Flowers//Elavan

~14~

Sometimes in movies, there are dramatic scenes where huge news has just been dropped. Usually, the characters would freeze exaggeratedly and the camera zooms into their face to capture how their faces were in shock and their breathing uneasy. There would usually be a staccato playing in the background to intensify the feeling of uneasiness.

The situation Liz, Ariana, and Avan were in right now felt exactly like it had been snatched right out of a movie. The atmosphere was heavy with a tension that could be cut right down the middle with even the bluntest of knives. Their ears rang at the deafening silence that was present.

Ariana looked back and forth at the married couple. She didn't know what to do or what to say as Liz's breathing sped up significantly and Avan's face glistened with oblivion. With the couple always being so private with their problems back then, Ariana has never been in this situation and was now anxiously playing with the sleeve of her hoodie.

"What's going on?" Avan finally breaks the silence, placing the brown paper bag on the same spot at the bedside table that he always put it on.

He had a funny feeling in his gut but couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. There was something about how Liz was staring at him with the same beam in her eyes that was present when she used to lecture him about something that scared him. Even Ariana, who made herself small by folding her legs together, looked absolutely mortified by whatever it was that was happening.

"I-I'm gonna go now. Bye," Ariana rapidly bolts out the door, not sparing a single look at her two friends.

"What was that about?" he chuckles lowly, hoping to ease the tension.

He seemed to have aggravated the situation even further because her eyes watered. Avan crouched in front of her, leveling with her face and concern fills him as he saw how hard she was breathing.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"When exactly were you planning to tell me you were my husband?" she spits, saying the last word like a curse word. Venom seeped through her mouth, lacing her tone dangerously.

Avan was taken aback. His brown eyes widened to the size of saucers. The world seemed to have crumbled beneath his feet. His knees turned to jello and he had to hold on to the bedside table to keep himself upright.

How did she know? Did she remember?

He was disgusted at himself when he found that, sadly, he wanted the answer to the last question to be no.

"H-how?"

"Ari told me because apparently she didn't know you weren't telling me the truth."

Overwhelmed with shock and betrayal and a mix of another emotion she could not understand, Liz's lower lip quivered. She had to hold back from hurting him, or hugging him, she didn't know.

"Were you just planning to keep me in the dark forever?"

"No, no, baby," he coos, trying to cup her face.

She flinches from his touch and slaps his hands away, "Do not call me that."

Avan runs his fingers through his hair, pulling when he got to the very back. He heaves a frustrated sigh as he searched for the right things to say. Even to himself, the alibi he came up with sounded ridiculous.

"Liz, I just...," he shuts his eyes tight, unable to look her in the eye. "I'm sorry."

"I'm asking you for the explanation I deserve, not an apology! Why would you lie to me?!"

"I was scared, okay?!" he bursts out, forgetting where they were. "I was terrified that-that you would be overwhelmed if I told you, like you are right now."

"Did you even stop to think that maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't react so violently if you had been honest since the very beginning?!"

Liz, at this point, was on her feet and looked as if she was about ready to snap off Avan's head. She felt so betrayed. He had been the only person she trusted ever since she woke up from that crestfallen medically induced coma. Avan became her constant and her most trusted confidant, the person she relied on to tell her the truth behind tales.

If he really was her husband, she should know how much she hated lying, but he still did it anyways.

"I wanted you to remember it by yourself, Liz," he tries to reason out, not making any sense even to his own ears.

"And what if my amnesia was permanent? Would you just allow me to believe that my husband is nothing but a friend I used to flirt with in a flower shop?!"

There it was again, stabbing daggers into his heart. The spiteful way she spat out the word husband like it was the nastiest curse word ever known to humankind.

"Tell me, Liz, if I told you that I was your husband from the start, would it change the way you felt for me?" he softly asks, swallowing a lump in his throat. "You wouldn't even remember my name so I wanted to establish a good friendship with you before I told you-"

"What kind of good friendship is rooted from a lie, Avan?!" she cries, a few stray tears of anger rolling down her cheeks.

She was right. Like Liz always was, she was completely right and there was nothing more he could say to justify himself.

"I didn't know what else to do," he bit his lower lip.

"So you lied to me?" she sits back down, her emotions weighting her down.

"I'm sorry, love," he croaks.

"You lied to me," she whimpered, pulling her knees to her chest.

"Baby," he coos and attempts to hold her, not caring if she was angry at him. All he wanted to do was wrap her in his arms and make everything okay again.

She scoots further away from him, "I want you to leave."

"I'm not leaving you."

"Leave me alone for now, Avan, please," she grits her teeth.

He could tell by the tone of her voice that she just needed to be alone. So even if it was against his will, he nods and turns around to leave her room without a single word more. His shoulders slumped and his head down, Avan knew he had screwed things up so bad.

Liz didn't know why she felt so violently about this situation. Come to think of it, she was already starting to get feelings for Avan so it should have been a good thing for them to be married. But her mind narrowed onto one thought and that was that he had the insolence to lie to her. That didn't seem like something to be this furious about though, especially considering how things were with her as of the moment.

Maybe it was the swirl of irrepressible feelings she had towards the information she had just received that caused her to be liked this. Perhaps she just wasn't ready to hear it yet. It could just be that she was enjoying being just his best friend that the thought of them being bonded that way for life terrified her.

Whatever it was, it kept her awake that night. She had stopped crying but the storm of emotions within her just wouldn't clear out. Her mind buzzed with nothing but thoughts of Avan. She wanted to stop thinking about him, but she just couldn't seem to.

Staring down at her left hand where what she assumed was her wedding ring wrapped around her finger, she wondered what honesty Avan had lacked, and what love and loyalty she's been failing to give him.
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our wifi company needs to step up their game. my dudes, i've got school and wattpad friends to write for.

Listen to Willow the musical!! It's sooooo good!

Hope you enjoyed this. Don't be afraid to comment down your thoughts! Lots of love! Be kind, y'all!