Rebekah and Bobby
He was staring at her. Rebekah could literally feel Bobby's eyes boring into the back of her skull, and she could hear his fragmented thoughts.
"Is she ok?"
"...Ian..."
"... she won't speak about..."
"... Ian..."
Rebekah shook her head slightly. She hadn't come outside to get food only to be pitied. She didn't want that, it wasn't who she was. But he was waiting for her reaction.
Everyone was forever waiting for her to stand up to attention, to yell, scream, cry, anything.
They could keep on waiting, because she wasn't going to talk about it.
"Bek, I'm worried about you," Bobby said, touching her arm. She flinched.
"Don't be."
"But you haven't said two words about Ian, and I... I know what you're going through."
"Sure you do," Rebekah thought.
The simple truth was that she had no idea what to say. For hours now, she'd been trying to convince herself that none of it had ever happened. And with Bobby trying to get her to talk every two minutes, she was going insane.
She didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to say it out loud. Because that would make it final, make it true.
And she just didn't want that.
"Look, I want to help, I know - "
"What do you know about this?" Rebekah turned around and faced him.
"I know because I'm going through it with Julie."
"No way, do not even try that on me. What's happening with us are two different things. Julie is going to be ok, you will see her again, but Ian..."
Rebekah bit her quivering lip, willing herself to be strong.
"It's ok to say it," Bobby said softly.
"No, it's not."
He put an arm around her as she buried her head in his shoulder and wept.
"How can I just go on when he's..."
"Because we have to. Bek, we do what we have to do. And as callous as this sounds, life does inevitably go on. And you'll survive. In time, you'll learn to live without him."
"I don't think I will..."