herophine - Trouvaille

Chapter 11

Los Ángeles, 2023

- You should be thankful that I was the one coming instead of mom and dad. - She says calmly.

- Yeah, sure. - Josephine answers with a monotonous tone. - But I didn't ask you to come.

- Okay, listen. - Katherine is already sick of Jo's passive attitude. - I might have missed one Christmas holiday, but you have missed three and that's not normal of you. You love going to Perth for Christmas...

- I already told you. I didn't go home because I was too busy with Moxie's promo and this past December I had Tangled's premiere. - Josephine grips stronger the steering wheel and tries to focus on the road. Her sister is making her nervous.

Josephine is work-free this week and she had decided to spend the day of her 26th birthday with Mia Challis and some more friends. However, this morning her sister Katherine had different plans. Without warning her sister, she showed up at the door of her apartment making Josephine almost drop her coffee mug all over the floor. She definitely wasn't expecting her there.

After hearing several times that Jo wasn't coming to Perth, Elizabeth and Stephen Langford told Katherine they were thinking about flying from Australia to the United States to see if Josephine was fine. Katherine knew that her parents had important jobs in Australia and that Jo had been talking to them sometimes via calls, so she assumed her sister was okay. For that reason, and because she was already living in the States, she offered to see how she was doing.

Katherine and Josephine have a strange relationship. Since they were little they haven't gotten along much. Nowadays, they usually don't tell each other about their professional or personal lifes. The rarely times they talk is only about family inquiries. But at the end, they are still sisters and they worry about each other.

Josephine was not very pleased to see Katherine, but she thought that it would be a quick visit and afterwards she would leave again. They went out for lunch and for the first time they talked about their experiences in the show business. Jo avoided at all costs talking about her personal life.

It isn't until the drive back to the apartment that Katherine unintentionally gets Josephine to click, bringing her back.

- So, you are now a 26 year old woman. Any plans? - Her sister changes subject and stops insisting on why she haven't visited Perth.

- You are one year older than me Katherine. You should be the one to tell me. - Jo says while driving. - Has your life changed now that you are 27?

- Well, not yet. But, it could... - Katherine says happily. - I've been dating someone for some years now and I don't know... maybe it's time to settle down?

Josephine who had been trying not to take her sight out of the road, looks at her surprised.

- A friend of mine from Perth came to California to work and we bumped each other again after many years. We've been dating for a while now and we might move together soon. - She admits to a startled Jo.

- I... I don't know what to say. - It has been long since Katherine and her share something about their personal lifes.

- I'm happy. - She smiles. - What about you? I know you've been busy with work, but I also heard that you have quite a good relationship with that co-star of yours from the After series. Not that I believe tabloids, but aren't you into Hero?

That's when Josephine loses it. Hearing her sister talk about him, makes her concentration fade from the road, causing her to swerve.

- Jo, the road!

- Shit! - She manages to avoid crashing with the car beside her, not without receiving honks and insults.

The last minutes of driving, they remain in silence and the moment they enter the house, Jo's eyes start to get watery.

- Hey Jo, it's all good. Don't worry. - Katherine realizes how she suddenly shut down and tries to comfort her. - I'm sorry I freaked you out. If I hadn't, maybe you wouldn't...

- It's not that... - She sits on the couch and Katherine follows her.

It's not easy to tell. Neither Josephine or other people might be able to find words to explain it, probably because they don't even know what happens to them.

Since Josephine came back to Los Ángeles, she has been trying as hard as possible to continue with her life. She accepts every project or casting her manager proposes, as if that would take the memories away, but it isn't. Instead, she has been drowning slowly into her own negative feelings and covering it up with more projects and castings. It was Katherine's comments about Hero and their almost accident, what makes her realize she is not feeling herself anymore.

- I... I haven't been feeling myself for a long time now. I think... I think I need help. - She finally reveals.

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Hi, hope you are enjoying the story!

I know it can be a bit difficult to understand the plot, but you have to pay attention to the dates at the beginning of the chapters because there are many jumps in time.

If it helps, the main date is 2026. The rest of dates are just flashbacks that are needed to understand what's going on with Hero and Jo.

Thank you for reading!