Bury a Friend | Hemlock Grove |

Chapter 26 | Closest to Me |

"You okay, honey?" She hears her mom creaking down the stairs. "I just heard what happened."

"I'm fine," Emma glances up from the table.

"I know you and Roman weren't speaking, but-"

"I'm fine," Emma lies. "Don't worry."

"I just cannot believe his mother never did anything."

"She probably didn't know," Emma lies again. Olivia was very much aware of Roman's drug usage and while she didn't encourage it she didn't stop him.

"I don't know how she couldn't. He's her child! How couldn't she see something was wrong?" She moves to get plates from the cabinet.

"She's busy, I guess. Running a whole company and all. Roman can be a lot to handle sometimes."

"Still," Kay sighs and sits once the table is set. "How little of attention do you have to be paying to miss it?"

......

Emily Parker has done her fair share of dreading school, most of it has happened over the past couple months. Today was not dread so much as anxiety towards the unknown. Would people greet her with pity over Roman? Would they ask her about him? These were the questions she tried to anticipate answers too. She didn't have them.

Seeing Ally in the hallway with her lips pursed and arms crossed was not something she anticipated. "Hey guys," Emma smiles lightly approaches Ally and Kim.

"Hey," Kim mumbles unenthused.

"What's up?" She asks them.

"Nothing," Ally says sternly.

"Look, I'm sorry. I told you-"

"I thought you were going to kill yourself!" Ally cracks. She's livid. "Do you know how fucking horrifying that is?"

"Why would you even think that? I have one bad day and suddenly I'm a mental case?" Emma has no rational way to explain herself. "You just overreacted."

"Overreacted?" She scoffs back. "Do you know how goddamn weird you've been acting?"

"I'm not acting weird! Kim, please-"

"I'm with Ally on this one."

"Well," Emma scratches her head. "I'm sorry that I've been acting weird. I'll try and be more normal?"

"You know you've been acting weird," Ally demands. "That's why you're being all secretive and not spending time with us."

"I've been busy!"

"Busy with what exactly? Busy drinking alone? Busy pretending to study?" Again, she's left wordless. "Or busy fucking Roman then acting like you hate him?"

"So this is an intervention?" Emma laughs. "Yeah, let's do that at school, in the hallway."

"That's not-" Kim tries to elaborate but Emma continues on.

"Right in front of everyone! You're really helping me out here, guys!"

"You're being a bad friend!" Kim cracks from her usually kind and calm demeanor. "You've been so self-involved this year and it's getting real hard to stand up for you."

"Stand up for me?"

"Do you honestly believe people aren't talking about you?" Ally looks like she could pull her hair out. "That somehow you're exempt from repercussions? Well, we hear it, and I'm done making excuses for you." Emmas blood boils, and heat rises to her face and she tries to think of something to hit back with. "If you want to self-destruct go ahead, but I'm not sticking around to watch.