“And you need to fix that right now? Right this very second?”
Molly sank onto the edge of Cleo’s bed. “I booty called one of my fuck buddies to distract me. But I couldn’t… we didn’t… I kicked her out before we even got naked. What the hell is wrong with me?”
Cleo sat up in bed and scooted back against the headboard. “We don’t have that kinda time, girlfriend.”
Molly smiled in the darkness despite herself, but a lump lodged in her throat. The bedside lamp clicked on and Cleo pulled her knees to her chest under the quilt. “Okay. I’m awake, damn it. Talk to me, Molly. What’s going on with you?”
Molly bounced on the balls of her feet. Winced and stopped. If she couldn’t trust her best friend with everything that had gone on, who could she trust? The longer Molly kept everything inside, suffering through her feelings alone, the more compounded and tangled everything became. Perhaps a problem shared really was a problem halved.
After a heavy pause, Molly sighed. “I found a lump in my boob.”
To her credit, Cleo didn’t gasp or clutch her chest, she didn’t reach out to touch Molly, and she didn’t ask thirteen thousand questions. She simply sat, listening, watching Molly with sad eyes in the dim light.
“The appointment you took me to wasn’t for birth control. I had a mammogram. Which, for the record? Not fun. It was the worst kind of boob squishing.” She winced at the memory. “I had an ultrasound, too. Because apparently multiple people needed to squish the girls. They say the lump is 16mm, and they found a couple of other spots that are ‘mildly suspicious’ so I had to have another mammogram and ultrasound.”
Cleo picked up Molly’s hand and put it on top of her knees, clutching it tightly. Molly fought the emotion welling up in her chest, but she couldn’t press it down. Her eyes filled but she blinked back the tears.
“The smaller ones are by my nipple so that mammogram was beyond not fun. The rad tech apologized for smashing my nips. I told her I’ve had bad dates before.”
Cleo gave a pity laugh. “What happens next?”
“I had a biopsy this morning.” And her boob was very, very mad at that fact. “Hurt like fuck. I bled a lot, and my boob is super bruised. They put a metal chip in by the mass so they know where it is for future reference. I’m now referring to my left boob as my titanium titty.”
Concern pinched Cleo’s brows in a deep V. “Surgery?”
“No surgery right now. I’ll have another mammogram in six months to check everything. But for now it all seems okay.”
As Cleo launched herself at Molly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
A stab of pain rattled through her side. Molly yipped and Cleo eased her hug.
“I don’t know why you think you have to go it alone, Mol.”
Molly didn’t know either. “Finn knows.”
Cleo relaxed around her. “I’m glad someone knew.” She spoke into Molly’s hair.
“I wouldn’t let him come with, so he followed me. Things are getting complicated with him, ChoCho.”
Cleo nodded against her shoulder. She was probably afraid to speak in case Molly stopped talking. It was easier to open up when she didn’t have to look into her friend’s sad eyes.
“I don’t know how to do complicated. Life’s too fucking short for complicated.”
“It doesn’t have to be complicated, Molly. You like each other. You should see if there’s something there – which, spoiler alert, there totally is. If Will doesn’t like it, then I’m sorry, but he’s your brother, he’s kind of contractually obliged to be a pain in your ass. He’s also sticking around no matter what.”
She sat back and held Molly by the shoulders. “He’s gonna be pissed, sure. But he’ll get over it. And there’s no guarantee that he and Finn wouldn’t fight over something else even if you weren’t a factor. You just never know. Stop putting your potential happiness on hold just because your brother might not approve.”
“Dang ChoCho. Tell me how you really feel.”
Cleo laughed. “Your results today could have been way worse. For someone with such a zest for life, you’re being really dumb about denying yourself Finn O’Brien. Life is short, girl. You live like every day is the last in every aspect of your life. Why stop at Finn?”
Molly shrugged. She had no answer. Other than she didn’t want to lose either Finn or Will. To her, that was reason enough. A life without her brother – or his best friend – in it wasn’t one she ever wanted to consider.
“Fine. Answer this one. Why did you kick your fuck buddy out earlier?”
“I…” Molly swallowed. Shadows danced along the wall as Cleo shifted in bed. “I felt guilty.”
“Why?” Cleo wasn’t letting it go.
