So, a few things:

1) We're back with more Viola's POV.
2) This chapter is really dense, but bare with me. Lots of flashbacks too.
3) I have this unquenchable need to develop Olivia's character beyond what the movie provided. I hope there are others who share this need, but if it isn't your cup of tea, let me know! I won't be offended, promise.

She had tried to keep up her promise to Olivia. She really did. But with each passing day, she'd see Olivia from afar and chicken out.

She did uphold one part of the promise, though. Instead of burying her thoughts and feelings, she actively indulged in them. Instead of feeding into the instinct to run and wrap herself around Duke, she kept her distance from him, which he hadn't seemed to mind since he was still adamant on keeping her at arms length as well.

(It hurt to be on such shaky ground with someone she considered her best friend.)

At school, Olivia was always surrounded by so many chatting girls; her hair and clothes immaculate, disposition contained and subdued. There was an air that followed Olivia everywhere that you could almost taste in her presence. It was the same aura that Viola would imagine someone of royal blood would carry, and it could be slightly intimidating.

In fact, a lot of the time she felt like the court jester in Olivia's presence, going along with that analogy. Olivia's boundless grace made Viola feel clunky- even when she wasn't wearing five layers of clothes and an itchy wig. It used to cause underlying resentment in Viola, but that was long past.

It just didn't make sense to her. Olivia regarded her in such a way that shattered any illusion of unattainability, and Viola didn't particularly know what to do with Olivia's enthusiasm. No girl had ever acted like that with Viola.

Why would Olivia want to give up her status- how could she be so ready to do so? Because it would be ignorant of Olivia to think that things wouldn't change if they were to..explore the magnetism they shared.

And Viola didn't know Olivia's parents well, but she knew enough.

(Viola made an exaggerated sound of satisfaction after finding the jar of Skippy peanut butter sitting prettily in the Lennox kitchen pantry.

Olivia laughed and hit her arm in response to the sound, the two of them giggling and scuffling around the kitchen. They kept colliding into each other like a pair of bumper cars, and Olivia's perfume had invaded Viola's senses for the past ten minutes, making her feel punch drunk.

In fact, she was barely aware enough of her surroundings to smell the cigar smoke and hear the news droning on in the connecting living room- something about rising oil prices due to the economic effects of Hurricane Catalina. Katrina?

She knows Olivia's father is in there, sitting on one of the plush white chaise sofas with his legs crossed at the ankle, shiny Oxfords smudging the surface of the crystal coffee table.

Olivia had given him a sparkling greeting when they'd stumbled into the house. Her father just gave her a very dull response that had Viola shifting awkwardly, but Olivia didn't seem fazed in the slightest.

Mr. Lennox was a tall, well-groomed man with a full head of blonde, nearly white hair. He had hard blue eyes that would be quite beautiful if they weren't always half shut in a scowling squint. As it was, his face was always pinched and unforgiving. The only times Viola had ever seen his eyes soften were those rare moments when he looked at Olivia, watching his daughter chatter brightly or dote on him like her mother taught her to do.

His eyes closely resembled Olivia's more that way- softened. Maybe if he always looked that kind, Viola could speak to him more comfortably.

Since that wasn't the case, however, Viola didn't bother saying hello, knowing by now that Mr. Lennox didn't prescribe her engagement, unlike Mrs. Lennox, who's favorite hobby was to unveil Viola's poor cotillion skills. Oh yes, Mrs. Lennox liked to put Viola on display for everyone to judge like a circus animal.

"Viola, give it! My toast is going cold!" Olivia leaned even more heavily on her to get the jar, and her laughing breath hit the side of Viola's face deliciously. Olivia just kept getting closer and more worked up, making her want to tease the blonde even more.

"Nuh-uh, apparently this is a precious commodity in this kitchen. What have you got in exchange?" Viola flicked her hair over her shoulder and outstretched her other hand.

Olivia huffed, putting her hands on her hips then, looking very unimpressed. "Why would I have to pay you if you got it from me!"

"Don't blame me, honey, that's the capitalist machine for ya. Sweet-as-sugar people like you won't survive."

As expected, Olivia scoffed and went for the peanut butter again. Viola was about to give it to her, but then Olivia did something unexpected. Her hands came up to hook around the back of Viola's neck and she arched into Viola's hold intimately. It was practically a kissing position, bringing Olivia's lips to hers and her eyes as well, and Viola's hands instinctively brushed by her waist.

Caribbean blue eyes locked on hers, commanding a result that served its purpose because that stare always unnerved Viola beyond cognitive thought. Olivia knew it, too, because it was always followed with a pleased curl of her lips.

"Viola." It sounded like a mandate. It sounded like goading. It sounded way too knowing for Viola's comfort.

She was scared to exhale they were so close. Olivia had no such fear as she breathed a small "please" against her lips.

"Uhm." Who needs the capacity to think anyway. Viola's heartbeat roared in her ears and for a beautiful moment she was sure Olivia was going to start something very off limits- well- even more off limits than what was happening.

"The state of California Legislature passes a bill by twenty-one to fifteen in the Senate, forty-one to thirty-five in the Assembly to legalize same-sex marriage, becoming the first state legislature in the U.S. to do so without judicial prompting-"

"Liberal hippies. 'Authority to override' absolutely preposterous." Mr. Lennox's cross tone cut into Viola's preoccupied consciousness. "What in God's name do we have the U.S. Constitution for if they can get away with breaking federal law." He wasn't speaking particularly loud, but it penetrated any other noise in the rooms.

Viola's overactive heart actually stopped. It was like night and day, seeing Olivia's face change. Her body was three feet away from her before Viola could say "Justin is a horrible goalie".

"Same fucking sex marriage-" he scoffed and snuffed out his cigar in the elaborate glass ashtray. Gracefully unfolding his long legs, he rose to his feet. Even though he was turned away, Viola could imagine the sneer curled around his lips. (She didn't like thinking that maybe he shared that with Olivia as well.) "If it were up to them, I'd be able to legally marry a goddamn monkey by next year."

Olivia's refined fingers curl into fists in front of her on the marble countertop, and Viola didn't know what to do because she hadn't helped matters by shoving her off.

Shutters closed shut behind her eyes, keeping Viola out.

Olivia's father headed for another section of the house with a stack of mail in his hand, but not before draining his coffee cup in the sink. It left him close to the two of them, and he finally took notice of them by kissing Olivia's forehead and giving Viola a curious look. Viola quickly gave him one of her (hopefully) nicest fake smiles.

"Hello, girls," he acknowledges, not unpleasantly. "Having fun? TV is open." Before she knows it, he's gone and Olivia is still looking down at her hands.

There's a definitive gap where neither of them says a word despite something moving over them. Viola slid the peanut butter to her, but Olivia just put the top back on and claims she isn't hungry, actually.)

Everything that ever irked her about Olivia's future-housewife-of-a-rich-Republican act all those months ago was now flipped on it's head. Olivia may be good at playing her part, but she had no other option but to be. Her parents gave her the means to thrive in their conditions, but Olivia seemed less and less apt to play her role these days.

("You look pretty horrible today, Liv."

"Yes, thank you, I didn't sleep well, Maria. Thank you so much for pointing that out." She performed her cutthroat Lennox eye roll.

"Then why did you get up at 7am to watch Viola's soccer-" Olivia's eyes flashed dangerously and Maria cut her question off with a cough.

Viola slowly stopped shoveling mashed potato in her mouth and curiously watched Olivia shift in her seat.

"I've been having more fights with parents. Nothing I do is right," she finished the statement by biting into her carrot with a loud snap.

The girls gave obligatory condolences and words of sympathy, but Viola frowned at Olivia with worry drenching her expression. Olivia flicked her eyes up to meet hers.)

Viola thought about how she'd never seemed to appreciate the child-like trust Olivia gave her so easily.

("You're the first guy at school who hasn't tried anything with me."

"Trust me, you're not my type."

"Well, why not?" Viola quickly looked up to find Olivia's brightly lit expression now closed off into something more ill at ease. It was then Viola realized she had a problem on her hands.

When before Olivia must have been on her tippy toes, leaning closer into their conversation, she lowered herself back down like a drooping flower.

"You know, it's just..." Viola thought of the awkwardness of the situation if Olivia only knew her true gender. She'd surely be embarrassed-mortified even. Viola didn't want to cause that. "...I don't think of you in that way. We're friends, you know."

Please, don't tell me this is happening. I am making a mess of things.

Olivia looks at her in that same intense way she always does, taking in what she'd just been told.

The silence let Viola's mind get away from her, "You're actually one of the few people here that I feel comfortable around."

"I feel the same way about you." She says it reverently, eyes steady and faithful on hers.

Viola doesn't realize that she just professed something significant in Olivia's mind. They both had. )

Olivia always looks at Viola like she wants to give everything to her all at once and receive whatever Viola gives her in the same second. Viola hadn't ever imagined that another girl would look at her like that- had figured it was just her disguise as a male that'd made Olivia act in such a way.

The looks hadn't gone away at all when the crossdressing was months behind them, just got more genuine.

("I'm just glad you're here," Olivia lets out in a rush, flattening her palm against the material of her dress for the fourteenth time. "I've never brought anyone to one of these before. I honestly never thought of doing it. I'm sure this is not how you want to spend your Sunday, and I'm sure Mother isn't keen on anyone outside of the family attending, but I mean, she can't really say anything about me bringing you. Curtis wouldn't have minded and that's all I care about..."

In a dress of her own, Viola reaches out to take one of her hands before it can perform the soothing gesture again.

"You're alright, Liv. " Viola gives the gentlest smile she's ever given to the girl beside her. Begging eyes drink in the security it provides. "Thank you for asking me to come."

They stand at the outskirts of the cemetery as the rest of the patrons, most older and finely dressed, mosey over to the leading commemorative service. Twelve yards away, the headstone of one "Curtis Lennox" lay, awaiting his sister's arrival, now with one other.)

It was sometime two weeks later when, in chem lab, Olivia scribbled an "I want to kiss you" in Viola's open lab notebook and looked at her like she knew Viola would instantly flush upon reading it.

Olivia, who's father caresses her cheek and looks at her as if she was his greatest possession and believes it because she'd always been a daddy's girl.

Could Viola let this happen?

She felt like her brain was broken from mulling so hard over this. She was known for being a 'do now, think later' girl. Not a 'think now, do later maybe because it could be devestating' girl.

"P-pass the, um, test tube?" God, who knew she could be so out of her element just because a pretty girl wants to kiss her.

Olivia had carefully brushed her fingers with Viola's whenever she was giving her anything, or even when she wasn't, and the bell saved her from having a damn heatstroke right there in Chem class.

Unfortunately for her sanity, Olivia had promptly manhandled her into the nearest girl's restroom to make do on the note. She'd kissed her so well behind the stalls that Viola wasn't sure if the heat in her belly would ever cool.

She was pretty sure she was being seduced, and Olivia wasn't being subtle or holding back around her anymore.

Every time she remembered the little note with Olivia's loopy handwriting was still in her notebook, inside her bag, she got an extra spring in her step.

"You're happy for someone who looks like they got into a fight with Jackie Chan."

"Ha ha, very funny. Hello to you too, Maria." Viola quipped, mood not deterred from the girl's appearance. Maria just reminded her of Olivia, and Olivia reminded her of flowers and ice cream and stomach tingles. Viola tugged at the straps of her bag and grinned.

"Uh-huh," the shorter brunette snickered back.

"Whatever, you should see the other guy."

"From what I saw, he left completely unscathed."

"Yeah, well, I meant you should see him because he's a pathetic pig-face cheater. Plus, he was trying to get my number even though he'd just displayed how much of a misogynistic prick he is," Viola griped. He had been. Their latest soccer game was not a gentle one.

Maria laughed at her, but Viola expected no less. They kept walking for a while towards their shared English class.

"Your nose doesn't look too hot." Maria had a proficient skill in stating the obvious. "So it wasn't broken, then?"

There was deep discoloration under her eyes because of her nose injury, and the actual bridge was slightly swollen and cut deep purple. She'd wanted to cover it with concealer, but the doc had told her that was a no-no until later in the healing process. "Why would you keep reinjuring your nose? Don't you care for your pretty looks?" he'd said as if he'd never played soccer before. The thought made Viola laugh.

"No, just a fracture. It'll heal fine."

"That's a relief, you don't want your face to be any more deformed than it already looks." Maria jokes.

"Ha ha." Viola rolled her eyes, but then found herself smiling and blushing remembering how Olivia had offhandedly said it looked hot when she'd first saw her the morning after the game.

("Olivia. Stop looking. I know you keep looking at it; I see your eyes move," Viola whined, unashamed that she sounded like a child. She lifted a hand to cover her damaged face.

"It's really not that bad, Vi."

"I look just as disheveled as I always feel," Viola had grumbled dejectedly.

Olivia's eyes had just roamed over her and she said in her detached sciencey voice, "No, not disheveled. I'm glad you're okay but there's something appealing about it: you wearing a skirt with a busted up face."

Then she flashed a look that struck heat down Viola's whole body that lingered far too long before the blonde twirled around as if she didn't just make Viola's brain flip flop.)

Maria frowned at her blush. "What are you smiling about? God, you all have been acting weird lately. I don't remember what a normal day at Illyria looks like anymore."

"You're such a drama queen about everything."

"Oh, that is rich. Look who's talking. The Queen herself thou which brings the drama," Maria drawls, "You have a main character complex, Viola, don't even try it."

Viola's jaw drops open, but she really shouldn't be so shocked. Maria's got a sharp tongue on her and she could get really protective.

Although, maybe she was on to something. Perhaps Viola had been looking at it wrong- thinking of herself as the court jester and Olivia the Queen.

"Maybe I am a Queen too," Viola whispered.

Maria looked at her weird, but just shook her head as if to say, "I'm not even going there".

And that was the end of it. Because as long as no crazy crossdressing scenario was happening at Illyria, all was normal. As long as Olivia Lennox wasn't suddenly getting kissed by Duke Orsino's girlfriend at parties or kissing girls in the bathroom next to Chem Lab, all was on track.

The town was talking. Murmuring. But not too much that Olivia couldn't do damage control. But it didn't seem like the blonde was interested in the slightest in dispelling the rumors.

With everything that had become clear in the past couple of days, two very obvious, very big walls still stood between them named Viola and society.

For so long, she'd been trying to avoid opening herself to feeling anything romantic for Olivia. Opening that door led to other feelings of repression. She hated feeling confined, but she couldn't see how she and Olivia could exist without the shackles of public opinion. Family opinion. Society's opinion. It was all very petrifying and large.

And here she'd been, thinking she knew herself when really she was harboring same-sex tendencies or whatever her general practitioner asks her every check-up.

But.

Olivia had said she wanted them to try it. Olivia, one of the smartest, most beautiful girls she knew, had thought about it all and still wanted her. Damn the consequences.

For some reason, remembering this fact gave Viola a great deal of comfort, and suddenly the lonely, imprisoned feeling eased up on her throat.