The History of Us

21 - Turn of Events

Present

Turn of Events

It goes without saying that the revelation Elsie discovered from Liz left her feeling rattled. It was one thing to hear from Liz herself that she did in fact liked Liam, and hated Elsie for it, but to learn that she would hate her no less even if Elsie and Liam weren't together really shook the foundation in which she stood on.

'Self-esteem is always a work in progress, so it's okay to feel this way as long as I don't let it stop me from doing what I want to do, I'll feel better tomorrow,' she thought to herself as she looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, her under eyes were particularly dark from the lack of good sleep she's had. 'I'll feel better tomorrow'.

Her mind had gone through the event of yesterday's confrontation countless times, the words Liz uttered were replayed in her head over and over until it became almost like a spell. Despite having the rational side of her knowing fully well that it was spoken out of anger, she couldn't help but give Liz credit for being right.

It did happen before, so what's stopping everything to happen the exact same way it did all those years ago?

A knock on the bathroom door caused her to jump slightly on her feet when a brittle voice muffled by the door spoke up. "Elsie dear, is everything alright? You've been awfully quiet in there..."

"I'm okay Grandmother!" Elsie replied, quickly putting on a light makeup and then tying her hair into a ponytail. She looked at her reflection in the mirror one more time before opening the bathroom door, where her Grandmother was waiting patiently in front of. "I'm sorry for hogging the bathroom Grandmother."

"Nonsense, if anything I should be apologizing for using yours... I believe your Great Aunt Violet clogged my bathroom, though she keep insisting it was one of her grandchildren. Anyway, now I'm left with waiting for the plumber to have time for me because believe it or not, the holidays bring a lot of clogged bathroom to many household," She informed merrily.

"That's quite unbelievable isn't it, though at the same time it makes complete sense," Elsie nodded, though her mind wasn't quite in the conversation.

"Elsie dear, I must ask you, are you sure you're alright? You seem... bothered," She asked, though from the look in her eyes, Elsie had the feeling that her Grandmother knew exactly what was bothering her, or at least had a faint idea of it.

For a brief moment, Elsie wanted to tell her everything, but telling her would mean admitting out loud that Liz's words did get to her, and that's the last thing she was willing to admit. So instead of sitting down next to her Grandmother on the window seat that looked straight into their back garden, she shook her head.

"It's nothing Grandmother, just something from work," She plastered a tight smile, "I have to go, Liam's picking me up any moment now, so I better wait downstairs,"

"Okay, have fun dear... don't stay out too late," Her Grandmother smiled gently. If Elsie was right and she knew what was going on, she didn't show it.

Elsie's steps down the wooden stairs were burdened with guilt. She felt bad for lying to her Grandmother and then walking away afterwards, but she just couldn't bring herself to speak her mind out loud, or at least not yet.

---

Taking care of herself was always a struggle for Elsie during the first few years she was away. She would constantly be torn between having to take care for herself – getting enough sleep and eating healthy – and having the pressure of working hard to achieve her goals. It took her years of practice to balance the two and she was still learning.