend about. It was hard to figure out how much you could tell her without giving away the fact that Bella and you spoke again, but you were willing to tell her as much as you could.
A small part of you hoped you were going to get drunk, causing you to spill all of the information you had held from her in the past few weeks. It felt weird to keep things from Emily, and it made you feel terrible knowing she could most likely tell there was something you weren't being open about to her. She could always tell.
The fact that she hadn't full on interrogated you about it, surprised you. Emily usually wasn't a particularly nosy type of person, but she absolutely was when it came to you. There was just some unspoken oath you both took to tell the other person about everything you went through.
When your Uber finally arrived, you didn't even bother to take of your headphones while greeting the man who was supposed to take you to your apartment. Even though you were mentally energised, your body was more tired than ever before. You spent your ride home staring out of the window while blasting songs, having your own main character moment as you felt the car come to a stop.
Luckily, you didn't pack much, making it easier for you to bring your luggage back home with you. After you unloaded your suitcase, you made sure to tip the Uber driver to make up for your absentmindedness during the drive, and thanked him greatly before finally stepping into the apartment complex you had spent countless days and nights in. You were home.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
After taking a shower to get rid of the airport smell and feeling, you made your way over to your beloved bed, scanning the different networks on your laptop to try and find something to watch. When you couldn't find anything new or interesting, you decided to go back to your comfort show. It felt weird to click on it now though, as one of the people on the cover was someone you had now spoken with, and at one point even had hatred for.
The Last of Us might not be a typical 'comfort' watch, but to you, it most certainly was. After playing both of the games obsessively for over two years, the HBO show was bound to be your new obsession when it came out last year. It had gotten to the point where you would quote the show in almost every single conversation you had, and couldn't go a day without discussing it with someone else.
Emily had just let you rant back then, choosing to keep her friendship with the lead actor a secret from you. This was probably the best thing she could have done, but God, if you had known she was keeping something so big from you last year? It would have been possible she wasn't even your friend anymore right now.
Your hyperfixations had a way of interfering with your personal life, even if you didn't want them to. They just found their own mysterious ways to live in your head, with thoughts you could barely drown out. You checked the time to see that you had over six hours until you had to pick Emily up to make your way over to a bar. This was enough to watch most of the episodes, if not all.
You made yourself comfortable by grabbing some blankets and snacks, really wanting to relax in the time you had. After today, you were going to have a lot more days like these, on which you could get away with doing nothing at all. Sure, you had to look for new jobs, but you found it more important to catch yourself a break before getting back into the acting world.
With absolutely no motivation to do another mediocre film, you were looking for unpractical, long term roles. In the industry of today, that was much more difficult than it seemed, even though you had already made quite a name for yourself. You weren't sure what you wanted to do next if not another show, but you knew that you had to be much more open in order to make it, which scared you.
Drowning out all of the other thoughts in your head, you clicked play and found yourself being absorbed by the show you were watching. This time around, you also caught yourself paying extra attention to Ellie. From the facial expressions to their overall looks, you couldn't stop yourself from staring, and you honestly didn't want to.
After that night at the Critics, you had began looking at them differently, even though you wished you hadn't. A large part of you still wanted to shut these feelings and thoughts up, but as you were already so tired from the long flight, you were far too restless to fight them.
The story was easy to get caught up in, which is why it didn't come as a surprise when you received a call hours and hours later, Emily's name on your screen. "You were supposed to be on your way by now." She said, not sounding too annoyed. This reminded you of the time she insisted on adding you on Find My Friends, something you hadn't regretted until now.
"Fuck, sorry. Getting up now. I'll be there in twenty minutes max." You hurried yourself out of bed as you tried to find a decent outfit to throw on. Your legs had practically grown numb, slowing you down as you attempted to speed walk yourself around your apartment. "No worries, I'll give you thirty minutes. Don't stress yourself out." The dark-haired girl immediately recognised the stress in your voice, and once again you found yourself immensely grateful for her.
You let out a soft sigh of relief. "Thank you, you're an angel." The outfit you had thrown on your bed looked decent to you, causing you to place your phone on your bed as you started changing. "I know, I know. See you in thirty!" She said, leaving you no time to reply as she hung up almost immediately. You despised yourself for getting so caught up in something, especially because that something was a show you had seen approximately twenty times at this point in time.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
"There you are!" Emily was waiting by the entrance of the apartment complex she lived at, a huge smile spread across her face as you got out of the car. You basically fled into her arms, taking in both her scent and presence at the same time. "I'm fucking exhausted." You chuckled as you broke apart, gaining a concerned look from the brunette.
She tilted her head as a small frown grew on her face. "Should you be going out tonight then? We can just go to my place if you want to." Emily immediately offered, but you were quick to shake your head at the offer. "I need a drink. Like, right now." You joked, earning a chuckle from her. "Alright then." The dark-haired girl made her way over to your car, waiting in front of the door.
"Are you going to open the door for me like a real gentleman, or what?" She teased, the smile still on her face. This was a small referrence to a conversation the two of you had a few weeks back, in which you had sworn you were a gentleman, and would treat girls way better than any man could ever. You still stood by that statement as you opened the door for your best friend, fighting the urge to roll your eyes as you shut the door after she got in.
By the time you got into your own seat, the radio was already playing the playlist the two of you had specifically created for moments like these. As the tunes of Tyler the Creator started filling the car, you started driving to the bar Emily and you usually went to, a beaming smile on your face as your eyes remained on the road.
It was only a matter of minutes when the two of you arrived, the place already being quite crowded. The smell of liquor filled your nostrils as you scanned the pub for a proper place to sit, Emily tugging at your sleeves the second she found a small booth that was slightly remote to the rest of the people.
After ordering the both of you some drinks, Emily's gaze traveled to yours. "So." She said, raising her eyebrows slightly as she did, almost as if she was expecting you to tell her something huge. You let out a soft chuckle, holding up your shoulders. "There's not much to it." Your eyes scanned the room as you shrugged, still debating whether you were going to tell her the full story.
"I know Bella was there." The dark-haired girl revealed, causing you to look at her. "Okay, yeah. Something did happen, but it was meaningless." You shook your head, and then realised how it sounded. "Nothing like that." Your eyes grew big as you continued to shake your head, the expression on Emily's face going from surprised back to calm.
A small sigh left your mouth before you spoke up again. "After the awards, they waited for me to say hello." Your thoughts wandered back to that moment, and you almost had to fight a smile. The brunette in front of you couldn't stop herself from grinning as the drinks arrived. You both shot a quick thank you at the waitress before going back to the conversation.
"Then I told them I needed some air before going to the after party, and they came with me." You shrugged as if this was the most normal thing ever, knowing full well this was the most eventful thing that had happened since the Golden Globes. "We talked for a short bit, and then we went our seperate ways." You avoided Emily's eyes as you stared down your drink, the straw between your fingers.
"Two of my best friends becoming friends? This entire thing has felt like two of my worlds are colliding." The grin was still spread across her face as the dark-haired girl looked at you. The word friends made something inside you twirl, it was an odd feeling you hadn't felt before, and therefore you couldn't identify it. "They're not that bad, I guess." You dropped your shoulders in defeat before taking a sip of your very strong drink, causing you to make a face.
Emily chuckled at your reaction, knowing you had never been good with alcohol. The smile that she know had on her face was one of victory, as if she had planned this out all along. "You won't mind coming to more group hangouts then?" She lifted her eyebrows again as she tilted her head, waiting for an answer. "I guess." You tried to fight a smile but failed, giving in to whatever she was looking for.
"They've talked about you, you know." She absentmindedly said, as if it were unimportant. "Huh?" Your eyebrows furrowed as you looked her in the eyes, surprised about this news. She simply shrugged, a small smile still on her face. "Just saying." Emily said, leaving the rest of the subject as a mystery to you. They've talked about you? To Emily?
"That's weird." You lie, shrugging as if it was the most unnatural thing ever. "Whatever you say." The dark-haired girl had an evil smile on her face as you shook your head, not wanting to dive into this subject now or any time soon. For the rest of the night you try to push away the thoughts that are racing through your brain, trying to focus on Emily's words as if they were the most important things you had ever heard.
☆☆☆
𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩!
𝙄𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥𝙨 𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮!
AN: This one's a little shorter, hope you don't mind:)
Wordcount: 2271