Chapter 30

Sansa Stark POV

I'm sleeping at Myrcella's place tonight, Podrick is working late. Gendry got us some beer to drink, which was really nice of him. I haven't been able to sleep over at Myrcella's much, but tonight should be fun.

"Are you sure Podrick doesn't mind sleeping in Gendry's room when he gets home from work?" I ask Myrcella as she walks in with some beers.

"He really doesn't, I asked him," she says. "He wants me to be able to have people over."

She sits on the bed and opens our beers. "He really is the best guy," I say. "You're so lucky."

"I really am," she says. "I never thought I'd fall in love like I did with him, or meet someone so nice."

"Especially growing up with Joffrey," I say. "I don't blame you. Podrick actually gives me hope that nice guys do exist somewhere."

"And Gendry too," Myrcella says. "He's a nice guy."

"He is, but he still dated a 14-year-old," I say. "She was the one pushing for it, I know. But that age difference is still questionable either way."

"I see your point," she says. "It's hard for me to really judge what's right and wrong sometimes."

"I'm not saying Gendry's a predator or something, he's a really nice guy," I say. "I just have to point out weirdness when I see it."

"That's fair, and you should," Myrcella says. "I agree that most 18-year-olds shouldn't be looking at a 14-year-old like that."

That's definitely true, and I can see why Jon was upset about it. Gendry is a nice guy, but Jon reacted in an understandable way as a protective older brother.

"So I guess there's no guys you like right now?" Myrcella asks after we sip some of our beers.

"No," I say. "I think I want to wait until college to start dating again."

"That makes sense," she says. "Especially since high school is almost over for you."

"Exactly," I say. "I'll have to either break up with the person in a few months, or try to navigate going to different schools."

"You wouldn't be willing to do that?"

"Probably not, so I don't think it's a good idea unless I get lucky and date someone who also is going to my school, which is unlikely," I say. "I might as well wait."

"I can see you wanting to wait for a more mature guy," Myrcella says. "You've been through a lot with shitty guys."

"Yeah," I say. "And I still can't imagine being intimate with someone again for a while. I don't want to date anyone until I'm ready for that."

"I'm really sorry about what happened with your ex," Myrcella says. "You didn't deserve for your first experiences with sex to be like that."

"I really wasn't ready yet," I say. "But I didn't have a choice, he made that very clear. I never enjoyed sex, not one time."

"I'm so sorry," she says. "I wish I could say something better, but I'm just really sorry."

"There's not much anyone can do, but that's very sweet," I say. "I do appreciate it."

"Sex is really amazing when you're in love and the other person is in love with you," Myrcella says. "It's absolutely breathtaking with Podrick."

"I'm happy for you," I say. "I wish I had that."

"I believe you will," she says. "But if any other guy tries to hurt you again I'll get Podrick and Gendry to beat him up."

"Thank you," I say, laughing. "But I'm sure Jon will do that before they get the chance to."

"You're right, he would."

"I have to have a guy be interested in me first," I say. "That'll honestly take long enough."

"I doubt that," Myrcella says. "Especially in college, you'll have guys all over you."

"Hopefully in a good way," I say. "Not in a creepy way."

"Probably in both ways," she says. "I feel like guys in college will either be extra mature or extra douchey."

"Your probably right about that."

"Are you excited to be getting away from here?" Myrcella asks.

"Yes and no," I say. "I'm excited to meet new people and have more modeling opportunities, but I'm nervous to be away from everyone."

"You'll at least have Jon and Daenerys close by," she says. "You can always spend time with them."

"That's true," I say. "I'm really grateful for Dany, she's been a great friend to me."

"She seems really sweet," Myrcella says. "Jon is really lucky to have her."

"He really is, Dany is way out of his league," Myrcella laughs at that. "I just feel guilty for the way I treated her in the past."

"How so?"

"She was the one who told Jon I was purging, and he told my parents," I say. "I blamed her for me having to go to treatment."

"But I guess you don't blame her anymore?"

"Definitely not," I say. "And I apologized to her for it, but I still feel really bad about it."

"She seems to have forgiven you, and I'm sure she can understand," Myrcella says. "I get it. I hated my parents for making me get help, and I hated the people who voiced concerns for me. I know now that they did the right thing."

"Yeah, they were just looking out for us," I say. "Even if we couldn't see it back then."

I'm glad I have Myrcella to open up to, she really is an amazing friend. I'm glad she's happier and in a better situation, her family situation could have led her to relapse worse than ever.

I'm nervous to go to college, I feel like I'm not ready. I'm glad I'll have Dany and Jon when i get there, but I still feel like it'll be too big of a change. I just hope I can handle it.

Cersei Lannister POV

I show up to work for a lunch shift, Dany is working an evening shift so I won't see her until later. I get in and set my bag down in the back, I like when no one's there when I get in.

I walk out to the register to clock in when my manager comes out to where I am. "Cersei?" He says. "Can I talk to you in the back?"

"Sure," I say. "Just let me clock in."

"That won't be necessary," he says. "You don't need to clock in for this."

That makes me a little nervous, but I follow him to the back anyway. I sit down in a chair and he sits at his computer in the back office.

"I want to talk to you about some reports we've heard about you recently," he says. "We've been informed that you've been drinking on the job."

"Who told you that?" I ask.

"A couple of customers claim to have seen it," he says. "And a couple of employees I won't name."

"Was it Daenerys?"

"I can't share any information about who it was," he says. It doesn't matter because I'm definitely asking Dany about it. "Either way, we also pulled some surveillance from the cameras to verify and saw proof of it there."

"That wasn't alcohol," I say. "I was just drinking Shirley Temples."

"We saw you take shots," he says. "And I don't appreciate your dishonesty."

"It wasn't alcohol," I say. "I wasn't drinking."

"Would you like me to pull the footage and show you so you can see for yourself?" He says. "Or we can test your BAC right now."

I pause, I guess there's no getting out of this. I don't want to see the footage, and it won't go well if they breathalize me right now. I'm not drunk, but I did have something before coming in.

"No," I say. "That won't be necessary."

"We could get into a lot of trouble if anyone found out you were drinking during your shift," my manager says. "You weren't 21 yet, we could be shut down over that."

I think it's kind of stupid that people under 21 can serve and sell alcohol if they take a class, but they can't drink it. I'm not sure what the management expects when they hire people in college.

"I know," I say. "I made a poor judgement call that time, a shot was offered to me."

"We know it was more than once," he says. "But we won't take further action if you leave this job and never come back to the establishment."

"Really?"

"Yes," he says. "We don't want to get into legal trouble, so let's just make this easier on the both of us."

I nod. "Okay," I say. "I appreciate the consideration."

He hands me a letter of termination to sign, it's just acknowledging that I've been fired so there's a paper trail. I sign it and hand it back to him.

"I'm sorry it had to come to this," he says. "But I really appreciate your cooperation."

"Yeah," I say. "Bye."

"I wish you the best, Cersei."

I walk out without saying anything. I start to walk home, I didn't drive because I had a couple of drinks before coming to work. Once I get home, I walk in and pour myself a drink. Jaime is sitting on the couch.

"Hey," he says. "I thought you had a shift today."

I take a sip of my drink. "I got fired."

"What do you mean? Why?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I say. I start to walk towards my room. "It was so stupid."

"Cersei," Jaime says. "Wait."

"Leave me alone!" I walk into my room and slam the door, I sit on my bed and set my drink down on the nightstand.

I pull out my phone to call Daenerys, I need to ask if this was her. I have a strong feeling it was, she would do something like this to teach me a lesson and she would believe in her twisted logic that she was doing the right thing.

"Hello?" Dany says when she answers.

"Did you tell our boss I take shots and have drinks sometimes while working?"

There's a pause. "What?" She asks. "What are you talking about?"

"I just got fired," I say. "Our manager pulled the surveillance footage of me drinking at work, he said someone told him about it."

"Well it wasn't me," she says. "I thought whenever you drank at work you did it in the camera blind spots."

"I did most of the time," I say after a pause. "I may have slipped up a couple of times."

"Cersei, I didn't tell anyone," she says. "Why would I do that?"

"To teach me a lesson," I say. "You were constantly telling me you didn't approve of what I was doing."

"Well I didn't," she says. "But I didn't want you to get in trouble, and I definitely didn't want to get involved."

I pause. "I'm honestly not sure I believe you," I say. "I'm not sure of who else it could be."

"It wasn't me," Dany says. "I may not agree with everything you do now, but I wouldn't do that to you."

"You've been constantly judging me the past couple of years," I say. "How do I know you're not lying?"

"I'm not!" She says. "Cersei, come on. I think you know that's not how I am."

"Whatever," I say. "I'll talk to you later."

"Cersei, I—" she starts talking again and I just hang up.

I honestly do think it was her, but I know she'll never admit it. She would do something like this to show me there's consequences for my actions. I bet Jon encouraged her, or it may have even been his idea. She'd agree with him if he suggested this, he thinks he's so much better than everyone. Dany used to not be like that, she used to be so much more understanding of a person.

I'm not worried about money, but I don't want my father to find out I got fired. He'd just overreact and threaten to cut me off. I know Jaime won't tell him, he has more sense than to do that. I honestly just need to sleep on this. I'm so embarassed that I got fired, but I have to act like I don't care. This just really sucks.

I end up snorting some Xanax from Bronn that I still had so I can just pass out and go to sleep. I don't want to think about what's happening right now, and I honestly see no reason not to do it. I haven't in weeks, I'm managing it fine. Of course Dany wouldn't approve, but she's an idiot to think I'm ever telling her anything again.

Jon Snow Stark POV

Dany hangs up the phone with Cersei and starts tearing up. "What happened?" I ask.

"Cersei got fired," she says. "Apparently our boss got reports and saw footage of her drinking on the job."

"I'm sorry," I say. "But why are you so upset? I mean, it sucks for her but it's the consequences of her actions."

"She thinks I told the manager," Dany says. "I didn't, but she thinks it was me."

"Why would she think that?"

"I saw her taking shots a couple of times and I told her not to do it," she says. "But I also promised her I wouldn't tell on her."

"I can't see you doing that," I say. "Why would you get involved in her drama?"

"Exactly, I wouldn't," she says. "I hope she realizes that."

"She really isn't being a good friend to you," I say. "How can she accuse you of this with no evidence?"

"I mean, it kind of makes sense where her logic is coming from," Dany says. "Not many people knew she was doing that besides me."

"It's still shitty," I say. "She really just jumped to conclusions."

Dany's phone buzzes and she looks at it. "My manager wants me to come in an hour early since Cersei isn't there," she says. "They must be short-staffed now."

"Are you going to?"

"Yeah, I might as well," she says. "I just need to start getting ready."

My phone rings and I see it's my dad. "My dad's calling," I say. "I'm going to step outside." Dany nods and I kiss her forehead.

"Hey dad," I say walking out of the apartment. "What's up?"

"How's it going, Jon?"

"I'm fine," I say. "Is everything okay?"

He pauses and takes a deep breath. "I told your mom the truth about you," he says. "I just wanted you to know."

I pause, I have no idea how to respond to that because I never thought this day would come. I never thought he would actually tell her the truth. I thought he'd keep his sister's secret for the rest of our lives and I would have to deal with it

"What did she say?"

"Well, she has a hard time believing me, which is understandable," he says. "She wants to do a DNA test, but I said I would have to ask you."

"Why would you lie about it now?"

"You have to try and see things from her point of view, Jon," my dad says. "She thought I cheated on her, now she's being told I lied to her for over 20 years. She has the right to want some sort of proof."

I can see his point, but I hate that I have to be in the middle of all of this. "Do I have to do it?" I ask.

"You're an adult," he says. "Technically, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. But I would really appreciate it if you did."

"Can I think about it?" I ask.

"Of course," my dad says. "Your mom and I are staying together, but she needs time to process this."

"I understand, and so do I," I say. "I'll let you know what I decide."

"Okay, take your time," my dad says. "And Jon?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry I put you through all of this," he says. "This is never what I wanted to happen."

"Thanks, dad," I say. "Bye."

"Bye."

I walk inside and Dany is getting ready for work. "What did your dad have to say?" She asks.

"He said he told my mom the truth about where I came from," I say. "Apparently she wants me to do a DNA test."

"Why would she want to do that?"

"She's received a lot of conflicting information from my dad," I say. "I honestly don't blame her."

Dany stops and looks at me, I can tell she's also letting it all sink in. "Are you going to do it?" She finally asks.

"I'm not sure," I say. "I know I should, but I hate that I have to be in the middle of all of this."

"I hate it too," she says, walking up and hugging me. "This whole thing is nothing a kid or even a young adult should have to deal with."

"Thanks," I say. "I just need to think about it, I'm not sure what I want to do."

"You know I'll support you no matter what, right?"

"I know," I say. "Thank you. My dad did apologize to me for all this, which meant a lot to me."

"That is really sweet," Dany says. "I have to go, but I'll see you later tonight."

"Bye babe," I say, giving her a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too."

She leaves and I sit down on the couch and open my laptop. I know my dad did everything he did with the best intentions, but I still think it wasn't fair to me. I know he was put in a really tough position, but I wouldn't blame my mom if she didn't want to be with my dad anymore because of all this. It would be hard for her to leave since four of their kids are still in the house, but I would understand if she wanted to.

I want to help my dad, but I also know this isn't something I should have to deal with. I'm glad my mom knows the truth, but it doesn't change what I went through growing up and how my mom treated me my entire life. That's something I'll always have to deal with and remember.

A/N: Sorry it's been a bit, I took a break for the holidays. I hope everyone had a good holiday season, let me know what you think of this chapter!