"What are you two fighting about now?" Olivia is sitting at the kitchen table with Sarah, and Amy is the stove making something mouth watering.
"Nothing," Jane mumbles, rolling her eyes as she comes through the screen door. Pete comes in behind her, hands up in disbelief.
"Really, Jane? You're gonna call that nothing?"
"Really, Pete? After everything you've put me through?"
"What did I do?"
"I'm talking about Davey. All that shit with Davey."
"Oh god, we're back to this." Sarah groans.
"Shut up." Jane and Pete tell her before turning and glaring at each other.
"What happened?" Olivia asks.
"Jane hates my girlfriend," Pete tells her.
"Oh my god, no I don't!"
"Aww, you have a girlfriend, Pete? And Jane's jealous?" Olivia leans forward, her own personal reality show right in front of her.
"I'm not jealous!" Jane shouts.
"It's obvious you don't like her - "
"That doesn't make me jealous. And I don't recall ever saying I didn't like her."
"You called her an airhead." Pete holds her stare. "To her face."
Even Amy is listening now. "Jeez, Jane. That's mean, even for you."
"Shut upppp!" Jane screams now. "I did not call her an airhead. All I said was that her comment made her sound like one. God."
Pete's face looks like he smells something bad. "You never have anything nice to say to her."
"You never have anything nice to say to Davey."
"I at least keep it to myself."
Jane punches Pete's arm as hard as she can, and his lack of reaction only pisses her off more. "Asshole! Go see your stupid movie with that airhead without me. Have fun explaining all of it to her the whole time."
"I will!" Pete is out the door, letting it slam behind him without another look at Jane. Jane runs for the door before he can get too far, yelling after him, "At least I get to make out when I go to the movies!" Behind her, her sisters are howling with laughter, and she turns her glare on them.
"Does this fucking amuse you?"
"More than you know." Olivia manages to get out.
"Well I can understand why you're amused," Jane shoots back, but Olivia is too caught up to be insulted.
……….
The change in Sarah is pretty quick. Her relationship with Ryan goes from casual to serious in a short time, and the result is the opposite of what her family expected. The same ends up being true with Olivia. She goes in the opposite direction with every step Sarah takes forward with Ryan. Her family goes days without hearing from her, and when she does grace them with her presence, she's short with everyone and downright nasty towards Sarah. After several dinners end with one or the other storming out of the house, Olivia stops showing up at all.
Tonight, after several minutes of hearing nothing but silverware on plates, Meredith asks, "Has anyone talked to Olivia?"
Amy looks at her mother, hesitating. "I tried calling before I came over, but she didn't answer."
"I talked to her yesterday." Jane offers, looking to Amy. "She said she wasn't coming, but I didn't think she meant it." Only Jane catches Sarah rolling her eyes. They both jump when Meredith throws her silverware on her plate.
"That's it. We are not having family dinners when family is missing."
"Mom, she's missing it by choice," Sarah scoffs, clearly annoyed.
"Choice or not, this isn't how this family works." Meredith starts grabbing everyone's plates as Sarah starts to protest. Her mother holds with a look that still manages to work, and Sarah knows better than to say anything more. When they reach Olivia's apartment her car isn't in its spot, but whether Meredith sees this or not doesn't matter. They all follow her silently up the stairs.
"Jeez, Mom, at least knock first," Jane says when Meredith pulls out a key. The last thing they need is to walk in on Ollie with a guy. Jane knocks loudly twice before reluctantly stepping back beside Amy. She doesn't like what they're doing, unsettles by what's happening between Olivia and Sarah. Amy puts her arms around her as they cautiously enter the apartment behind Meredith barging in with purpose. Sarah makes no move to follow, huffing and rolling her eyes in the hall.
"Sarah," Meredith warns without ever turning around. Sarah appears in the doorway, arms folded tightly across her chest. Ignoring her mom, she takes her glare and sits on the couch.
"Olivia?" Meredith walks through the apartment calling for her daughter. Jane looks out the window, finding Olivia exactly where she thought she'd be. Cigarette in hand, she sits on her balcony with a look on her face that Jane doesn't recognize. Amy comes to see what she's looking at, Meredith behind them cleaning up, unaware that Olivia's actually home.
"Something's wrong," Jane whispers. "Ollie doesn't act like this." Amy sighs softly but says nothing. She turns to Sarah, still scowling on the couch. They catch each other's eyes, and Sarah's expression hardens.
"What is she out there moping?" Her sisters ignore her, but a few seconds later they watch as Sarah appears next to Olivia. Jane pulls the window open enough to hear.
"Dude, what exactly is your issue?"
Olivia flicks the cigarette away, just missing Sarah, who doesn't flinch. "I'm not talking about anything with you," she says coldly.
"Fuckin Christ, are you serious right now? You're gonna keep acting like this, have mom come over here all worried about you, about nothing - "
"I don't want to see you!" Olivia screams, jumping up to get in Sarah's face. Jane is the one that startles as Sarah stands her ground. She's never seen her sister like this, and her expression is no longer sarcastic and annoyed, but confused. She starts to back away, unsure of what's happening.
"Too bad," she says. "I want to know why you're so mad at me. What is it that I did?" Sarah's voice gives a little, surprising everyone. It's enough to soften Olivia because she takes a step back, her face falling.
"It's not - you didn't…do - " Olivia can't finish what she wants to say, and with a hand to her face, she collapses into the chair. Sarah rushes to join her, squeezing herself into the space with her distraught sister. She throws her arms around Olivia as she breaks down.
"Ollie," Sarah murmurs. "What's going on?"
