If Lizzie was making it obvious that she was staring at Eric, she didn’t care. She was confused, and honestly a little hurt. She couldn’t understand why he was acting this way. All she did was take a detour to the bathroom, but upon her return it was as if they hadn’t just spoken outside a moment ago. In fact, it was like their first meeting all over again. As this thought circled around in her head, she felt the regret swell up inside her. Had she been too bold? Had she made a mistake talking to him? She was going to kill Irene for this.
As Eric continued to make it obvious he was avoiding her, Lizzie found it difficult to keep up with the morale of the group. That didn’t mean she didn’t stop trying. She followed along with the girls when they joked and laughed. She cheered for Angel when he returned on stage for a fifth, sixth and seventh time. But anything outside of the bare minimum required to not dampen the spirits of the others around her? She couldn’t pluck up the energy. The longer Eric chose to remain across from her at the table instead of beside her, the more she just prayed for the night to be over. The emotional pressure squeezing her chest fueled her loneliness and all she wanted to do was talk to her friends.
Her emotions only became worse when they all returned to the flat. Lizzie was exhausted having kept a cheery facade in front of the others the rest of the time they were out. But the moment the front door to the flat opened, she walked right into her room to grab her US phone. From the other side of the closed door, she could hear the other flatmates still on their high from such a fun-filled night. She envied them. She wished that for just one moment she could forget the talk...and then the aftermath.
But Eric was on the other side of that door doing only god knows what. The trip back to the flat from the city was a trainwreck. Halfway through the commute, Lizzie had completely given up making an effort to get through to him. She couldn’t pluck up the energy any longer to act like nothing was wrong with them. Had she dreamt their talk outside the pub? Had her heart imagined that he had said yes to giving them a chance? Was her brain finally catching her up to reality? Through the haze of her deepest desires...had he said no? Was it because of Diana after all?
A lump formed in her throat as she sniffed back the threat of tears. She couldn’t believe she had been so naive and stupid. How could she had let herself get her hopes so high up in such a short amount of time? Why did she have to read between every single line; every little clue? As she waited for her US phone to turn on, Lizzie rewind through every interaction she had with Eric since their first accidental meeting. He had been so friendly, or at least tried to in the beginning. Had she pushed too hard to try and get to know him? Was it wrong of her to be so persistent? Did he even give her a sign that he wanted her to back off?
No. No, he hadn’t.
And if the past couple of nights had told her anything, he did the total opposite. Lizzie suddenly remembered the weight of his arm around her shoulders tonight and the warmth between their bodies. She recalled her Instagram story from last night. He could not keep his hands off of her almost every second. He was so attached to her. No, they were so attached to each other. So then what was the problem? How did she end up from having constant physical contact with Eric Oliver to him practically running in the opposite direction?
Guys...I think he has a girlfriend…
Of course, the answer was that simple. It had to be. What else could explain Eric’s sudden shift in behavior around her? It was her fault. It was all her fault. She had pushed too hard. She had overstepped in a place she should not have. She had become the very person she hated.
Lizzie’s hand shook as she clenched the phone, staring at her last Skype message to JKL many nights ago; the night she found out about Diana. The longer she stared at the message, the stupider she felt. It was reaching a point that it was just too painful to take in a breath.
She couldn’t talk to her friends first; not while she was this emotional about tonight. She could imagine everything they would say in that conversation; especially Jade. And she just was not prepared for any of that attitude. Not while she was feeling like this.
There was only one person she could talk to about all of this: Irene. It was her idea for Lizzie to talk to Eric. It should be Irene that gets the raw recap of the results. But before she did that, she needed to change out of her outfit and wash up. It was a complete mystery how long she would be talking to Irene and JKL tonight. After all, it was about mid to late afternoon in California right about now.
Lizzie completely avoided peeking her head into the common room to check what Eric was doing. It was just best for her emotional state right now to play his game; pretend that he didn’t exist. It was tough, naturally. The very pull that constantly had her looking into the common room was pulling her now and harder because she knew he was actually in the room. But she accomplished her goal. She walked down to the end of the hallway toward the bathroom. Luckily, it was vacant and she walked right in.
After changing into her night clothes and before returning to her room, Lizzie decided to brave a trip to the kitchen. She figured she would need some sort of comfort snack and maybe a water for the hours she would most likely be spent talking. Much to her surprise, there were a couple of her flatmates still up and socializing. The television was even on as background noise. After a quick glance at the living room area, she was surprised to see that Eric wasn’t with that group, but his backpack was on the couch.
As a matter of fact, Olivia wasn’t anywhere to be found either.
The answer to that mystery came to Lizzie quickly. Immediately after grabbing a water bottle from the refrigerator, she noticed that the lights in the backyard were on. Considering how late it was already, it was definitely odd. Lizzie walked over to the sliding door and cupped a hand on the glass to clear her view into the backyard. The first thing she noticed was a thin line of smoke gravitating upward.
She watched with pure shock as Eric passed the cigarette over to Olivia. It hadn’t even crossed her mind that there was a possibility that Eric was a smoker. Sure, it was somewhat of a minor stereotype that many English people smoke, but she didn’t want to think too much into it. After all, her friends from school had never pulled out a cigarette - or even an e-cigarette - when they were hanging out. So to watch as Eric and Olivia shared a smoke together was surprising. But, okay, so Eric smokes. Good to know.
Lizzie watched the two friends for a brief moment. Neither of them once looked back into the flat for...any reason. They just seemed so focused on each other as they spoke words that she could not hear nor read. And when she watched Eric speak to Olivia, she realized this was probably the most he had spoken the entire night. The two went back and forth in their A and B conversation; as if it was just the two of them in the world.
Eric just looked so comfortable speaking to Olivia. He always looked so comfortable speaking to or being around Olivia. And it made Lizzie realize that she really was kidding herself thinking that she was getting through to Eric in the short amount of time they had known each other. He and Olivia had been friends for years. The two always looked like the moment they were in the same room they could fall into the million routines they shared together. Why couldn’t she have that with him? What did she have to do to have that with him? Could she even have that with him?
Lizzie knew that answer. Of course not. She could never have that with him. First off, he already has that with Olivia. And secondly, he made it perfectly clear after their talk that he was not interested….
When she returned to her room, Ricki was in the middle of setting up her laptop for her nighttime routine. She didn’t say much to her roommate and only offered shrugs and mumblings if she needed to give any responses. The previous image of Eric with Olivia in the backyard was causing her heart to race. And as Ricki logged onto her Netflix account to watch whatever show she was currently obsessed with, Lizzie grabbed a blanket and picked up her phone from the bed and sent a text to her cousin to let her know she was calling. She then took one last look over at her roommate before opening the sliding door that led to the girls’ balcony in front.
Was she being a little over dramatic taking her calls outside well past midnight? Sure. But it was better to talk to her friends on the balcony than in the backyard. That space was already taken and for God only knows how long. She couldn’t wait that long.
Once she was sure the sliding door was fully closed, she ignored the feeling of eyes on her back as Ricki pulled the curtain away and took a seat at one of the chairs on the balcony, placing the water bottle and snacks she brought on the small table beside her. She then wrapped the blanket around her before scrolling to her cousin’s contact information. After checking that she was in fact still connected to the flat’s wifi, she tapped the FaceTime Audio option next to Irene’s name and brought the phone to her ear.
“Hey, how was karaoke night?” came her cousin’s cheery voice over the phone. The tone was such a stark contrast to Lizzie’s own feelings right now. It was a Saturday afternoon in California. For all Lizzie know, Irene was having the best day of her life today. Could she really risk ruining that just so that she could talk to someone?
But just like all things between the Darcy cousins, it only took Lizzie’s unintentional pause for Irene to recognize - over the phone, mind you - that something was just not right.
“Hello? Everything okay?” Irene then added.
Lizzie sniffed then took a deep breath. Well, here goes nothing. “So, I talked to him like you said…” she forced out, her voice low from the small fear that someone in the flat could possibly be listening.
From there Lizzie was forced to recap what had happened throughout the talk. Or, at least what she thought happened. Until now, she still could not figure out if she had heard Eric right during that talk; if she had heard him agree to her proposal to explore their feelings for each other. But she told Irene all that she knew, making sure not to leave a single piece of information out. At first, Irene expressed hopefulness over the phone. After all, Eric seemed to agree that there was something between him and Lizzie. He agreed to see if something could come out of those mutual feelings.
And then, Lizzie described to the ever patient Irene the real reason she called her cousin after midnight, when she could have saved that conversation for the morning. She told her cousin how Eric’s behavior completely shifted. How she watched as he basically avoided looking at her the rest of the night. How he had remained at the other side of their table. How he had basically reverted to how he acted when they first met officially. How he made her feel that she must have imagined or fantasized everything that he had said during their talk. How she now felt like such an idiot for thinking that he could like her the way she liked him.
After that, Irene would not stop apologizing. Lizzie could practically feel the guilt through the phone. When she wasn’t being extremely apologetic, Irene was attempting to be as consoling as possible considering they were both talking over the phone. At one point, she had even suggested that she buy a plane ticket to London right now so that she could be with Lizzie. Even in her own distressed state, Lizzie still managed to talk her cousin out of that foolish decision. She reassured her cousin that just being on the phone was enough for now.
“I just feel like such an idiot. I don’t know why I started that talk the way I did. Why didn’t I ask if he was seeing someone first? I practically poured my heart out to him without warning him.” Lizzie sighed, pulling the blanket tighter around her.
Irene was quick to argue against that. “No, I pressured you to talk to him when you were nervous,” she interjected. “And now he’s been an ass.”
Lizzie sighed again. “I can’t even remember if what he said and what I heard was real or not real. Like, was I so in my head that I wanted to hear what I wanted to hear? If it was real, did he agree just to be nice, but he really didn’t mean it?” Lizzie knew if she kept going at this rate, she was going to dig herself deep into an emotional hole she would struggle to climb out of.
“No,” Irene chimed in again, “he’s just being a dumb boy.” As the two cousins remained on the line in silence, Lizzie vaguely heard something being shuffled about as if Irene was moving stuff. None of them sounded like paintbrushes.
When Irene asked of Eric’s whereabouts, that brought on another wave of distress that Lizzie had been dreading. She turned her head toward the flat, as if she would be able to see through her closed bedroom door into the backyard. Then, she told Irene all that she saw earlier when she caught Eric and Olivia talking privately in the backyard. She chose to leave the shared cigarette out; it didn’t seem relevant.
“It’s like, he barely talks while we’re all out together. But then, the moment he and Olivia get some alone time, suddenly he knows how to say more than a couple sentences,” Lizzie complained, a strain in her voice while she fought to control her tone and volume. “Like, Katie had this theory the other day that Olivia has been pushing me and Eric together since that day I helped him with his script. But then she shoves it right in my face that all she has to do is walk into the fucking room and Eric clings to her like a damn magnet.” Lizzie let out another sigh, frustrated.
The rest of the phone conversation turned into Lizzie’s vent session with Irene offering agreeable responses. At one point, Lizzie stopped mid-sentence when she noticed that the light in Olivia’s room suddenly turned on. She had to wait until she was certain her flatmate would not check outside before continuing. But even then, she had to wait a while and speak almost at a whisper to keep the conversation going. God, Olivia, did you have to be such a goddamn grandma getting ready for bed?
It was about half one when Lizzie reluctantly ended the call with Irene. It was all Irene’s fault. Upon realizing what time it actually was in London, her cousin went right into mothering mode and demanded that Lizzie get off the phone to go to bed. Even when Lizzie argued that she was too upset to sleep, Irene put her foot down.
Lizzie didn’t go to bed like Irene asked. Instead, she messaged JKL’s Skype group chat to check if any or all of them were online and available.
“You know, you could have waited ‘til the morning to tell us about your match made in heaven duet with Superman,” Lacey said when all four of them were presently on the group call. “Isn’t it, like, one in the morning, or something?”
Lizzie bit down on her lip. Why was she so nervous to tell her friends about tonight? Earlier, she couldn’t wait to return to the flat to talk to them.
“Um…” she started slowly as she switched her phone to her other ear. “Tonight didn’t really go like I thought it would?”
“Why? What happened?” Katie asked, always the one to get right to the point.
“Did Superman suddenly not know how to sing?” Jade added. There was some giggling. They all knew that Eric was a great singer. Lizzie, however, remained silent while they all enjoyed Jade’s little joke.
“No. I...uh...I sort of told him how I felt about him…” Lizzie finally explained. And the call went quiet for a solid three seconds as her friends processed this information. But before any of them could say anything, Lizzie added, “It didn’t go like I expected it would.”
She then explained to JKL the events of her and Eric’s talk, offering the same details she had told to Irene earlier. Unlike her cousin though, JKL had no problems offering verbal commentary and reactions when they felt like it. This, of course, made retelling the story a longer task. By the time she reached the part about Eric’s sudden turn around in behavior, she had heard just about any and every reaction appropriate for this conversation. That was the art of speaking to three different minds at once.
“He really ghosted you, like, five seconds after you two agreed to start dating?” Jade asked with a scoff. Lizzie could feel the eye roll over the phone. “What a dick.”
“Wait, you two agreed to start dating? I thought it was that they were gonna test the waters and all that?” said Katie. Test the waters? She is such a swimmer.
“Isn’t that basically the same thing?” argued Jade.
“Not really. Maybe for you?” countered Katie. Lizzie and Lacey remained quiet as the two friends went back and forth over their personal definitions. It would have been easier if Lizzie just stepped in and cleared it all up, but sometimes there was no stepping in when her two friends were playing dictionaries with each other.
“I think in this case, Liz meant they’re going to see where they’re feelings for each other will lead them,” Katie finally concluded, her voice a bit louder in her effort to out argue Jade. “Not every crush leads to a relationship. Look what happened with Ian? He and Liz shuffled around their feelings for two months with neither of them defining the relationship.”
“Granted, that wasn’t Liz’s fault!” Lacey finally chimed in. “They just couldn’t find the right opportunity to make if official.”
“Okay, but the difference between Ian and the Jerkwad is that Ian didn’t just up and change his mind five seconds after,” Jade chimed in, matter of factly. “At least Ian took Liz on plenty of dates. That boy spent so much on her at Disney than even Brandon has in their entire relationship.”
It should be noted at this point that Lizzie felt her friends weren’t helping the situation. In fact, it made her feel worse that they were comparing Eric to one of her old crushes. But she didn’t have the courage nor the energy to interject and bring them back on topic. It only meant that she had to talk some more about how this entire situation made her feel. If she could, she would have just left the call now that she had vented to her friends. But that wasn’t Lizzie. She could never do that to her friends...even if their ability to steer off tangent meant they would end up making matters worse.
“I’m still confused though,” Lacey started some minutes later. “If he was going to be acting like that, why did he say yes to exploring your feelings?” Good job, Lacey. Way to bring the conversation back on track.
Lizzie sighed, switching her phone to her other ear. “Honestly, I’m not even entirely sure he said yes. Like, we all know I have a history of being all in my head and imagining what I want to hear. For all I know, he could have said he was not interested, but I wanted to hear him say yes.”
“But...that’s not possible. Girl, he was all over you last night,” Katie reasoned. “We have photo evidence of that kiss on the cheek from when y’all went live!”
Jade’s scoff silenced everyone. It always did. “I’m telling you! That guy is up to something! I don’t care if he’s British. There is no excuse for being that...mysterious. Especially if you’re supposed to like someone. I’m telling you, he’s hiding something...and that makes him up to no good.” In Jade’s dramatic pause - to let the others process her words - Lacey cut in to ask Jade’s opinion on what Lizzie should do then. “Dump his ass. You gave Ian like two months to do something. The English Prick already gave you a reason to not bother.”
Lizzie froze, shocked by the abruptness of Jade’s words. She made it sound so simple. Eric’s not interested? Fine. Move on. Go to the next guy that will actually act on his words.
But JKL didn’t know nor understand. Or, at least Jade didn’t. Even if Lizzie wanted to follow her friend’s advice and move on from Eric, she couldn’t. Lizzie knew deep down that if Eric ever had a change of heart, she would go back to him. Everytime.
“Hey, Liz? Can you clear something up for me?” came Katie’s voice suddenly. It snapped Lizzie out of her thoughts to refocus on the phone conversation. “Did Eric clearly answer your question if he was dating someone?”
Before Lizzie could even answer, Jade jumped on the next opportunity to basically talk shit about Eric. “Shit, you’re right! Maybe that’s it! Maybe that’s his secret! What if he’s actually a player and is using Liz to cheat on his girlfriend?” Jade. Not helping. “It’s not like he’s posted anything on his Insta about the last two days. Or anything involving you two hanging out. So, like, if he really is dating that Diana girl, then obviously he would want to keep all the time he’s been spending with you secret so that it doesn’t go back to her.”
“Wait, Jade, slow down. You’re jumping to conclusions here. And, besides, you’re missing the most crucial part of that whole conspiracy theory.” Way to go Katie for being the brave one.
“And what is that?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Liz’s roommate.”
Lacey gasped. “Oh, my God. You’re right. Wouldn’t she have, like, told her sister by now that her best friend was cheating on her? Hey, Liz? Has your roommate been treating you differently the last couple days?”
Lizzie had to think about this for a moment before she ultimately answered that, no, Olivia hasn’t changed her attitude around her one bit since last night. And if there was a chance that she could have told Diana about her and Eric, she didn’t show it.
“Although…” Lizzie started slowly, hesitantly. “I did see them talking privately in the backyard a couple hours ago…” That statement was enough for JKL to demand for more details.
“Jesus Christ, this bitch is sneaky,” Jade spat. It just seemed like the more Lizzie disclosed, the more annoyed her friend was getting. “It’s seriously like that two-faced slut last year. Acting all sweet and supportive, but at the same time rubbing it in your face that she outranks you no matter what you do. The bitch.”
Much of this content continued well into three in the morning. At that point, Lizzie had lost track of time and could only tell that it was getting late by the fact that her eyes were growing increasingly heavier the longer she sat outside. But her friends kept going. They seemed to have completely forgotten the time difference between them and Lizzie. It had reached a point when Ricki had to intervene and remind Lizzie that it was actually much later than she was acting. At which point, Lizzie had to leave the call. She was sure that despite the subject of their situation no longer on the call, they were still talking about her and Eric. She predicted she would be seeing a wall of text messages from them in the morning.
Truthfully, Lizzie couldn’t even go to sleep that night. Despite how exhausted she felt, her thoughts had her tossing and turning. What the hell was she going to do about Eric? There was no way she could face him in the morning...or any other day for that matter. Her friends said that he had made it clear he was probably not on the same page as her. But he saw her hand. He knew more about her than she knew about him. He had the upper hand between them and she was terrified he would use it against her. Why did she have to talk to him? Why did she have to listen to her Irene? Why did her all of her friends’ arguments sound valid?
Lizzie had been staring at the wall and up at the ceiling since half past five. In total, she probably got a total of two hours of sleep in-between her tossing and turning. But she couldn’t just get up and loiter around in the common room to kill time until she ultimately passed out. Eric was still there. At least, she figured he was based on the patterns she had observed since they met.
It was only at the threat of needing to use the bathroom did she take the chance of stepping outside her bedroom. The first thing she noticed after opening the door was that the double doors to the common room were open. Okay, that must mean that Eric was awake at least. A quick glance at the time on her phone told her that it was close to eight. Okay. That had to mean Eric was gone by now. He was never in the flat after eight. At least, not that she was aware of.
After her trip to the bathroom, she shuffled her tired feet down the hall once more and turned into the common room. She was cautious at first, just in case Eric was actually still in the flat. If she was still at the doorway and noticed he was there, she could easily turn right around and run back to her room. However, from her vantage point, she saw that the blankets were all folded up on the couch and she couldn’t find Eric’s backpack. Okay. Looks like he’s--“Morning…” Shit.
Lizzie was stunned silent as she turned her head slowly toward the kitchen. The moment her eyes fell on Eric - noticing that he was looking right at her - the same heart wrenching pain from last night returned. She couldn’t stand recalling the way he avoided her. She told herself that it wasn’t too late to turn around and go back to her room until he left.
Except that it was too late. He had already seen her. He had already greeted her. And, crap, she hadn’t said anything back. Was it too late to say something now?
She had no choice. It was either look like a coward and run back to her room, or pretend to be a big girl and act like the events of last night don’t phase her...even though they did...excruciatingly. So, with a hesitant step forward, she made her way toward the kitchen with intention to prepare something to eat for breakfast.
“Tea?” Eric had asked. Lizzie had just grabbed a clean bowl still on the drying rack. She looked at Eric briefly to check if he had been talking to her. There was no one else in the kitchen or the common room and he had glanced over at her. He must have been talking to her. “...Sure. Thanks.” Did she sound unphased enough?
She didn’t know about Eric, but Lizzie felt awkward with it being only the two of them in the kitchen. She tried her hardest to keep herself busy between sipping the tea he had prepared for her and eating small spoonfuls of the Weetabix she decided to have for breakfast. Side note, she was still adjusting to the whole concept of Weetabix...it was nothing like Quaker’s oatmeal. She did try to make light conversation with Eric; keeping up the whole unphased act. Was it working? She had no idea. Eric looked as unphased as she pretended to be. Did he really move on that quickly from what happened last night? Did she really not matter to him that he could act so…normal?
When Eric explained that he would not be dropping by the flat this week, Lizzie fought the urge to breathe a sigh of relief. She could not have asked for a better getaway from this whole situation with Eric. A whole week not seeing him was exactly what the doctor ordered. She could use that week to possibly take Jade’s advice and move--“Uhm.”
Lizzie looked up from her bowl to watch as Eric rummaged through his backpack for a notebook. She kept watching him as he flipped through the pages until he pulled out what looked to be two pieces of paper. As he walked back over to her at the kitchen island, Lizzie held her breath as a million scenarios ran through her head. Considering her current mental state, most of them didn’t end well.
Then he outstretched the papers to her and, oh, they were admission tickets. Lizzie stared dumbfounded at the tickets as he spoke. Wait, was this the play he said had its opening night this Friday? The one he had mentioned his company was currently rehearsing? And...he was inviting her to go see it? What?
“Oh...um...sure.” Smooth, Lizzie. “I-I mean, thanks,” she tried again, now reaching out for the tickets.
As she tugged the tickets toward her, ignoring how her fingers gently brushed against him accidentally, she felt a bit of resistance against her. She focused her attention on her hand holding the tickets just as Eric’s hand inched closer until it was holding hers. What?
Lizzie didn’t know what hurt more: how quickly her heart was beating or how long she had been holding her breath. She felt lightheaded and wired at the same time. But the one thing that remained constant the entire time was the fact that she clung to every word Eric was saying. That and how he was still holding her hand while he spoke. All together, Lizzie was confused. Sure, she heard every word Eric said, but she needed a moment to really comprehend. Also also, she wanted to make sure she wasn’t imagining everything he was saying in her head. Please, please let this all be real.
It had to be real. This can’t be all in her head. If this had been all in her head, the fantasy would have faded away by now and she would be all alone at this kitchen island with her sad excuse of a breakfast getting cold. But no. She was still sitting on this stool and Eric was still standing in front of her. His hand was still holding hers and she watched as the tickets in her hand shook slightly. No, come on now, don’t show weakness while there is still physical contact. Don’t let him see that last night had phased her. She was supposed to appear unphased--Oh, who was she kidding? He knew. He wouldn’t be apologizing for what happened last night if he didn’t know.
Now came the real dilemma; it was Lizzie’s turn to say something. Still shocked they were suddenly touching again, she slowly looked away from their hands to once more look up at him. Maybe she was imagining things - Lizzie, didn’t we agree that your imagining was not the best time for this? - but she thought she saw a twinge of nervousness on his face. Wait, was his hand shaking against hers?
“Y-Yeah,” she started clumsily. “Sure.” At least she said something. But, did this mean they were okay now? If this was all real, did this mean they were finally on the same page?
Before she knew it, Eric pulled his hand away and it was only the tickets she was holding in hers. She watched still slightly dumbfounded as he put on his backpack. Did he have to leave now? She had so many questions to ask him...if she could say more than just “sure”.
Then, almost as if he had teleported over to her, she felt herself being pulled forward away from the back of the stool. One arm wrapped around her, followed by another. The sudden scent that filled her nostrils was familiar and she had to fight the urge to melt into it. For now, she returned the hug.
When Eric finally left to do his morning errands than go to work, Lizzie was left alone in the kitchen. Her breakfast was now completely abandoned and the tea he had prepared for her was cold. But Lizzie just sat there, confused by the last twelve hours. But also, a growing warmth of happiness swelled in her. He had really said he wanted to see this through. It was gradually sinking in that it happened. The tickets to opening night of his show was proof of it.
Once she finally caught up to her senses, Lizzie placed the tickets down on the island and pulled out her phone. She took a photo of them on Snapchat to send to Irene and JKL. It was sometime after midnight in California so she wasn’t expecting any or all of them to see it until some hours later.
And then Jade’s name popped up on her phone on Facebook Messenger. “You told him you’re not going right?” Uh oh.
It took Lizzie a couple days to fully update Irene and JKL on all that happened that Sunday morning. While Irene, Lacey and Katie seemed relieved and happy that she was happy, Jade was still stubbornly sulking in her Anti-Eric Corner. And she did not let Lizzie forget it.
Just as he had explained, Eric didn’t stop by the flat that following week. This was fine by Lizzie. Since he had given her the heads up, she focused her attention and energy on work. The manuscript her editor had assigned her was a tough cookie to get through. Much of the material was...well...not that great to read. It was like a weird take on fantasy meets young adult; like if Lord of the Rings crossed with teen drama. And it just was not working.
When she wasn’t struggling through her manuscript or trying not to strangle her intern partner - if there was a picture definition for “pompous ass” it would be his ugly face - she was, well, obviously thinking about Eric. The first couple days after that Sunday morning left Lizzie terrified to reach out. During that time, she consulted Olivia on how Eric was doing during his company’s hell week. As a college athlete, she knew all too well the hell that was hell week. And with his extra shifts on top of that, she didn’t want to be a bother. At least, that was the plan until Olivia told her point blank that if they were supposed to be trying out being a couple, to act like a bloody couple. Lizzie may have grown slightly more terrified of her flatmate after that. But she at least followed her advice.
That Wednesday morning, Lizzie sent Eric a DM on his Instagram to check in; ask how he was holding up. It took him a bit to respond back, but he did and she was elated. Something was always better than nothing.
And just like that, the week flew by. On her lunch that Friday afternoon, she found two text messages from the flat waiting for her. The oldest one was from Olivia, reminding her that they need to be ready and leave the flat by five to make it to Eric’s opening night. As if she needed any more reminders on that. The second text was from Ricki in the flat’s group chat. She was giving them all the obligatory notice that her dad would be stopping by Saturday night to treat them to dinner. Something about celebrating the upcoming first day of school on Monday. Well, free food was free food.
As promised, Lizzie was ready to leave for the city at five. They made it to the theater early and with enough time to get comfortable in their seats. When Olivia caught Lizzie trying to find Eric, she was informed that he typically didn’t show his face until after the show. Okay, good to know. But at the same time, you can’t blame her for being a little too eager. She hadn’t seen Eric all week. She was allowed to miss him...more than she let on.
The theater was about empty by the time Eric popped out from the back to meet them. Almost immediately a bright smile spread across her lips. She wanted so badly to just meet him half and give him a hug. But she controlled herself. It wasn’t just her coming to see him. Olivia took the reins during their interaction. From their group photo to the brief time they had to catch up. Lizzie was honestly glad her flatmate was with them. As much as she missed Eric and was glad to finally see him, she realized the moment they moved past saying their congratulations on a successful opening night, she didn’t really have much else to say to him. At least, not things she wanted him to hear...yet.
From there, Eric split from the two of them to meet up with the rest of the troupe for an after party. Lizzie went back to missing him.
That Saturday before the scheduled dinner at the flat was busy for Lizzie. As it was the last weekend before school starts, she found herself completely booked with plans. After her Saturday morning meeting at her internship, she went to have brunch with Beth and Patricia. Around noon, she met up with Anna and Sophia at the shopping center for some last minute school shopping. Outfits, not school supplies. From there, they met up with the boys for a late lunch. Lizzie didn’t return to the flat until after four. An hour later, the vibrant presence that was Ricki’s father shook the flat with energy...and the smell of delicious food.
No one was allowed to help set up dinner, at least not any of the girls. So while Mr. Quinn pulled out trays of food from the multiple paper bags he had carried in, Lizzie took a spot at the dining table and spent this chill time scrolling through Instagram. She hadn’t had time to browse social media all day having gone from one hang out to the next.
She once again came across the post Olivia had made that morning about Eric’s opening night. The photo she had chosen was the group photo they had taken. For a split second, Lizzie was a ball of nerves. When she viewed the list of people that had liked the post, Diana was one of them.
Congrats, Ricky! Diana’s comment said with a red heart emoji. Wish I had been there!
She was in the middle of contemplating sending a screenshot of this post to JKL when Angel declared to the entire flat that Eric had arrived. Her ears perked at the sound of Eric’s name and her head immediately popped up from her phone to look for him. Naturally, when you’re in love attracted to someone, finding them in a group was an effortless task.
Her smile upon catching sight of Eric mirrored his. It made her heart leap at the possibility that he was just as happy to see her as she was to see him. Although, she would gladly argue that she missed him more.
Screw control. They were supposed to be exploring their feelings after all. How could she explore if her feelings for him were more than just a crush if she was going to be keeping her hands behind her back the entire time? After turning off her phone and placing it on the dining table, Lizzie got up from her seat and skipped over to where Eric was standing. She stretched out her arms with two more steps between them and immediately wrapped them tightly around his waist. His warmth and his scent enveloped her and she could have melted into him then and there. God, she missed him and this so much. Ages could have gone by and Lizzie wouldn’t have cared. Being in Eric’s arms was all she needed.
“Alright, dig in!” Mr. Quinn suddenly said, his voice breaking through her moment of pure bliss.
Lizzie pulled away from their embrace, her smile still across her lips. “I’m glad you made it!” she told him. “Come on, let’s eat.” She waited as he dropped his backpack in the living room - saying a brief greeting to Olivia - then slipped her hand in his and led the way to the kitchen. She was quick to grab plates for the both of them, handing one over to him. As she scooped food for the both of them, she briefly glanced up to find that Mr. Quinn was looking at them with a strange look on his face. And even when he realized that she had caught him, he did not once falter or look away. Quirky man, Mr. Quinn is.
She led them over to the dining table where she had left her phone. But instead of picking it up, she simply pushed it out of the way of their plates then refocused her attention on Eric. “How was work?” she started in her effort to begin conversation. She hadn’t properly spoken to Eric all week, she was ready to catch up. Plus, she was ready to do more than rave about his show like she had last night. Basically, she had spent the last twenty-four hours preparing bullet points of topics so that she could spend as much time with Eric as possible. Sorry not sorry, Olivia.
Throughout the night, the flat was in constant movement. Flatmates moving from one spot to the next to interact with someone or other. All the while, the food was being devoured until everyone could hardly take another bite. However, the one thing that remained constant was that Lizzie never once left Eric’s side. By the end of the night, they had managed to gravitate from the dining table to the long couch. They had talked through almost all of Lizzie’s mental bullet points. And honestly, she could have thought of more if it wasn’t for the fact that she noticed how Eric’s energy seemed to have depleted almost drastically the moment they collapsed on the couch. When Mr. Quinn finally said his farewells and left the flat successfully empty handed, Lizzie balanced Eric’s head on her shoulder to keep him from rolling off. Poor thing must be so exhausted.
She didn’t attempt to grab more minutes with him that night. With Olivia’s help, they persuaded Eric to pluck up enough energy to change out of his work clothes so that he could wash up and change before going to sleep. While they waited for him to return from the bathroom, Lizzie helped Malcolm with dishes while Olivia grabbed some clean tupperware from the cabinet and loaded them up with leftovers before putting them in the refrigerator.
Since everyone in the flat agreed that they were all suffering from food comas, it was safe to say that as soon as everything was cleaned up in the kitchen, they were all ready to call it a night. Before she retreated to her room, Lizzie made a detour to the living room to bid Eric good night.
On Sunday morning, Lizzie woke up fairly early with the intention of catching Eric before he had to leave for work. She wasn’t exactly sure if he needed to leave earlier like last Sunday. When she stepped out of her room - feeling more refreshed compared to last Sunday - she caught Eric in the middle of preparing his morning tea. A smile immediately appeared on her face. “Good morning,” she greeted cheerily, walking over to him to offer him a hug. This was nice.
Turns out Eric had some time to stay and hang out at the flat before work. He explained to her that last Sunday’s morning errands were because it was opening night week.
However, Lizzie learned that seeing Eric at the flat on a Sunday after ten the latest was strange to the rest of the flatmates. Olivia in particular stood at the doorway to the common room for an extra couple seconds just staring at them both before tossing a slightly groggy comment about something involving bringing the leftovers in the refrigerator. She had to be talking to Eric.
For the rest of Sunday after Eric left for work, Lizzie spent it on her phone on her weekly calls to friends and family. With school starting the next day, many of them were excited to talk about it.
Since it had been a while since she last visited the campus, Lizzie was a bit fuzzy on the commute that Monday morning. Luckily Ricki had an early morning appointment with her advisor and offered to commute with her. As expected, Lizzie was a ball of nerves. Even if she had made a good handful of friends, this was still her first day at a new school. She could already predict she was going to get lost at least once today.
Between surviving her first day jitters that Monday and realizing how much she would need to adjust to her time management during her internship that Tuesday, any thoughts of Eric were a welcome relief. She knew that he wasn’t going to be swamped with covering shifts or extra rehearsals, so she was anxiously waiting for four to arrive so she could head home.
Lizzie had abandoned all efforts to hang out with Beth and Patricia after they got off from work so that she could go home. She arrived at the flat earlier than normal. As expected, no one else was home...save for the sleeping lump on the couch.
Fine, she’ll admit it. She was gazing at the sleeping Eric for a while before he showed signs that he was about to wake up. “Good morning, sleepyhead~” she teased, scooting closer to him on the shorter couch. “Did you eat lunch? There might be some leftover Chinese from when Angel had this meeting the other day. Or I can order us a couple sandwiches from the cafe? Get it delivered.”
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