Chapter Text
Jane's heart dropped at Darlene's message, and she immediately rerouted herself to the Tucked Aways group chat, scrolling through past messages before typing out a rather panicked and frantic message.
Tucked Aways
Juicy 🍹: do u guys reckon athena knows what ragebaiting is
Briar🌹: are u serious
Jane 🦋: guys forget code banana atp it might aswell be a plantain
Jane 🦋: bc genuinely tell me why shes saying she wants to break up??
Juicy 🍹: pls werent you already broken up tho?
Briar🌹: i thought that too but APPARENTLY not
Juicy 🍹: sexual tension must be wild wtf
Jane 🦋: she said she didnt wanna be dancing around space still
Juicy 🍹: i have never heard of the song around space can i get link pls that sounds cunt asf
Discord 🎸: That is not at all what she meant by dancing around space.
Juicy 🍹: well can i still get the link to wtv u were on abt thx
Discord 🎸: I don't think Jane can give you a link to Darlene's private message
Briar🌹: oh id bitch abt athena 24/7 if apple added that
Juicy 🍹: u literally already do that
Juicy 🍹: and can we not be talking about my mom like this
Briar🌹: i think i can talk abt my gf however i like
How did the conversation always manage to derail somehow? But maybe the fact the conversation had directed to Athena was a sign, like when she called Briar and instead Athena ended up taking over the call like a mother.
And that was how Jane ended up on her living room floor on yet another call with Briar and Athena, though this time Jane had actually requested to speak to Athena as the older woman had quite a bit of decent advice. Unfortunately, Jane had mainly zoned out while Athena explained how to politely respond without implying anything else, so in the end Jane had just redirected herself back to Darlene's contact once ending the call.
She sat looking at the blank text box for a short moment before typing in two letters: an o and an h. For a moment she considered adding a full stop, but thought over Athena's mention of attempting not the imply anything. But the message looked incomplete without it, sad even. Once adding a punctuation mark, she sent the message off and slid her phone across the carpet with a groan before sitting up and just.. staring at the device against the rug.
Jane's bland response somehow really shook up Darlene. Mainly as it was not similar to her regular responses.
At least not one of the ginger's old regular responses, something like a quick "alright!" or a thumbs up. This time, it was shorter. Packing a punch that could've even been stronger than the way Irene's gaze used to bore into Darlene. The response was two lowercase letters and a punctuation mark.
Jane 🦋: oh.
How could such a short message leave Darlene feeling so sick? And the pressure to respond was like pills, coming back every few hours to haunt Darlene as she contemplated a response. Eventually, she just opened her messages and went to text Nini and Myki.
darlene's support group!! 🍔
Lee 🍌: jane messaged me back
Nina Coco: What did she say?
Lee 🍌: she was all nice but i finally sent her the whole idea and she just went 'oh.'
Nina Coco: And have you said anything back?
Lee 🍌: do u think i have
Nina Coco: No.
Lee 🍌: ding ding ding
Nina Coco: Be home soon, we can talk in depth then.
The next hour without Nini dragged on when Darlene didn't have a way to entertain herself. She found herself directing herself back to her and Jane's messages around 7 times during the time she had alone. It was like she was grieving. She loved Jane. Really loved her. But as she grounded herself, she realised she might've not have loved Jane, just a presence beside her and someone to fall back on when everything got too overwhelming for the blonde. And as Darlene thought about that, the front door finally opened and a few seconds later, Nini opened Darlene's door.
The hallway light bulb, as always, rudely attacked the room with ribbons of illumination, brightening the room just a tad to the point where Darlene could get a clear view of Nini in the powersuit and the chipper brunette behind her. The three let a moment of silence between them all before Nini reached out to Darlene. Meanwhile, Myki wandered further into the apartment, probably to start the ritual of where the three girls all sit on the sofa and end up watching something like John Water's Hairspray alongside some half burnt, half undercooked popcorn that Myki swore she followed the instructions to make when she actually just threw the bag into the microwave and hoped for the best after mashing some buttons.
After around seven minutes and Myki's third try of making popcorn before Nini finally stepped in, the three girls had managed to settle onto the sofa: Nini and Myki shoulder to shoulder on one side of the two seater while Darlene was pressed up against the armrest. As Myki reached for the remote, Darlene started to mull over her earlier thoughts.
She enjoyed Jane's company, and she (sort of) loved Jane. She also enjoyed Nini's company, but she was not at all in love with Nini. Nini had Myki. And Darlene also liked Kenya's company. And Mia's. And Ciara's. But they already had someone, or weren't looking for someone. And Darlene for sure wasn't romantically interested in any of them. Then, Hairspray was on the TV, and she was brought out of her thoughts once again. But she was still distracted over Jane.
Darlene looked over at Nini and Myki for a second. They were originally Jane's friends. Jane had met Myki through their theatre program. Jane was the reason she had moved in with Nini in the first place. Jane was the reason Darlene figured out she might have some of anxiety disorder. Jane was the reason for everything around Darlene in that moment.
Why was everything good always because of Jane?
When Darlene looked back down at her lap, her leg was jittering. Luckily, there was no iced tea in her hands to accidentally spill onto the table where it would inevitably draw closer and closer towards Myki's Annie: The Musical script. She didn't want a repeat of what happened with Irene and Bosco.
She didn't want a repeat of anything really. Jane. The discussion of their break. The last time they fucked and Darlene started to cry as it just felt like a rebound rather than anything else.