Royals

Chapter 57

"Are you okay?" Joey hesitantly asked, patting his best friend's shoulder.

"I don't know," Jake mumbled, hiding his face in his arms. Lillia exchanged a worried glance with me before walking over to Joey's windowsill and staring blankly out the window.

After Joey and I spent the day in Orlando, we headed back to Michigan via private jet. We had just got back to Joey's house when the door slammed open and an irate Jake ran into Joey's room. We shared a knowing look as Joey followed Jake and comforted him while I called Lillia over.

I stayed in Joey's living room, awaiting Lillia's appearance and tried my best to ignore the sound of objects flying against walls. When Lillia finally arrived, we found ourselves in Joey's extremely untidy room. I guess Jake dealt with anger similar to how I did: throwing whatever he could get his hands on.

It took a few moments for Jake to move on from the anger stage and to go into a depressed state. Seeing him like this almost made me wish we hadn't told him; I almost wished we could've spared him the pain of heartbreak.

"Is there anything we can do?" I asked hesitantly, not wanting to risk him getting upset again.

"I don't think so," he murmured, but his words were muffled. "I think I just want to be alone."

"Do you want us to leave?" Joey questioned, already standing and ready to walk out of the door if Jake said the word.

"Nah, I'm just gonna go," he sighed. "I'm overreacting anyways."

"No you're not," Lillia suddenly shrieked, jumping up from her spot on the windowsill. "You loved her and she broke your heart; you're not doing anything wrong."

"Lil, relax," I whispered, glaring at her. Getting him riled up again wasn't going to help anyone.

"No, I will not relax," she scoffed, throwing her arms in the air. "He's our best friend and he's hurting and you guys are acting like it's nothing. Well, listen, just because things are finally all fine and dandy between you two doesn't mean everything is fine and dandy for everyone else."

"Lil--" Jake began.

"No," Lillia continued. "Joey, remember how you felt when Emily kissed Brandon in the hot tub because she was dared to? Or when she stood you up in New York? Huh? Remember how you felt? And, what about you, Emily? Remember how it felt when Joey wouldn't leave his girlfriend to be with you? Remember how you felt every single time you saw Aubrey? She was the constant reminder that he was no longer yours.

"Well, that's how he's feeling. You both went berserk and got drunk and isolated yourself from everyone. Jake is demonstrating how to properly grieve: you don't run away from your problems, you stay there and you face them."

I stared at Lillia with a blank face. "Um, Lil, I--"

"You two fixed everything, and eventually everything was great with you guys, right?" Lillia rhetorically asked before snapping, "Well, it's not going to be like that with him."

Jake looked at her with furrowed eyebrows, and she let out of a groan and ran out of Joey's room.

"What the hell just happened?" Joey asked, incredulous.

"I should go," Jake muttered, exiting the room.

I was left gaping with Joey, confused as to what was happening. "I'm beginning to regret telling him; maybe we should've let them be. Marietta was right, seeing him like this, I just--"

"No, stop," Joey interrupted, holding up his arm. "We did the right thing; he deserved to know."

"I guess," I murmured, rubbing my eyes. Joey and I stayed in his room in complete silence for a few minutes, both deciding what to do now.