Snippet #2808986

Rosie forced a smile as Jaiden said she wasn’t expecting anyone. “Sorry, just said I’d drop in and see how you were doing. I just swung by here on a whim,” she explained. In all honesty, she’d hardly noticed the mess, but she just shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, my house isn’t much better,” she said. She knew that Jaiden had to be struggling just as much as she was, and she knew their smiles were both fake, but neither of them wanted to acknowledge it. Rosie sat down on the couch and nodded as Jaiden asked if she wanted tea. She just smiled sadly as Jaiden asked how she was.In that moment, she decided she wasn’t going to mention Travis. She trusted Jaiden, she was pretty sure that she wouldn’t say anything. But Jaiden didn’t need to hear that someone they’d let in, that they’d trusted, that they’d called a friend, had been a mole. Had been part of the reason that they’d lost people. That they’d lost Markus.

“It’s been… well, it hasn’t been easy. It’s… it’s strange more than anything. Sometimes you… you almost forget, you know? And then you remember and…” She trailed off. “You know it as well as I do, though. How have you been doing? And don’t tell me you’re fine. I don’t think either of us are exactly ‘fine,’” Rosie warned. “You’ve been through a lot over the past few weeks, hell, the last few months. You don’t have to talk about it with me but… talk about it with somebody.” She caught herself and smirked a little. “Can’t quite switch off teacher mode. But it’ll help, trust me on that much.”

She knew it was ironic that she was shifting the conversation away from herself because she also didn't want to talk about any of it. But she could see it in Jaiden's actions that Jaiden needed someone to listen to, or at least, someone who she knew would listen if she needed it. Rosie would make it through. No matter what.

Hayden was glad at least when Kay decided to talk about it. He was starting to realise that this truly was no ordinary town, if only for the people that lived in it. Maybe his life had just been extraordinarily easy before, but things were different here.

So he just let her talk, wiping away some of the tears when she started to cry again. He wanted to tell her that it wasn't her fault. It wasn't anyone's fault. Even if his life had been straightforward, he knew that feelings weren't. Nobody could help how they felt or who they fell for.

The hug was a surprise, but he hugged her back, holding her tight. He didn't really know what to say to make her feel better, but he knew that the hug would help. He rubbed her back a little as she clung on to him.

"It's not your fault, Kay. People are confusing. But I'm willing to bet most people are nice to you because they want to be nice to you, because they're nice to everyone. And it's much better to be someone that believes too much in the good than someone who only sees the bad. Innocence is valuable because you will always try to help. There's nothing wrong with being innocent... but there's nothing wrong with wanting to be more than that. So what do you want to be? Who do you want to be? Once you figure that out... you can start working from there. And while we figure that out," he said with a smile. "We better eat this food before it goes cold, right?"