InsaneJournal

Everything should have been fine.

Can we just blame last week on the full moon?

It wasn’t an unreasonable request. But — and maybe it was petty — Joey felt like it was a cop out. Like if Frankie truly believed her and was sorry for not believing her, there should have been an apology. But there wasn’t one. Because maybe Frankie didn’t even really believe her. Maybe Frankie just realized that she didn’t matter enough to bother sorting it out with.

So. Everything wasn’t fine. Unable to see a way to make it fine, Joey did precisely what she always did — curled up and soaked Olivia’s shirt in her tears.

Olivia hated seeing Joey like this. Always, but especially when it was the second time in such a short window. Especially when it was something she didn’t know how to fix for her.

She rubbed her hand on Joey’s back in circles. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“Everything sucks,” was the very eloquent mid-sob response. She fished her phone out of her pocket, handing it over to Olivia after opening her text chain with Frankie. “She still doesn’t believe me.” Joey wasn’t even sure of that, but her tone was filled with conviction regardless.

Olivia took the phone with her free hand, reading the conversation carefully. And she agreed. Frankie sending question after question didn’t read to Olivia like she believed Joey, either.

She locked the phone as she put it back down beside her friend. “I think — I don’t know, Joey. I think her being as upset as she was is understandable because of the full, but I don’t think it’s fair to you to forget it all because of that.”

“I already said it was okay.”

“But it’s not okay.” Olivia wasn’t going to motion at her tear-stained face to prove her point, but she thought about it. “I think you can tell her that you thought more about it and it’s not that easy for you to get over. That it really hurts that she didn’t believe you.”

“It’s easier if it’s just okay,” Joey explained, miserably. “I can’t make her believe me.”

“It’s not up to you to make her believe you. You’re telling the truth.” Olivia pulled her in closer. “But she should know that her not believing you hurt you so that she can work on whatever made her doubt you.”

“No.” Joey hid her face against Olivia’s neck, lowering her voice further before continuing. “She can’t fix what made her doubt me.”

“Joey…” There was a hint of a question in Olivia’s voice, even though she didn’t really know what she was asking.

“Everything would be fine if I was one of them,” Joey said, in the quietest voice yet.

Olivia didn’t know what to say to that. She didn’t know if there was anything she could say, or should say, or that Joey wanted to hear. She didn’t think it was true, but it felt like she’d heard something she wasn’t supposed to. And it broke her heart.

So Olivia wrapped her other arm around Joey as well and pulled her in as close as she could.

Joey continued to do the only thing she could — cry.

Everything wasn’t fine.