𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 [ Adopted by Elizabeth Olsen ]

Chapter 6: "Griffin"

⚠️TW:⚠️ Mention of scars, social anxiety, attempted suicide and self harm

Sorry, this is quite a triggering chapter, let me know if you want me to add a summary at the end so you don't have to read the triggering parts

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Nova's pov:

"Of course honey", she smiled. "If you're not too busy, could you perhaps go to the post office and fetch a parcel for me, if that's not too much bother?" Miss Riley kindly asked me. "Of course, I was planning on heading to the gym anyway, so I can just pop by, that's not a problem", I said.

Yeah. After a day of working at the barn, I still went to the gym. Riding wasn't quite enough exercise for me, so in order to become a better rider, I had made the decision to start working out.

It had worked out (pun not intended) well, and I had gotten a lot stronger, along with finding riding a lot easier as well. Core strength especially helps a lot with your riding.

I quickly went upstairs to my room and changed from my riding clothes to my workout clothes, along with putting my hair up in a ponytail and filling a bottle with water. I wore a hoodie with some yoga pants and a pair of sneakers.

If you're wondering why I didn't just wear a t-shirt or a sports bra, that's because my back and my thighs are filled with scars. I was in a dark place a while back and I needed to feel something. I'm not proud of them, but I guess I have kind of accepted them as a part of me.

Well, they weren't all me, the ones on my back were some lovely memories of my father. It was an easy place on my body for him to do it, as it was easy to cover up and it also hurt a lot.

No one except my internet friend, Griffin (and Ally of course), knows. I never confided in anyone except them. I met Griffin on the internet when I was at my lowest and we immediately hit it off. He's the same age as me and we're both gay, so it's safe to say we became besties pretty quickly.

He was the reason I didn't commit, he would always call me in the afternoon, well, the mornings for him, he lives in the states. Griffin was my anchor, my safety blanket, and even though I've never met him, he is my best friend, except for Luna maybe.

Yeah... I know Griffin. I'm sorry you got beat by a horse.

Anyway, Griffin managed to pull the broken pieces out of the depths of myself and somehow put them back together. He had then introduced me to the Marvel movies, and I had become hooked. I watched all of them with him on facetime, he watched them for Bucky, I for Wanda.

I guess we both liked the broken characters with a messed up past, what can I say, we have the same taste. After watching "Age of Ultron", I had googled the actress who played Wanda, and Elizabeth Olsen had popped up.

I quickly fell in love with her. Her sweetness, her humour, she became a light in my day. I watched her interviews on repeat, and most of her other movies too. Well, the appropriate ones.

I learned my lesson after watching "OldBoy" and becoming traumatized for life. It's safe to say I didn't watch that movie again.

After I learned that Lizzie had social anxiety, I idolized her even more. Despite having social anxiety, she had managed to have a career and become a famous actress. I had thought for a long time, that because I had social anxiety, I would never be able to get a good job because of my panic attacks and inability to be in huge crowds of people or on a stage.

Lizzie had shown me that despite how many obstacles you encounter in life, there is a way to get past them, and you can still follow your dreams and become your best version of yourself.

Those were the thoughts that circled my mind as I walked to the gym. I did my normal core and balance workout, along with some upper body. It didn't take very long, maybe 30 minutes, and I was soon on my way to the post office to fetch Miss Riley's parcel.

I walked into the post office, looking like a bit of a mess. Baby hairs were falling out of my ponytail, and I was a sweaty mess. With social anxiety, I was quite self-conscious, and I didn't really like walking around in public looking like a mess, so I tried to be quick and keep my head down.

The guy at the post office was really nice, his name is Ben and I've talked to him a bit before when I've been here to retrieve other stuff for Miss Riley. It's weird, I'm normally really anxious around people and making small talk is the worst thing in the world, but talking to Ben feels so normal.

After getting the parcel, I started walking back to the orphanage. I put my headphones on and blasted some music, I didn't really want to be disturbed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone familiar.

I looked up and saw Lizzie's sister, Mary-Kate a couple of meters in front of me, carrying lots of bags. Looks like she was running some errands. She was busy looking at her phone, so I just hastily walked by, not really in the mood for greetings or small talk.

I kept my head down, my gaze fixed upon the ground, but I saw her head shoot up when I walked by, and she seemed to recognize me. I saw her mouth moving, most likely in some sort of greeting, but I just kept on walking.

When I finally rounded a corner, I allowed myself to let out a sigh of relief. I didn't want anyone else feeling bad for me, especially now that both Lizzie and Mary-Kate knew about my social anxiety.

The walk back to the orphanage felt a lot longer than usual, as I was constantly looking over my shoulder to see if Mary-Kate was following me. She wasn't. Not as far as I could see anyway.

Back at the orphanage, I put Miss Riley's parcel in her office before heading up to my room to talk to Griffin. I sat down on my bed and pressed his contact. The phone rang four times before he answered it.

"Heeeyyy wassup!! How's my favourite person doing?" I heard from the phone. "Well hello to you too G, I'm doing good", I laughed. I saw him walking around the house until he sat down on the sofa.

"So, did anything interesting happen today?" He asked me and I just smirked. "Oooohhh, I know what that face means, I wanna hear everything!"

"Umm... how do I say this... Alright, I'll just say it, I met Elizabeth Olsen", I squealed in excitement. "Hold on, really?" He cheered, which earned him an annoyed shout from his mother.

"Yeah, she had a lesson at my barn today and Mr. Miller assigned me to help her", I smirked. "Dude! You're so lucky, if I met Sebastian Stan I would probably pass out", he started ranting, but then looked at me with a serious expression.

"Whatever you're thinking right now, that she doesn't care about you or that she thinks you're weird, none of that's true okay, because I know you're thinking it. Let me make it clear, you deserved meeting her and talking to her, I'm sure she loved you", he reassured me.

See, that's the thing with Griffin, he knows my thoughts almost before I even know them myself, it's weird.

We spent some time together, just chatting about everyday life, he told me about this guy he has a crush on, and he made me promise he would make a move soon. I spent the rest of the afternoon laughing along with my best friend, and I forgot about all of my worries from earlier.

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So, a new character has been introduced! What do we think about Griffin? >>>>>

How are you doing? It's finally Saturday (if you're reading this as soon as it comes out), what did you get up to this week?

We take care of ourselves here, so remember to eat something and stay hydrated <3

Love, Frida xx