Accepting You

Chapter 7 - On Set

Liz is woken up by a phone alarm. It slowly creeps up into her consciousness and blares through the room. It must have gone on for a while.

She props herself up on her arms, rubbing at her eyes. When she rubs the sleepiness out, she spots Lily's phone on the ground by the foot of the bed. It must have fallen sometime in the night.

Liz looks over to see Lily still soundlessly sleeping. She goes to move to turn off the alarm but finds a resistance from under the covers. Tossing the blanket aside, she sees Lily's arm draped over her stomach.

She can feel her face get hot but realizes her clothes are still on and reminds herself that nothing happened. Except a kiss nearly turning into a makeout session. She touches her lips at the memory, somehow feeling the lingering effects.

The alarm blares again and Liz gently pulls Lily's arm from her and gets out of bed, dismissing the alarm. The time reads 11:37am and a flood of notifications of text messages and calls.

Liz stands and walks over to Lily's side of the bed. Kneeling by the edge, she gently touches her arm. "Lily. Lily." Liz has to shake her a little to get the other girl to open her eyes

Groaning, she props herself up and pushes the hair out of her face. "My head hurts."

"You drank a lot last night," Liz confirms. She patiently waits for the other girl to roll over and sit up on the bed, looking away quickly as the blanket falls revealing her chest in only a bra. "Your phone," Liz says and sticks her hand out, still looking at the white walls.

Lily takes it but let's it fall in her lap. Only then does she realize that she isn't in any clothes. "Oh my god!" She gasps and pulls the blanket over her chest.

"I didn't see anything," Liz says quickly, hoping that would give her any solace.

"I-I went to sleep without any clothes?" Lily asks, her face flushed with embarrassment.

"We got back really late," Liz tells her. "You weren't in any state to shower so I think you stripped your clothes and went to bed."

Lily tries hard to remember last night but draws a blank on returning home. She remembers playing Just Dance and beer pong but then her memory becomes hazy. She couldn't deny that what Liz said is something she would do -- if she couldn't shower the stink off her, she would not sleep in the dirty clothes.

Lily avoids Liz's eyes but can tell she is waiting patiently for her to speak. "I didn't cause any trouble for you, did I?"

"No," Liz answers, finally standing and walking across the room. "It was actually a really good time."

"Oh," is all Lily says. When she finally brings herself to, she looks up meeting Liz's green eyes. "Did I do anything embarrassing?"

Liz stares back, wondering if she does remember anything. "No, you were yourself. Cool as a cucumber."

"That's a relief," Lily sighs, looking down at her hands. "I shouldn't have drank so much. I'm sorry you had to see that."

"It's okay," Liz says, unable to hide a frown. She learned a lot about Lily the night before and it seemed like Lily was comfortable around her, being able to share so much. But now, it seemed like all her walls were built up again and she couldn't express herself as easily as she did before. It's subtle but Liz can tell Lily is gauging what to say and how to act with another woman. Liz didn't like that -- she wants Lily to be able to be free and without worry like she was last night. Liz starts to leave the room to give Lily some privacy but hesitates at the doorway. Turning back, she asks, "You don't remember anything?"

Lily looks up again. "Not much. Is there something I should remember?"

"I was just curious," Liz replies. "You told me you were a sober drunk and warned me you wouldn't remember anything."