Love Me, Harm Me

You used (to love) me

"No-one understood. No-one. Least of all - me."
― Malorie Blackman, Noughts and Crosses

.☀.🌑.☀.🌑.

Movie night. For a week Elizabeth had been dreading tonight, hands shaking more and more at the keyboard on her desk every time she realised that the dreaded deadline kept getting closer and closer. One month had passed since she'd last attended movie night. One entire month had waxed and waned in the time it took her to finally be roped into seeing all of her friends again - friends she couldn't face after everything that had happened with Meliodas.

Ban, King, Elaine... they had been people that she had considered family. Whenever she felt lonely, lost in the pits of an evening that was Meliodas-free, Elizabeth would always find herself hanging out with one of them. Now Elizabeth actively avoided them all. No longer did she visit the Wildflower Cafe; King was always bypassed with a shitty excuse; Ban... he knew she needed space and never pushed to breach that.

Yet, despite Elizabeth's constant dodging, Movie night - their sacred weekly tradition - had not been discontinued because of that. Diane, always trying to nudge Elizabeth into returning, had laid down several hints to everyone's hopes that she'd return. Every week, every moment, Elizabeth could tell that her best friend was dying for her to return.

Neither Elizabeth nor Meliodas had made an appearance at movie night ever since the truth had come out. Neither of them wanted to face the music. Neither of them wanted outsider intervention.

Everyone, at least in their friendship group, had probably pieced together what had happened. Ban always struggled to keep his mouth shut whenever his alcohol and concerns mixed a little too well; Diane had always been too damn perceptive to ever keep a genuine secret from; and King and Elaine had always had the uncanny gift of being able to read people - like a book.

That was why Elizabeth had been avoiding them all - well, except Diane. Unlike everyone else, Diane was impossible to avoid, a permanent fixture in her everyday life whether Elizabeth wanted her to be or not. Diane would always be there for her.

"You look fine," Diane, impatient as ever, huffed as she watched Elizabeth fiddle with her hair, flattening it under the intense heat of a straightener. For the past hour she had been fussing about what she should wear, tempted to arrive in her usual casual gear but knowing that she owed her friends to at least try and make a proper night of her return. "We're only going to movie night."

"I want to make a good impression," Was Elizabeth's argument, batted back absentmindedly as she set down the hot device and brushed through the freshly straightened locks. Yep. A mistake. Nothing a good ponytail couldn't fix - even if she didn't get the half-hour back. "Plus it's been a good while since I've seen everyone. Might as well make it a special occasion."

"If that's what you wanna believe," Diane responded, not at all believing Elizabeth's words as she returned to mindlessly scrolling, hanging upside down from Elizabeth's - well, her - guest bed.

For the past while Elizabeth had been staying at Diane's, a small, cosy place that wasn't nearly as far of a commute as Jericho's flat in Lewisham. Since King was still in the doghouse - kicked out and staying at Elaine's - there was tons of empty space and loneliness to fill. Plus, Diane did make a good bargain when it came to being roommates: they could relive their university glory days.

So far the most amount of partying they'd ever done was trying the cinnamon challenge in Diane's tiny kitchen, laughing as they failed tremendously at the task. But tonight that trend appeared to have changed. Even Diane, as blase as she was, had made sure to try and dress up for the event. It was, after all, the welcoming of a new initiate into their inner cult circle. Plus they had a Christmas theme.