Accepting You

Chapter 13 - Being Apart

A few months pass since operation London. When Elizabeth returned home, she locked herself in her house and allowed her thoughts and emotions consume her. It drove her crazy as she bounced off the walls and found herself pacing between the different rooms, lost in thought.

The first few weeks, she found herself borderline obsessive with Lily's social media. Liz wasn't a fan of it but she reactivated her Instagram, created a Twitter, followed Lily's playlists on Spotify, and even a Twitch account that Lily dabbled in so that Liz could stay up to date on her life.

Lily is the complete opposite of Liz in terms of social media. Lily is so active that she posts a picture or sets of pictures nearly every day. Some times even multiple times a day even if it were throwback photos. Her "story" on Instagram is even more exciting as she goes on adventures with a different person every day.

Liz's heart tightened at every photo or video she watched. Not because she was jealous (though she may have been but wouldn't admit it) but because she wished she was there. If everything worked out better, maybe she could have been.

What made it worse was that in everything that was posted, Lily is smiling, laughing, and having fun. One in particular stuck out – a single photo that Lily posted a week after Liz had left. It's Lily and another girl, named Callie by the tag, on a rooftop bar. Lily has her lipsed pursed in a kiss towards the other girl's cheek, just barely touching. The caption read "Missed you, lovely!"

Liz had no right to feel any sort of way at the photo but it was burned in the back of her eyelids and she could see it even if she closed her eyes.

It's a complete turnaround from the last night they had together in London and the complete opposite from what Liz was going through. The kiss that meant so much to her meant nothing to Lily.

As time went on, Liz's mind became clear. She accepted herself as a bisexual and the questions that swarmed her head slowly faded. And being away from Lily also gave her heart a break. It settled. Time away made her forget the longing it had for the other person.

She came out to her family and to her closest friends, which was met with acceptance and happiness. It was daunting and nerve-wrecking but she got through it better than most.

She dove into work and everything simmered to her regular life – just in time for the second season of "Sorry for your Loss."

. . .

Lily returned to the States after a month in London. She spent the rest of spring working. No one could have imagined it but she had to keep herself busy to keep her mind off the one person she wanted to be around – Elizabeth Olsen.

She was right – kissing Liz crossed a line that she couldn't go back on and the consequences were coming back to haunt her. She couldn't shake Liz's touch and her kiss no matter how hard she tried. And it drove her crazy for a long time.

It took all of her willpower not to text Liz to see if she's been alright or see how she's doing. She only allowed herself one text – the only one to check to see if Liz got home okay after her flight. When she got the one worded response "Yes," she decided that was that and avoided the contact.

She became antsy and frustrated. Despite wanting to keep her personal and work life separated, the two melded together. It's been a long time coming but Lily lashed out at Joseph. He's only found offers of the same character again and again despite constant objection, rejection, and expression of something different. He wasn't listening.

Their relationship became rocky and to find a middle ground, he booked a voice acting role for her in Trolls: World Tour and a minor role in Raya and the lost dragon that wouldn't come out until next year or more. Lily wasn't confident in her singing voice but she got by and through Spring, she spent a lot of time in voice acting classes and training her voice. Trying something completely new allowed her to divert her attention and keep her mind busy.