Chapter Text
Elle had been back in Seattle for less than an hour before things started to go completely wrong. She knew that the second traffic stopped and she was forced to run in heels, which, let’s be honest, for her wasn’t all that hard, trying to make it to the Winter (In)Formal before it ended was just the beginning of it.
She’d run into CarpetMart seeing the banner showing Liz as the performer instead, hearing her voice echo throughout the building from the speakers, she could help the smile that came to her face. She’d pushed and shoved her way through to try and get a view of Liz, and the second that their eyes locked onto each other over the crowd of people Elle knew that she’d made the right decision coming back. But when she’d run into Dustin only moments later the joy and pounding of her heart faded and she was instead met with a sense of panic.
Elle had been hoping that she wouldn’t have to see the boy until she’d gone back to school again, but she should have known better than to think she could avoid him. They’d talked or more so argued, and he’d kissed her. She had pulled away and it was then that Miles chose that wonderfully timed moment to stand not 5 feet away from them and make direct eye contact with Elle. This in turn caused both Dustin and Miles to flee.
She didn’t go after either of them.
There was something to be said about standing alone in the middle of a bunch of rowdy teenagers with music blasting all around them. Elle wasn’t being pushed or shoved this time instead going with the flow of the people and keeping herself aware as she stood in the group of people.
She didn’t feel anything in that moment other than the beat of the music coming from the floor and making its way through body. She looked around at the people surrounding her, there was no sign of either of the boys and for some reason it made her feel at ease. Looking up to her best friend in Seattle singing to the whole of the crowd yet still looking at Elle made her feel even better.
A smile spread across both of the girls faces as Liz sang out the last lyric of the last song of the night. Elle took that last note as her queue to push through the crowd of people until she reached the entryway backstage.
Liz was packing away her guitar along with the rest of the band, but that didn’t stop the squeal that Elle let out the second that Liz saw her. Elle quickly ran and hugged her before the other girl could even register that Elle was there.
Liz let out a small chuckle, squeezing back forgetting altogether that she was still technically supposed to be mad at Elle. It wasn’t until the hug went on for far longer than it was supposed to that Elle pulled away but kept her hands on Liz’s biceps keep her close. Quickly soon after Elle started rambling out apology after apology for what had happened with the Cosmo magazine article and leaving so abruptly without telling anyone, and anything else that she could possibly think to apologize for.
Liz would never admit it but it was almost endearing enough to make her completely forget that they weren’t the only ones in the room.
The bass player that Elle had seen earlier up on stage was still in the room, finishing packing up her things while their drummer was still up on the stage finishing the packing.
A small smirk was splayed out across her lips as she spoke, “You and your girlfriend are free to leave if you want,” she turned to go back up on the stage, “We’re good to finish packing up here, you two look like you have some catching up to do.”
Before the two girls knew it she was gone behind the curtain up on the stage. It only now dawned onto Liz how close the two of them were actually standing. Heat rose up Liz’s face, and she knew for a fact that she was most definitely the same as color her guitar right now. Elle didn’t seem to mind in the slightest but Liz took a quick step back causing Elle’s hands to slip off her arms.
It was in that loss of contact that Elle’s mind began to spiral. Her mind telling her that the smiles that they had shared while Liz was on stage were actually meant for someone else. Telling her that Liz hadn’t actually forgiven her and was just trying to be polite by letting her hug the other girl. That the comment the bassist had made about them being ‘girlfriends’ was so off-putting to Liz that she physically had to make space between them.
Before Elle knew what she was saying another apology left her mouth. “I’m sorry if this was too much,” she apologized her voice getting quieter causing Liz to snap back to attention.
Liz shook her head quickly. She could tell by the look in Elle’s eyes that she had messed up but before she could get a word out to tell her that everything was fine and she’d forgiven her a long time ago Kimberly showed up at the door.
“You did good out there,” she smiled brightly, completely ignoring Elle.
The room went silent for a moment as Liz looked back and forth between the two.
“Thanks,” Liz looked over at her with a smile on her face.
Elle chose that moment to quietly apologize again before leaving as quickly as she could. She knew that she’d messed up, she knew that the whole school hated her again, but she also knew that Seattle was the only place that actually made her feel something. She thought that her time in LA would have been enough to at least ease the anger a bit, but evidently that was not the case.
In retrospect, Elle knew that she had done this to herself. She’d thought making everyone else more like her would mean that she wouldn’t feel so alone in a city she knew nothing about. In her mind that was her way of adapting, but she wasn’t doing that at all. She thought was doing them a favor at the time. But she knew that wasn’t the case anymore, she’d known that for a long time.
Elle had hoped that coming back and admitting and explaining everything to Liz would make things even the slightest bit better. That if she had one person on her side, the person that she really cared about, on her side then maybe she could push through it all. But it turned out that Liz was doing completely fine without her in her life. At least from what she could tell by the look that Kimberly was giving her.
She didn’t know why it made her so angry, why her heart broke a little bit at the smile that Liz had given her. But as Elle walked out the back exit of CarpetMart into the cold, damp streets of Seattle she couldn’t help but feel that maybe she’d made yet another mistake.
It wasn’t until she was at the end of the alleyway that Elle heard her name being called out. At first she froze, it was the middle of the night in Seattle, and if she had learned anything about being here even if it was for just a short amount of time it was that you were supposed to keep on walking. Which is what she did, until she heard her name again and this time recognized the voice immediately.
When Elle turned back around she saw Liz jogging down the alleyway with her guitar case and jacket in hand. It had started drizzling and strands of her dark curly hair were stuck to her forehead, it took everything Elle had to quietly resist the urge to move the strands back into place.
“What happened to Kimberly?” Elle asked.
“Doesn’t matter,” Liz shook her head, “I told her that I had to talk to you.”
Elle was silent for a moment, she didn’t know what to say, she’d already apologized for everything she could think of and she was worried that if she opened her mouth again that she would just repeat the same thing over and over again.
“I forgive you by the way,”
Elle’s eyes widened in shock, “You do?”
Liz nodded and pursed her lips, “I don’t think I was every actually that mad at you to be honest.”
The biggest smile that Liz had ever seen spread across Elle’s face in that moment. She had really thought that she’d lost the only person that she really did care for in Seattle for a moment there. Elle was fully aware of Dustin, Miles, and Shannon but Elle was pretty sure that they would take a little more convincing than Liz did.
As Elle pulled Liz in for yet another hug the only words to escape Liz’s lips were a tiny chuckle and an, “Oh, okay then,” before she wrapped her arms loosely around Elle and hugged her back.
Liz could tell that Elle was putting all the words that she didn’t know how to say into the hug, which is probably why she let it go on. She really didn’t know what it was about Elle and their hugs lasting for way too long but Elle had just come back from being in LA and if Liz was being honest, she really did miss her while she was gone.
“Elle?” she whispered, right next to Elle’s ear.
“Hmm?” A quiet hum came from Elle’s place with her head in the crook of Liz’s shoulder.
Liz didn’t know exactly what she was going to say, but she ended up coming up with, “Do you need a ride home or?”
Which was incredibly pathetic but oh well.
Elle let go of Liz with a final quick squeeze and a smile on her face before replying, “Yes actually I do.”
Liz let out a small chuckle at the action and smiled back before nodding and walking out into where the streetlights lit up the sidewalks, letting the other girl follow her back to her car.