Are You Afraid of Musicals?

Chapter 6.8: Hardest Decision

Gina's pov:

This is bullshit. Just like that, this is straight up bullshit because, how did I not notice?

I'm supposed to be her best friend, I'm supposed to know her better than anyone and I know that emotionally she's a closed shut book, I know she doesn't share anything of her private life... but she's been completely alone for years and I didn't fucking notice.

Since what happened two days ago at the park my head's been kind of a mess, thinking about Dani's parents, thinking about all those times Dani had had a bad day and instead of inviting her over I let her go back home, not knowing that she would be completely alone.

I truly can't understand how did I not notice because it was there, right before my eyes. She didn't want us to go to her house, her parents were always in "business trips", she got a little defensive each time someone talked about her parents...

I should've known, I should've asked her, because the conversation we had before everything went down at the park is also not leaving my mind.

I can't even call it a conversation because I could see how she didn't give a fuck about talking, I could see how she kept pushing and being a straight fucking asshole, trying to get a reaction out of me and force me to loose my patience... And being honest, she almost succeeded.

Because I know how she can get defensive when she's upset, I know that she pushes you away, trust me I've been through enough with her to know that she would rather die fighting than admit that something's wrong, but at the park... at the park it felt horribly different.

She was different.

I knew that something had happened, both Gabby and I did, but we also needed to tell her about what they were saying in the news. Maybe that's why she was like that, but Gabby was so sure that she hadn't seen anything that I tried to tell her anyways, but she was completely out of reach even before I opened my mouth, she was already too lost into her own head to even listen to me and then...

And then she dropped the bomb, just like that, as if it was nothing. As if she didn't care in the slightest that someone could hear her.

"Because they prefer this fucked up shit instead of admitting that I'm their..."

Their daughter.

She was about to say "their daughter", but Gabby stopped her.

Dani didn't give a fuck when I called her name to make her stay and talk, she didn't give a fuck when I called her name to warn her when she started speaking badly to Gabby, but when Gabby called her?

When Gabby called her name she stopped.

She was about to just let out one of her darkest secrets, one that she had been holding for years, and Gabby stopped her.

Because she already knew.

Because of course she did.

She probably knows more than I do and she's been keeping the secret, she's been keeping everything to herself just as I did when this whole mess started because we both want to protect Dani, but she's carrying a weight that it's not hers... and it's crushing her.

I've been trying to avoid it, trying to put excuses and think that Gabby was stressed with class, work or soccer, but after our phone call yesterday I can't keep looking away anymore, because whatever Dani and her have going on is hurting them both.

At the park, when I left Gabby taking care of Dani, I went straight to help stop the fight, but when I arrived, it was already too late.

Big Red was laying unconscious on the floor and both Hanna and I rushed to him to move him so he was laying on his side, dodging Jave's and his friends attempts of keep attacking him as the three of them were being held by EJ, Ricky, Conor and Luke.