Candy Coated Lies

Summary: Josslyn confesses to Trina that she lied to her mother.

"Hey, Trina!" Josslyn said, leaning in to hug her friend as soon as she got to the table at Kelly's, cheeks pink from the cold and blue beanie over her gold hair. "Did you have a good Christmas?"

Trina frowned as she pulled away from the hug. "As good as could be expected." She said grimly.

"That bad, huh?"

"I mean, my mom and I had our normal Christmas, or tried to. Everything we found out just weighed us down. I still can't believe my dad has been alive all this time." Trina's voice was full of anger and hurt as she spoke, the fingers of her right hand digging into the wood of the table.

Josslyn reached out to stop her, taking her best friend's hand in her own and squeezing it. "I'm sorry Cam and I didn't believe you about your father." She told the girl apologetically. "Obviously your instincts were right."

Trina shook her head, dark braids shaking with the movement. "It's okay." She answered softly. "You and Cam just wanted to protect me. I know if roles had been reversed, I'd have been doing the same thing you two did."

The blonde hummed sympathetically. "You talked to him before he went into hiding again, right?"

She received a nod in answer to the question. "Yeah. I also kind of yelled at him about how mom, Aunt Gia, and I were left to mourn him for almost a year." She picked up a french fry from her plate and dipped it in ketchup before popping it in her mouth. "Mom was angry at him as well. I mean, we get that he was trying to protect us. But we've mourned him for ten months now. That's not something that can just be erased."

"And that's understandable!" Josslyn told her with conviction. "You and your mother have every right to feel the way that you do."

"Well I'm glad you think so. So tell me, what's bothering you? I can tell that something is." Trina leaned in slightly as the waitress came to place Josslyn's food in front of her before leaving again.

The girl in question bit her lip and took a sip of her tea and then a bite of her chicken sandwich. Setting the sandwich down, she wiped her mouth with a napkin and answered, "So, my mom and I talked." Her blue eyes stared down at her plate, fingers running around the rim of her plate. "I wanted to tell her how I really felt, how scared I've been after Dev's death and with having to be surrounded by guards. I just...couldn't. I kind of lied to her. I love my family more than anything, but I don't want to stay in Port Charles. I don't want to live the life that my mother lives. I want to be happy, safe, and normal. I couldn't tell her that, though."

"So...she has no idea you've applied to universities and colleges thousands of miles away from here?" Her friend asked in disbelief, her dark eyes wide.

Josslyn shook her head guiltily. "She doesn't. Unless dad ends up telling her or something which I don't see happening." She knew more than anything that her father wanted her to be safe and away from Port Charles as well. He understood how painful it was to be here with all of the dangers and the death. He'd helped her apply to universities in Australia, as well as the ones in California. She'd even ensured that anything that came from the college would be sent to her father's address. She still had no clue which university she'd end up choosing when the acceptance letters began rolling in, but she had loads of choices.

The two girls were silent for a few moments, eating their food and drinking their drinks. A good kind of silence, the companionable kind.

"Did you know that I always used to be jealous of the relationship you and Carly have?" Trina asked, breaking it as she reached over, stealing an onion ring off of her friend's plate. Her eyes locked on Josslyn's. "I mean, you two have always been so close and you've always been able to tell your mother anything. At least that's what I thought. But obviously that's not true if you don't think that you can tell her how you're really feeling or what you're planning on doing after graduation."

Josslyn gave a sad smile. "Telling my mother this is a lot different than talking to her about school dances or the cute boy in my creative writing class." She replied. "And if we're being totally honest here, I've always been jealous of you and of Cam. When I'd visit Australia, I'd imagine that that was my life. Just...I got to be a normal kid there. I didn't have to worry about being put in danger or have guards following me everywhere. It was everything. And you and Cam always had that." Her voice broke a little at the end of her sentence and she blinked back the tears that stun her eyes.

Trina looked down at that, feeling her heart clench in her chest. She knew she'd been guilty of thinking Josslyn had a perfect life because her family was so well off, her father being a big business man and her mother being one of the owners of the Metrocourt, not to mention what her stepfather did for a living. Not to mention, Josslyn's close relationship with all three of them and her siblings. It hadn't even crossed her mind that that life might not be as perfect as she believed until Josslyn and her brother were shot at and suddenly, guards were following Josslyn everywhere. That was also when Josslyn had begun showing discomfort with the life she lived and it was only after Dev's death that she'd begun talking about wanting to get out of Port Charles. She stood up abruptly, almost knocking over her chair in the process and went around the table to throw her arms around the other girl. "I'm so sorry." She whispered softly.

Josslyn clung to her friend, burying her head into the girl's shoulder, shaking it lightly. "It's not your fault." She answered, voice muffled.

"Uh...why are you two crying?" A familiar voice asked worriedly.

The two girls looked up to see Cam standing over him, Christmas presents in a bag hanging from his arm and his light eyes full of confusion. They both giggled at that and pulled away.

"It's nothing." Trina replied, going back to her seat, exchanging a look with Joss as she did so. If Josslyn wanted Cam to know what they were talking about, she'd tell him herself. She noticed the grateful look the girl was giving her and nodded ever so slightly before turning her attention back to Cam. "So now that you're here, are we all ready to exchange presents?"

He frowned at how weird the two were behaving but took a seat. "Ready when you are." He murmured suspiciously, not pushing the matter. He knew they'd tell him eventually. After all, that's what best friends did.