Issues [Frollie]

Chapter 6

"Who are you talking about?"

A brief, awkward lull followed her words. Una let out a small giggle, just because there was an uncomfortable silence, and Mollie blinked her tired eyes at them all in turn with quiet curiosity. Sarah cracked a confused smile, but it was clear that none of them quite knew what was happening. What might have been a joke had now extended long past the moment where Molls would have grinned or laughed, and even so, she just wasn’t the type of person to joke about something like that no matter how she seemed. She never belittled someone just for the sake of it.

“David, Molls,” her mum repeated, as if she had simply misheard her.

Mollie’s eyebrows scrunched up in a confused expression and she looked around to meet Frankie’s gaze, genuine bewilderment in her eyes. Her silent look begged an explanation as to why everyone was looking at her so intently, and Frankie immediately knew that Mollie wasn’t pulling any prank or trying to trick them – she was honestly at a loss.

“She really doesn’t know,” Frankie said out loud, looking around at the others. “She doesn’t know who we’re talking about.”

“Who are you talking about?” Mollie cut in. “Who’s David?”

Rochelle nudged the bedridden girl’s foot. “Come on, Molls. You know David. Tall, brunette, model… fit?” She said the last uncertainly, both with an edge of humour and discomfort at describing him as such. “You ditched all of us to hang out with him for the majority of last week?”

Mollie alone seemed to retain the ability to smile. “He sounds like a cool guy and everything, definitely my type, but I have absolutely no idea what the hell you’re talking about.” She caught her mother’s eye as she said that last, and even added, “I really don’t know anyone called David. Oh, wait –” Everyone’s eyes brightened. “- I think I met a fan by that name, like, a few months ago. So that’s one.” She gave a little shrug just as all other shoulders dropped in disappointment.

As they did, Mollie’s tired face suddenly became a little more serious, a little greyer. “What’s going on?” she asked, and her voice had finally dropped to its normal register, without inflection or forced humour to lessen the tension. “Why are you all looking at me like that? Who’s David?”

It was Sarah who spoke first, with a quiet, “I’ll go talk to the doctor” and a gentle touch to Mollie’s cheek before she exited the hospital room.

“David’s your boyfriend, Mollie.” Vanessa said once she was gone, resting a hand on Mollie’s leg. Frankie very nearly opened her mouth to protest to that, for some reason she could not really put her finger on.

Mollie’s eyebrows shot right up. “My boyfriend?” she repeated sceptically. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Una nodded, far more subdued than usual. Her ivory forehead was creased with worry. “Yeah, you do. David.”

“But I don’t know anyone called David!”

“Yeah, you do.”

“She’s right, Molls.”