It would have been simple for Betty to accept that offer. She’d just have Juggy to herself again and Audrey would “back off.” Except that wasn’t what would really happen. She’d already been through enough to know that. She’d get part of Juggy back, but Audrey would keep what she’d taken. Whenever they were together, it wouldn’t just be like normal friends. They’d make guilty eyes at each other across the room and avoid sitting too close together. She’d be suspicious every time that she wasn’t around, and imagine them together behind her back. It would consume every interaction.
That was just how the world worked. Except it wasn’t anymore. None of this was how the world worked. This was all just one great big story. Something that they could embrace, but not reject. It was an absurd situation that she’d accepted for their mistakes, but was trying to reshape for herself. If she could just let go of the constraints on herself, and give herself the leeway she always granted everyone else then everything could be different.
“No.” Betty said, shaking her head. Going against her carefully outlined life plans sent nervous butterflies through her, but she persisted despite that. The rejection now would be worse than if she’d never suggested anything different than the natural solution that had been proposed, but a solution they knew would fail wasn’t a solution. “That’s not fair to you, it’s not fair to Juggy, and it’s not fair to me. You have something together, and I don’t want to be the one who takes that away.” She offered, voice still tight with emotion. “Maybe taking something away isn’t the solution?”