On the Inside with Elizabeth Olsen

Looking Back

"You and your girlfriend have been through a lot but finally seem happy. Things can change. They always do. Xoxo. Remember?"

_

"Let me see!" I reach over and grab the Polaroid to watch it slowly develop. "You probably blinked." They mock me before quietly looking away to their buzzing phone.

"Who is it?" I'd always ask.

I never cared who it was at first. Just always curious. But curiosity can get the best of us, especially when your stomach turns and your partner hides their phone every time you look.

"No one." They move their phone away and say, "oh look!" as our smiling faces fill the white frame. "You didn't blink this time." They laugh at their own stupid joke before pulling the photo from my hands to write on it.

Xoxo.

I kept that photo for months even after- I remember looking at the picture and seeing her big brown eyes wide as her smile. She was happy.

So was I.

But I wasn't faking it.

That moment of Naomi and I alone in our living room was two months before she hit me for the first time.

Four months before I discovered she had already been cheating on me.

Y/N POV

"Y/N?"

"Hmm?"

I pull my head to my right at Isabella, who looks at me curiously. "I've called your name like three times. Are you alright?" I turn my head back to face the opposite chair in front of me. Where Robert, or should I say, Bo Berger, just left from.

From the moment we sat down, we- he talked about the show from a couple of months ago. How much he enjoyed the performance of it all, especially at the end. He said it left him feeling empty and yearning. That is the exact feeling I wanted you to have. He also talked about the loss he felt and marveled at the stage that I built with the songs I chose and the music I played.

All of this to say. He actually gets it.
And. I think Bo is my publicist now.

Well, not yet, at least...

I look down from the seat to the unsigned stack of papers in front of me. Contracts and legal documents for me or a lawyer to look over. Clipped to the front is Bo's business card.

He was friendly and has an in with a record company. The same company houses famous acts like ATM, Midnite Sun, Taylor Swift, etc.

During the meeting, he also put his number and email in my phone and sent me digital copies of the papers in front of me. I reach a hand out and begin picking up the documents and straightening them out. "I'm good," I reply to Isabella, who doesn't budge from her stance. "It looked like your meeting went well, but you don't appear too happy about it?"

Thanks, captain obvious. I internally roll my eyes. I'm totally telling Liz that Isabella flirted with me.

I turn now to look up at her with her hands in her apron. "It's just a lot..." I paint a smile on my face. "I'm happy. I truly am."

That's not a lie. I am happy.

I just.. couldn't focus during the meeting, and I missed half of everything this dude was saying. The boring half. Boring = important. So now I have to find a lawyer for all of this. Go back home to Liz before she leaves for her shoot tonight. And try and figure out who the hell gave me this note.