Issues [Frollie]

Chapter 11

“You shouldn’t go,” Frankie said, sitting on the bed as she watched Mollie pack. Normally, she would help her friend in the process and even muck around a bit but today, it was all she could do not to snatch every item out of the suitcase that Mollie put in there and put it back where it belonged. “We don’t even know how the publicity will go from now on. It’s probably already died down. It might even make it worse if you skip out now, right when people are speculating about it all.”

“You’re right,” Mollie acceded easily, pushing more clothes into place. “They’ll probably think I’ve done a runner on David now that things have started coming out in the open – which, if you’ll remember, is actually one-hundred-percent true.” Her quirked eyebrow was only half in humour as she continued her steady effort.

As it had turned out, none of the girls had been correct in their suspicions about who had leaked the information. It had been a stroke of luck when they had been informed that the rumour had been started by the very interviewer that had been crushing on Mollie a few weeks prior, and that it had been speculation based upon what he’d observed during their session. It had been fortunate because it meant that there was yet to be any validation for any of the rumours flying around the internet, but also unfortunate in that – for what was probably the first time in her career – he had actually been completely correct. The young man himself had only put forth the opinion that Mollie’s memory had faltered, and the rest had escalated from there.

But the damage was done, and Mollie had come out to confirm that she had experienced some degree of amnesia since the injury, with management taking care of the rest of the nastiness of the articles in the meantime. Still, Mollie had decided it was time to take a brief trip back home until things calmed.

Frankie’s initial instinct was to once more tell Mollie that it wasn’t her fault that all this had happened to them; no one could foresee the accident, the amnesia and how it would unravel their relationship. It truly wasn’t Mollie’s fault, no matter how little she could see that, and she deserved the break from everything being said about her so that she could realise that for herself.

However, Frankie’s petty side had other ideas – selfish, inconsiderate ideas that were fuelled by her desire to have Mollie by her side forever and always. So instead of reassuring her, Frankie tore her best friend down a little more. “If they think that now, then how’s it going to look when you run home and leave him here? You’ll look like even more of a twat if you avoid him, as well. Better you stay here and make it look like everything’s okay.”

Frankie had meant to sound nonchalant, but judging by Mollie’s expression, she hadn’t succeeded very well. Mollie instantly knew something was off, and sent her a strange look out of the corner of her eye. “What’s got into you today? You never care about the paps; you always say it’s a pile of rubbish most of the time so we shouldn’t bother with them.” Unfortunately, that was true. “And I know I’ve always said I’d, like, look after the fans and keep them informed but they already know the whole story from us directly, so there’s no point in me hanging around because of that.”

 That was true, too, much to Frankie’s annoyance. She was running out of ideas that would sound logical and sane.  She began grasping at straws. “What about the signings and that?”

“There are loads and loads of signed copies all over the place,” Mollie brushed it off, waving a scarf at her before packing it away. The wardrobe was looking frighteningly bare now. “You guys don’t need me for that, and I’ll be back in a matter of days anyway. It’s not like you need me for a performance or anything, that’s why I’m going now.” No matter what Mollie said, Frankie knew her best friend; she would stay at home for a week, at least, as she could never resist her family.