Chapter Sixteen
Their lips were mere centimeters from each other's they both moved in closer to each other their lips were about to meet when they heard a voice calling Joey. As they both quickly pulled apart Joey looked at the entrance to see Frankee still calling waving for her to come over
"I better go" She said to Charlie fidling with her hands as her heart began to beat uncontrollably
"No problem, maybe I'll see you later" Charlie replied smiling hopefully
"Maybe" With that Joey walked quickly over to Frankee, who immediatley held her hand slightly pulling her in the direction Brooke's room was, as they were walking away Frankee looked over her shoulder glaring at Charlie as she walked away
"Frankee, what's wrong?"
"Nothing babe, just Brooke's out of surgery, I thought you'd wanna now thats all"
"Oh okay, well thanks" Joey said pecking Frankee on the cheek "Where's Mel?"
"She went to get a coffee, she's really upset about this" Joey let out a laugh causing Frankee to turn to her and say "What was the laugh about?"
"She hardly has a right to be upset does she?"
"Yes, she does"
"And how exactly does she have a right?" Joey asked raising her voice slightly
"Brooke is her wife"
"That doesn't give her a right to anything, if she cared so much about Brooke then she wouldn't have cheated on her"
"That doesn't mean she stopped loving her"
"You don't cheat on someone you love" Joey turned her back on Frankee and walked into Brooke's room where she say the nurse writing on Brooke's chart, the nurse then placed the chart on the end of the bed, and exitted the room smiling at Joey as she exitted. Joey sat down on the right side of the bed taking hold of Brooke's right hand, she moved closer to Brooke so she was close enough to whisper into her ear "I think you were right about me and Charlie?...I think I still..."Joey was just about to complete her sentence when she heard the door creek and she saw Mel standing at the door.
"Is it okay to come in? , I heard you and Frankee arguing. I don't wanna come in if your not okay with it"
Joey looked from Mel to Brooke, taking in the somewhat lifeless body of her older cousin, the woman she knew to be so strong, she took a deep deep breath and spoke looking directly at Mel "I'm sorry about that, I've just got a lot on my plate. Brooke would want you here...after all you are still her wife"
"Thank you, and for what it's worth, I think you were right" Mel said as she made her way round to the opposite side of the bed sitting on it the taking hold of Brooke's left hand
"I was right about what?" Joey asked slightly confused
"What you said to Frankee, about me cheating"
"Hang on, so you don't actually love her is that what your saying?" Joey asked angerily
"No, I love her more than I thought I could ever love anyone, but every time we broke up, the problem was I was still in love with her, but I was sleeping with other women, somewhere I think I lost the meaning of what cheating is. I know it sounds stupid, but I think I loved her too much"
"How do you mean too much?"
"You remember when we first got together" Joey nodded indicating she remembered "She was the first person I slept with man or woman and when we broke up the first time I never slept with anyone else but then the second time, I did, I think I wanted more than just to be with her. Which is stupid because ever since we broke up, seeing her with these other women is killing me. But it doesn't matter because she's over me" Mel completed letting her tears fall freely down her cheeks, then lookingly down at Brooke
"You know she still loves you" Joey said noticing the tears streaming down Mel's cheek and questioning way she was looking at Brooke
"She does? How do you know?" Mel asked looking up at Joey
"When ever I approached the subject of you and her's future, she got this smile, its not a smirk or anything like that its just a look of ...Love, I guess. Like she wanted there to be a future"
"I thought you only found out about us breaking up, Last Night?"
"Yeah, but you know Brooke she gets up at four am to work out, she had just finished her weights when I woke up to go to the toilet and we started talking and I asked her if she still loved you"
"And she said she did?" Mel asked hopefully
"No she lied through her teeth"
"How do you know for sure she lied?"
"I can't explain it, we have this freaky connection, we always have. I know when she's lying and she knows when I'm lying"
"Yeah I remember when you stayed with us years ago, I could never get to her when you were there, it was similar to the connection she had to Rob before he passed away, you know like you were sisters not cousins"
"Yeah, sorry about that, I guess we always looked out for each other, kinda like our mums when they were young, just without the men of course" Joey laughed slightly, they both fell into silence and just looked at Brooke, they both looked up when they heard the door open as they looked up and say Frankee standing at the door looking at Joey apologetically she moved up to Joey placing her hands on Joey's cheeks
"I'm really sorry baby, I'm just a bit all over the place at the moment. Forgive me?"
"I Understand and Of course I forgive you, I'm sorry too" Joey let go of Brooke's hand and reached up placing a quick kiss on Frankees lips, then pulling her into a hug rapping her arms around Frankee, after a few minutes she pulled back and looked up at Frankee "I'm gonna go get something to eat"
"Okay babe, take your time. If anything happens I'll let you know"
"Do either of you want anything?" She asked looking from Mel to Frankee
"No thanks Joey, I'm okay" Mel replied looking up at Joey then again back to Brooke
"Why don't I go get you something and you stay here with Brooke" Frankee offered hoping to get herself firmly in Joey's good book. "Just in case she wakes up"
"You don't have to, I'm more than capable" Joey replied slightly bewildered by the offer
"Jo, just let me look after you, like Brooke would want me to?"
Joey looked at Frankee then back at Brooke squeezing her hand, deep down she didn't wanna leave the room but she didn't wanna stay either in case Brooke did take a turn for the worse "I know she'd want you to but I need to call Auntie Maxine to update her"
"Mel can do that can't you Mel?" Frankee said shooting Mel a look so she knew to say yes
"Umm, Yeah of course"
"Ummmmmm, okay then I'll have a coffee and a snack bar or something"
"Babe, you have to eat more than that. How about a chicken salad?" Frankee responded
"Okay sure" Joey replied just wanting to have some peace to think
"No problem, we'll leave you to it then. We won't be long" With that Mel stood from the bed and walked out of the room followed immediatley by Frankee, Joey watched as they disappeared out of sight and the door shut completely, letting go of Brooke's hand she moved from the side of the bed to a chair postioned in the corner of the room picking it up she placed it next to Brooke sitting in the chair and again taking hold of Brooke's hand. She sighed then looking at Brooke and saying "I hate when your right, I don't know what to do?" She rested her head on the bed next to her and Brooke's hands...