The next morning, nothing was said about Abbie's crying during the night, and she understood that this was to be kept between she and Alex and Olivia wasn't to know. She was glad of this, but then she felt bad, because she'd been expecting Olivia to tell Abbie her life story without getting anything in return. And that wasn't fair. If she wanted Olivia to be honest with her, then she had to be honest with Olivia first. Quid pro quo.

Olivia was the first one up and she jumped onto Alex's bed, waking both Alex and (inadvertently) Abbie in the process. Alex pulled a pillow over her head. "Could you not wake me at eight in the morning on a Saturday?"

Olivia pretended to think about it for a moment, then smirked and shook her head. "The sun is up. You should be, too."

Alex sighed. "Abbie, these are Olivia's early morning habits."

Abbie shrugged. "I don't care." She really didn't. It was just as well; she didn't want to cry out anymore in her sleep.

Olivia grinned like a cat. "Great. Let's go get some pancakes – no, hold on, let's have your cook make us some pancakes."

Alex threw a pillow at her. "She only comes on weekends!"

Olivia threw the pillow right back. "I've never had a cook in my life! Have you, Abbie?"

Abbie thought about it for a moment. "Once, but he wasn't 'our' cook. My dad just hired him for one evening because he was having some kind of business party and my mom didn't feel like cooking for a bunch of people – or cleaning up after them."

Olivia laughed. "Yeah. Let's go get some pancakes."

Alex groaned and rolled over. "You can."

Olivia climbed back onto Alex's bed and grabbed her arm, pulling her to the edge. "Come on," she whined.

Alex sighed. "Fine." She got out of bed and pulled on her bathrobe over her pajamas. "Happy?"

"Very," said Olivia approvingly, and led the girls into the kitchen.

"I love how you make yourself so perfectly at home in my house," said Alex, shaking her head.

Olivia shrugged. "You have a very nice house."

Alex grinned. "Thank you."

The sat down at the table and had banana pancakes and freshly squeezed orange juice.

"How long can you stay for?" asked Alex.

Abbie shrugged, but Olivia said, "I should be back by four."

Abbie rolled her eyes. She didn't understand Olivia's self-inflicted curfews when her mother didn't really care what time she got home. On the other hand, Abbie's mother would worry if Abbie was five minutes late coming home. Even though Abbie was fourteen now, not a baby, her mother was more protective than ever. She seemed to think that if she'd been more protective of Abbie six months ago, what happened never would have.

Olivia wolfed down her pancakes, then took seconds. Alex watched her through narrowed eyes. "You know, you can take some of that home if you want." Abbie knew what she meant; Olivia was clearly overcompensating for the hunger that awaited her when she got home.

Olivia shook her head. "I'm okay."

Alex sighed. "Are you sure?"

Olivia nodded, and even Abbie could have told Alex that she would. Olivia, like her, didn't like admitting she needed help, much less than accepting it when it was offered.

They went back to Alex's room and Alex turned on her iPod. Love Story came on and Olivia flopped on the bed, grinning. "My song."

"So possessive," commented Alex.

"Mine and Elliot's," clarified Olivia. "It was the first song we ever danced to."

"Yeah, in your bedroom."

"In his."

Abbie raised an eyebrow. "Oh."

Olivia threw a pillow at her. "Shut up."

Abbie climbed up onto the bed beside her friend and Alex joined them, pulling a pillow over her head. "You woke me up too early," she groaned.

Olivia shrugged. "Okay." She took Abbie's shoulder and started to lead her out of the room. "Come on, Abbie, let the princess get her full eight hours."

"Ten," Alex corrected her.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Anyway . . ."

"No!" Alex sat up, her eyes wide. "I'm fine!"

Olivia smirked and sat down again. "Yes, ma'am."

Alex smiled sheepishly. "Let's watch a movie."

"What movie?"

"Matilda."

Olivia grinned. "I love you, Alex," she said sweetly.

Abbie climbed onto the bed beside Olivia as Alex went to put in the movie. "She just wants you to be quiet so she can go back to sleep," whispered Abbie conspiratorially to Olivia.

"I know," Olivia stage-whispered back. "But I'll take what I can get."

Abbie shrugged. "I've never seen Matilda before."

Olivia gasped theatrically. "You've never seen Matilda?"

Abbie shook her head.

"You poor deprived child!" cried Olivia. "It's the best movie in the world!"

Abbie grinned. "I'm looking forward to it, then."

Alex pressed play on the DVD player, then jumped back onto the bed with Abbie and Olivia, laying her head on her pillow and clutching one of her dolls to her chest.

"Is Nellie watching the movie with us?" asked Olivia sweetly.

"Yes," answered Alex, and Abbie and Olivia both laughed.

The movie came on and Abbie, glancing at Olivia, saw her mouthing the words along with the characters. When she started murmuring them aloud, Alex rolled over to give her an icy glare.

"Stop."

Olivia pouted. "It's subconscious," she complained.

"Well, now I'm making you conscious of it."

They finished the movie, which was just as good as Olivia had said, and they decided to play twenty questions.

"I'll do one first," volunteered Olivia. "It's a thing."

"Is it in this room?" asked Abbie.

Olivia shook her head.

"Would it fit in the palm of my hand?"

"No."

"Does more than one exist in the world?"

"Yeah."

"Does it weigh more than I do?"

Olivia shrugged. "I don't know how much you weigh."

"Does it weigh more than Alex?" amended Abbie.

"Everything weighs more than Alex." Then Olivia thought about it. "I don't think so."

"Hallelujah," said Alex sarcastically. "Is it a solid?"

"No."

"Is it a liquid?"

"No."

"Is it a gas?"

"Yes."

Alex turned to Abbie. "So that's why it can't fit in your hand." She turned back to Olivia. "Is it found in a specific place?"

"No."

"Can it only be found at a specific time?"

"Yes."

"Only in a certain season?"

"No."

"Is it found on the periodic table?" asked Alex.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "I have no idea what gases are found on the periodic table, but I'm going to say no."

Abbie shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well, you haven't asked your full twenty," commented Olivia.

"It's a gas that isn't on the periodic table that can only be found at a certain time," said Abbie. "What is that?"

Alex held up a hand. "Is it naturally occurring?"

"Obviously," said Olivia dryly. "It's a gas."

"No. It could be a mixture."

"Well, it's not."

"Okay," said Alex. "Is it made of water in a gaseous form?"

Olivia thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

"We're getting somewhere," Alex told Abbie with a satisfied smile.

Abbie shrugged. "Is it condensation?"

Olivia rolled her eyes. "It's not the movement from one state to another."

"Then evaporation is out, obviously."

Olivia looked at the sky. "Yeah, I would guess so, Einstein."

"Then I don't know."

"I know!" Alex snapped her fingers triumphantly. "It's a rainbow."

Olivia gave her a look of appreciation. "Very good," she said, sounding a bit surprised.

"My turn," said Alex, grinning. "I have a metaphysical thing for you."

Olivia narrowed her eyes. "No."

"It's physical but intangible. It exists but you can't touch it," explained Alex.

"Olivia, you don't have to play," Abbie told her, then turned to Alex. "Is it naturally occurring?"

"Yes," answered the blonde.

"Can it be seen?"

"Yes."

"Can it be heard?" asked Olivia.

Alex rolled her eyes. "It does not emit sound waves," she said primly.

"Can it be used for anything?"

"No."

"I give up," grumbled Olivia. "What?"

Alex ginned. "A mirage."

"Now how the hell were we supposed to know that?" snapped Olivia.

"A mirage isn't a physical thing," Abbie told her.

"Yes, it is," replied Alex. "It really exists. It's an optical phenomenon. It's when light rays bend. Light rays are real physical things, therefore a mirage is a real physical thing, too."

Abbie didn't know what to say to that, so she didn't say anything.

"Learn not to argue with the brilliant one here," said Olivia, grinning at Alex. "You'll never win."

"Someday," muttered Abbie, a bit daunted. She wasn't used to not knowing what to say.

Olivia laughed. "We'll see. Let's play something else."

They played Life and Clue, both of which Olivia won. Then she got bored and started to jump on Alex's bed, causing Alex to grab her ankles and pull her down. "You don't jump on this bed!" she exclaimed. "My parents will kill me."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Cue the violins."

"I'm serious, Liv. You're going to break it – again."

"Hey!" Olivia looked wounded. "I haven't broken your bed since I was eight."

"And when you were eight, I swore you would never break it again. So get off."

Abbie looked at Olivia with interest. "How did you manage that?"

Olivia shrugged. "I bounced on it like it was a trampoline. Apparently, I was too heavy for it and I fell through. I broke my arm."

"You broke my bed!" said Alex, clearly devoid of sympathy for her friend.

Olivia smiled sheepishly. "I was a stupid little kid."

"Agreed."

Abbie shrugged. "When I was little, my oldest brother broke my bed."

"How did that happen?" asked Olivia.

Abbie grinned. "He sawed it up with the Swiss Army knife that my dad got him for his eleventh birthday. And he was angry at me for some reason – I don't know, I must have stolen some of his Halloween candy or something. He tore my bed up into little strips of wood and I didn't notice until it was time to go to sleep. Naturally, I pulled a tantrum." She looked at Olivia. "I was seven."

Olivia laughed. "The joy of brothers. No, honestly, I wish I had one."

Abbie wrinkled her nose. "Why? They're annoying. And they're smelly. And they spend ten years in the bathroom getting ready for a date."

Alex laughed too. "I spend ten years in the bathroom getting ready for a date."

"I only spend five years," commented Olivia.

"We're girls. We're allowed," said Abbie as if that explained everything.

"What did your parents do?" asked Alex.

"Took away his knife and let me sleep in my brother's bed for two days until they could get me a new one. He slept on the couch. Except his room smelled like him and it was so messy that I could barely walk in it. I used to sleepwalk when I was little and I kept tripping over Transformers and dinosaurs and video games and stuff. So in hindsight, I probably would have preferred the couch."

Olivia laughed. "Aw, so sweet."

"So your breaking Alex's bed isn't such a big deal," concluded Abbie.

Just then, Olivia's cell phone started to vibrate. She winced, but obediently picked it up. "Hello? . . . oh, hey, Elliot . . . no . . . no . . . it's fine . . . did she . . . okay . . . okay . . . thanks, El . . . yeah, love you, too . . . bye."

Abbie couldn't really piece together much from Olivia's side of the conversation, except that it was Elliot calling, and by the look on the brunette's face she could tell that something was wrong.

Olivia hung up the phone and turned to Alex and Abbie. "I have to go," she said apologetically. "Sorry."

"What's wrong?" asked Abbie, knitting her brows in concern.

"Nothing," answered Olivia quickly. "I – nothing. It's just –"

Alex clearly saw how difficult this was for her friend, and she said gently, "It's okay. We'll see you on Monday, Liv. And give me a call if you can."

Olivia nodded gratefully. "I'll see you later. Bye." She raced out the door.

Abbie and Alex exchanged glances. Abbie wanted to ask her something, because she had a strong suspicion that Alex knew more than she did, but she kept her mouth shut.

"Do you want to go for a bike ride?" suggested Alex.

"I don't have mine here," Abbie told her.

Alex shrugged dismissively. "You can borrow one of mine."

Abbie raised an eyebrow. "One of yours? You have more than one?"

Alex nodded. "I have a pink one, which is a five speed, and a blue one, which is a ten speed, and a purple one that I got for my birthday."

"What do you need more than one bike for?"

Alex shrugged again. "I don't. It's just one of those things."

"One of those things that, although there is no purpose to having multiple copies, why not?"

Alex laughed. "Anyway, do you want to go for a bike ride?"

"Sure," agreed Abbie.

"Which one do you want?"

"I'll have the blue one."

"Cool. I'll go get them."

She retrieved the bicycles from a hall closet and the girls carried them outside. They rode a few blocks in silence. Abbie was all about speed, but surprisingly, Alex managed to keep up with her.

She swerved the bike, narrowly avoiding a mother pushing a stroller. She almost hit a building, but managed not to. She could hear Alex's quiet laughter from behind her and resisted the urge to tell her to shut up. "Slow down," Alex told her, amusement lacing her tone. "You're going to hit something. Or someone. This isn't rural Texas."

Of course, that only made Abbie even more determined to go faster, but she recognized the truth in Alex's words, and obediently slowed down. "Going slow is boring," she complained. "Let's go back to your place."

"Okay, but we are not talking about Olivia. She found out I told you something you shouldn't know and she bit my head off."

"Okay," agreed Abbie quickly, wincing at Alex's words. She hadn't intended things to turn out like that.

Alex turned her bicycle around and Abbie followed her back to her apartment. They put the bikes away and went back to Alex's room, playing cards for the better portion of the next hour.

Then Abbie's phone started to play Keep Holding On, which was one of her favorite songs. She snatched it up and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Abigail! Where have you been?"

Abbie winced. It was her mother, and she sounded pissed off. "Um, I was just out for a bike ride with Alex."

"Without your phone?"

Crap. "Yeah, well, I guess I must have forgotten it."

"Abbie, we agreed on this. I need to be able to reach you at all times, otherwise no more sleepovers."

Abbie sighed. "Look, Mom, can we do this later?"

"Sweetheart, you know it's because I care about you –"

"I know, Mom," interrupted Abbie. "I know. I'll be home in an hour, okay? Just –"

"Okay," said her mother, sounding resigned. "I'll see you in an hour, baby."

Abbie hung up the phone and breathed a sigh of relief. She looked up to find Alex staring at her. "Parents," she said sympathetically.

Abbie rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it." But she understood. She could take care of herself, but she understood that her mother wanted to protect her from a pain that she didn't – couldn't – fully understand.

No one understood. No one ever could.

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