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{ reputation, 05 — can you hear me now? season one — episode four }
"Morning sweetheart" Emma Howard sweetly greeted her daughter, as the younger blonde made her way to the kitchen, where breakfast was already ready.
"Hey mom" she returned, with a weak smile. It hasn't been a night.
"Is everything alright?" she wondered, as she poured her daughter a cup of coffee. The girl simply nodded, but Emma gave her a knowing look "I heard you crying last night Lizzie..."
"It was nothing" she looked down, swallowing hard.
"I went to your room, to see what was happening" the oldest Howard softly started saying, giving her the coffee "But you weren't there"
Elizabeth started to play with her fingers nervously. It was true, she didn't sleep in her own bed; she slept in Liam's. It was something she had been doing for the past year, whenever she felt like she couldn't keep going.
"I know it's silly, but it makes me feel close to him" she admitted with a weak smile, and her mother grabbed her hands, trying to comfort her "And yesterday I really needed him"
"You can talk to me sweetie, you know that right?" her mother stated in a low voice, looking at her with sympathy. Lizzie just nodded, and before her mother could keep digging in what exactly happened, the doorbell rang.
"It must be Steve, we're walking together to school" she informed, Emma nodding. She finished her coffee, and grabbed her things, saying goodbye to her mother. She opened the door and found the dark blond haired boy waiting for her with a smile, greeting her with a quick hug.
"What's wrong?" Steve Wilson asked, seeing his friends mood as they started walking.
"He called me last night" Lizzie informed, not meeting his eyes but imagining the shocked look on her best friend's face.
"What did he say?" he questioned, worry filling his voice, guessing that it couldn't have been something good judging by her mood.
"Nothing that he hadn't say before" she took a deep breath, finally tearing her eyes from the ground "Just reminding me again that he lost the wrong kid"
Steve clenched his jaw. It wasn't long after Liam's disappearance that everything started to fall apart at the Howard's house, which eventually lead to Oliver Howard, Lizzie's and Liam's father, to leave without saying goodbye. The Wilson boy knew how much Elizabeth blamed herself for her father leaving them, and these sporadic calls that Oliver made every now and then whenever he was drunk didn't help at all.
"Lizzie—" he tried to say something comforting, but the blonde cut her off before he could.
"I mean, it's not like I haven't thought about it myself" she humorlessly laughed, shaking her head "I would change places with Liam if I could without a second thought"
