"Oh come on Sam! You'll love it!"
"Jocelyn, you always love these animated kids movies."
"You're saying that like it's a problem."
"It is for us." Samantha muttered.
"I heard that! Besides, there is no us. Right now, there is only you. Felix and Adam are out on a date, and Diana is cleaning her apartment."
"Didn't she do that last week?"
"Yes." Joy sighed. "Yes she did. Now come on!" She said, rushing over to the popcorn line. "I need snacks."
'It's a good thing the theater is practically empty.' Joy thought as she held Sam's sobbing head against her shoulder.
"It's OK. The volcanos got together in the end!"
"But one died in the middle!" Samantha wailed. "And he was all alone for eons!"
"It was sad for a while, but it ended happy. That's the important part. Sh sh sh! It's starting!"
"You know, Joy is actually a lot like you."
"What do you mean?"
"Happy to the point of manic, and moderately overbearing."
"Hey! That's the old me! New me is much more chill and understanding."
Sam could only nod. When Jocelyn first started hanging out with them, she was always, ALWAYS smiling. She laughed too much, sang in public, and skipped practically everywhere she went. She tried to order the group around too. But in time, and with enough support from Sam, Jocelyn learned to feel sorrow. And let others have a say of course.
"Well, you used to be Sadness you know!"
"Fair." Samantha said, shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth and thinking back to when she was younger. She used to sit around in her room all day, actually wearing sweaters, and do practically nothing. She said a daily maximum of ten words to people who weren't her family, and went through far too many tissue boxes to be considered healthy. But with the support of Jocelyn and her other friends, she managed to fight the uphill back to normalcy. Sure there were pitfalls. Sometimes she would lock herself in her room and sob into her pillow for hours. But Jocelyn always showed up, climbing up to, and then through her window. She never actually learned how. But that didn't really matter. She would always sit down on Sam's bed and rub her back, not saying a word. And she always brought snacks. When Sam could lift herself off the bed, they'd eat gummy bears and Oreos and watch Netflix movies on Jocelyn's phone. Jocelyn really helped. She never treated Sam any differently or never danced around the subject, which was a breath of fresh air Sam didn't know she needed. She still felt sad at times, but not in an all-consuming way. She refocused on the movie when she sensed an important event. Sure enough, Joy and Sadness were sucked up the memory tube.
They sat in silence, watching as Joy tried to ride up the tube alone. Sam noticed Jocelyn had the armrest in a deathgrip, and slowly pried her fingers off, intertwining them in her own.
"How could she do that!" She whisper-yelled to Sam. "How could she just abandon Sadness there!"
"She doesn't understand."
"I don't understand! And how could Sadness forgive her near-instantly!"
"I would." Sam whispered.
Jocelyn went quiet, but squeezed Sam's hand a little tighter.
As soon as Joy and Bing Bong fell into the Pit, Jocelyn knew Sam was going to cry. What she didn't know was that she was going to cry. As the fluffy imaginary friend disappeared, she felt the tears dripping down her face. Wiping them with the back of her hand, she held Sadness tighter. They had stood up to hug 'cause they were in the back and the theater was empty anyway. Jocelyn forced herself to keep watching, intent on not missing anything even if it was surprisingly soul-crushing for a children's movie.
Sam has calmed down by the time Joy had 3D printed all those lame boyfriends. As she untangled herself from Jocelyn's embrace, she whispered "Thanks."
"Welcome." Jocelyn replied as they sat back down.
They watched as Joy and Sadness made the first joint memory, uncomfortably aware of the other. And when the emotions leaned against each other and held hands, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Simultaneously turning to face the other, both of them forgot about the movie and just looked at each other. And then suddenly they were kissing. Neither of them knew who started it, but neither really cared either. They didn't stop until the cleanup guy came in and (awkwardly) asked them to leave.
They kissed more in the car, and when they came into class the next day holding hands, Adam demanded to know "Just what the Hell was that movie about?"