"Hey, I'll never leave you," Tatum insisted quickly, ignoring the twisting in her chest as she said the words. How she had come to making that a lie, if only she had more will power than this. If she had really been dedicated, she could have put the blonde off a lot longer, but she was glad she hadn't. It was hard to hear these things, but it was good to know them. "I'm not like other people, if you hadn't noticed?" she suggested quietly, snuggling in more comfortably as Mack began her story about Abigail.

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but that hadn't been it, and by the time that older girl had finished telling it, Tatum's lower lip was trembling like mad. It was clear she wasn't cut out to be the strong one, and this only proved it. Hearing all of that left her with a torrent of new worries, the least of which was not the fact that she lived every day in fear of the same thing. Stories like those were exactly why she had never told her parents so much as a word about her sexuality. Let Sera be the open one, get her girlfriend dragged out of the house by her hair, Tatum wasn't going there.

Tatum would rather live any number of her days in secrecy, if that was what it took to avoid situations like those. She loved her parents desperately, and to be put in a position like that.. she couldn't even imagine. It wasn't exactly warming her opinion of Mackenzie's mother, although she felt immediately bad for having such ill thoughts about a woman who had a husband in the hospital. It was sort of rude. But what she had just heard was also unimaginably cruel.

"T-That's awful," she managed, unsure how else to even express what she was thinking. "She was your f-first," she added quietly, finding that was something else she could relate to. First loves were never an easy thing to work with. "I get that," the redhead sighed. She didn't want to speak against Abigail, a girl she didn't know, didn't even really know a thing about until tonight. But her mind was full of choice words. When had she gotten to protective of everyone? Of Frankie, of Mack.. she just couldn't seem to make up her mind. But then again, that was most of the problem now.

There was no sense in denying it. Looking into her eyes, smiling at her, even in the darkness. She loved Frankie, loved her desperately, but could it be so wild to love Mackenzie? She had always been there for her, and she really did say the nicest things.. when she wasn't being disgusting, she was just perfect. Almost perfect except for the fact that whenever Tatum thought about Frankie, her stomach twisted painfully in guilt again. Frankie said mean things, but she still loved her, still wanted to make it work with her. Didn't she? Just yesterday, she was sure she would have laid down her life for the brunette. Today was the same, but would she do it if it meant she had to get up out of this bed right now? Break this embrace, take away the calming thump of her friend's heart? She honestly wasn't sure.

"I am pathetic," she decided, trying not to give any reaction to the nickname, though it did cause the briefest skip in her pulse. No one would hear them, it was just them, hushed voices in the darkness. They could get away with it, just for tonight. When they needed it. "But you're like, my numero uno, too. I didn't know what to do without you, it was like.. Teagan was being cute and I was going to text you, then I was like.. oh wait, I can't.. and then I went to McD's, and you couldn't come, and I was like-- so fucking bored," she explained, trailing off and biting her lip slightly as Mackenzie lightly prodded her, making her squirm a bit.

"We're just bros for life. We just like.. get shit, right?" she whispered, lifting her eyes again to meet Mack's briefly before looking away. She reached out cautiously, seeking the blonde's nearest hands, tangling their fingers awkwardly together. "You're full of shit though, you'd totally get sick of me.. what if I like, start being really clingy? You hate clingy bitches," she joked.