It's been a couple of weeks, Holly started spending time with Gail and her friends again, this time the brunette is avoiding Trish. Lucky for Holly, Trish seems to have made friends with some gal from work, Susan. Holly has met Susan a couple of times and finds her completely boring, she's not sure why Trish hangs out with her so much, but oh well, good for Holly, allowing Trish and her some time apart. Holly wonders if that is what normal relationships are like, looking forward to the time apart. She's seen the movies where the main couple spends all their time together, and sure her and Trish used to be like that, they've been together for a total of five years and have been engaged for the last two years, but now it feels like something has changed and Holly looks forward to her night out with the cops and Trish's boring night out with Susan.
"You're from up north?" Gail asks the question, but she already knows the answer.
"Yes."
"Your parents still up there?"
Holly pushes her lips to the side, "you could say that." She takes a sip of her drink, "how come you don't talk about your family?" Holly figures if Gail is asking about her family, maybe she can ask about the blonde's, it's only fair.
"How come you don't talk about yours?" Gail counters.
"Mine's dead."
Gail doesn't get surprised easily, but this surprised her, her eyes go big, "What? You just said that your parents are still alive!"
"No I didn't, you asked if they are still up north and technically they are, they're just buried…up north."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Gail shakes her head, "another thing you just sprung on me, like the whole engaged thing, and now I find out your parents have already passed away."
"Everybody doesn't need to know everything about me." Gail stays quiet for a second, she feels the same way, she doesn't go around telling people information willingly, they have to earn her trust first, and then Gail decides whether or not she will tell something to someone. Holly eventually continues, "I especially don't like when people give me that 'aw, your parents have died' look. I don't need strangers' sympathy."
"I'm not a stranger," says Gail, a tone of hurt in her voice. Even though it's semi loud in the bar, Holly can still hear the hurt.
Holly turns to look at Gail, "I know you're not…"
"I get it," says Gail. She can still hear the anger in Holly's voice when talking about her parents.
Holly simply nods her head, thankful that Gail isn't going to push why Holly didn't mention her parents had passed.
"Did your parents ever meet Trish?" Gail asks out of curiosity, to her it doesn't seem like Holly has worked through the loss fully yet, thinking maybe Trish is still helping her through the pain.
"No, they had already passed away. I wish they had been able to meet her, she's the one I committed my forever to and I wish she could have met them. I love her so much and I know we are going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment but she has helped me through so much, we've grown so much together and we have always stood by one another that I don't want this little spat to be the end." She pauses; she doesn't normally talk about Trish to Gail. She doesn't normally talk about Trish to anyone; this is when she wishes she weren't an only child, to have a sibling to talk freely to, one of those siblings that just completely gets the other sibling. Holly also feels it would have been so much easier to bury her parents with someone standing next to her, someone she could always talk to and rely on because they just ultimately get you, at least that's the way she sees siblings on tv and in movies. "The only one who kind of met my parents is Rachel. They were helping me move into my dorm room at university and we stopped her in the hallway asking which way to room 304." Holly smiles sadly, "Rachel still wishes she had stopped and properly introduced herself, we weren't exactly friends yet, we didn't even know we were in the same program and going to be together at school for almost a decade…" Gail reaches her hand out and places it on Holly's leg. Holly looks down at Gail's hand, "they would have liked you, you're feisty, that would have made them laugh," Holly smiles.
"I'm feisty," Gail repeats in a joking tone, "I have been called a lot of things, but I'm not sure anyone has used the adjective 'feisty' before."
Holly laughs.
"Bitch, sure. Closed off, duh. But feisty, that's a first."
Holly laughs for real, letting herself get taken out of her slight anger of her parents being gone far too soon for her liking, and her anger for whatever's going on with her and Trish, "thanks," she whispers to Gail.
"That's what friends are for," Gail pats her hand on Holly's leg.
Holly gets home from work, it's quiet. She sees Trish's stuff on the counter in the kitchen. It's not that late, but maybe Trish got tired of waiting for Holly and called it an early night. Holly got slightly caught up at work, she was working on an autopsy and when she finished, she got asked to process various samples from the crime scene, normally she would have said no and gone home being exhausted from the autopsy just wanting to take a bath and relax in the hot water letting herself ease into the tub, but there were so many samples and she considers Rodney a friend and wanted to lessen the burden, so she agreed to stick around and help.
Holly drops her stuff on the kitchen island then ventures upstairs to see Trish, see if she is okay. She knows the two are still walking on thin ice around each other, but Holly knows they can work it through, that whatever is really bugging the pair, they will get through it, they just need to talk it out, maybe the time and space has been a good thing, allowing the two to realize what they want and what they need in a partner and themselves. She can hear some noises coming from their bedroom; she pushes the door open and finds Trish in there with, with Lisa?! "What the fuck!" says Holly.
Trish tries to get off of Lisa smoothly, "Holly," she says in complete surprise, "what are you doing here?"
Furrowed brow in place, "I live here. What the fuck Trish!"
"Hi Holly."
"Hi Lisa."
"Why does she get a 'hi'?" questions Trish, slightly annoyed.
"Cause I'm not her fiancée," Lisa says helpfully.
"No you're not," says Holly, "but you are supposed to be my best friend. What the fuck Lisa!"
"Sorry?"
Holly rolls her eyes. She rubs her temple. "I'm going to go," she turns around and walks out of the bedroom.
"Where are you going?" asks Trish, starting to follow after her.
"I don't know, Rachel's? What do you care?"
"Can I come?" asks Lisa.
Holly laughs, actually laughs, did she really just ask that? She turns around on the spot. "No. You can stay and fuck my fiancée," Holly says bitterly.
"Well I don't want to now, now that you've said it like that," Lisa furrows her brow in disgust; she picks up the bed sheet to cover her naked body.
Holly leaves, grabbing her stuff off the counter; she shakes her head, gets in her car and drives herself over to Rachel's.
Holly and Rachel are drinking some wine in the kitchen, Holly has barely touched hers. Holly has her head on the table, enjoying the cool of the surface, letting the chill of the table top seep through her through her forehead. "Are you sure you're okay?" questions a concerned Rachel.
Holly, who has yet to cry, lifts her head, "I don't know, it's weird…'" she trails off.
"Well, you can stay here as long as you'd like," offers Rachel.
"Thanks Rach."
"No problem. I can't believe Lisa!"
"Honestly…" starts Holly, "she kind of did me a favour."
Rachel breathes in and then out, she knows Holly and Trish were having some sort of disagreement, she knows her friend was already annoyed with her fiancée, "you could have found out Trish was unfaithful in other ways though."
Holly shrugs her shoulders.
There's a knock at the door. Rachel gets up from her spot; she looks through the front window. "It's Lisa," she warns Holly. She opens the door, "what the fuck Lisa!"
Lisa rolls her eyes, "is that all you two say to me now?" She tries to enter Rachel's house, but gets stopped by the home owner, she gives Rachel a quizzical look but gets the hint and stays on the front porch, "I brought you two dinner," she hands over some Chinese food, "they're your favourites, and I brought mine too in case I can eat with you guys." Lisa says hopefully.
"I don't think that's the best idea," says Rachel.
Lisa sighs. "Fine," she hands over the food. "Tell Holly I say 'sorry' and that nothing happened."
"I'll let her know."
"I thought she was out with Susan," comes Holly's voice from the other room, obviously listening to her two best friends at the door.
Lisa takes a second to respond, but she does, "she was out with Susan, I ran into them at a restaurant near the court house, but Susan's boring, so we ditched her."
"I know Susan's boring, but she's Trish's friend, Trish's safe friend who goes on and on about her husband and his accounting business, that's why I have no troubles with working late when she's going out with Susan."
"Until this time," says Rachel.
"Yes, thank you Rachel," Holly says sarcastically, "until this time." Holly rubs her temple, "how did you two even meet up?"
Lisa shrugs her shoulders, "I was just at the restaurant's bar-"
"Looking for your latest conquest," Rachel cuts her off.
Lisa gives her a dirty look, "looking to have a nice conversation with someone," Rachel laughs and Holly rolls her eyes, "and maybe have some fun, when I saw Trish and what did you say her name was?"
"Susan," helps Holly.
"Yes, her, and well, you know the rest, but I swear Holls, nothing happened." Both Holly and Rachel don't say anything. Lisa continues, "and in all honesty I feel like I did you a favour."
That did it; Holly can say that and make the joke, but Lisa cannot, Holly's annoyed now, "get out." Sure she's annoyed at Trish, angry, pissed off, but she's also upset with Lisa, her friend, one of her oldest friends in fact.
"I think you should leave," says Rachel.
Lisa surprisingly knows better than to say anything else. "Okay. Okay…I'm going to go then. Call me when you're ready to talk." Lisa looks at Rachel, "I am sorry."
Rachel shakes her head and starts to shut the front door.