Little Love Stories (one-shots)

Runaway

 It wasn't easy for Gaia to be there. Staring into those shining brown eyes that she'd looked into countless times before. She always saw her future in them but today, it was different. She wished she could tell him and that he would understand. He had always been so understanding but she wasn't sure he would get this. She didn't even really understand it herself. 

              It had been a month since she had taken that plane ride. She knew she would have to book a ticket back home eventually, but there was nothing she dreaded more than confrontation. She felt too guilty about leaving Dean behind but there was something she felt was missing in her life. She thought a change in scenery would help her grow but she quickly realised all she was doing was running away. Every night she would write him a letter. Nothing too sappy, she'd just tell him about her day and when things would get too lonely she'd add in an 'I miss you'. She never sent any of them though. 

              One particularly warm Italian night, with her feet in the lake and her eyes gazing up at the stars, she felt happiness. Real happiness, that didn't come in pill form. For the first time in months she felt like maybe she could go back to her life and not feel trapped. She could finally breathe; and maybe she was getting homesick, or sick of her new life but, the long nights of partying with strangers and crying alone in her cabin were starting to get old. 

"Gaia, what are you doing?" 

She was startled, "Jesus!" 

Andrea laughed, "Sorry, I just came to see if you were okay" 

"Yeah," she smiled, "never better".  And she meant it.

            Andrea sat down next to her and put his arm around her. He smelled faintly of cigarettes and cologne and his hands were warm and comforting. His green eyes were admiring the dark water. She didn't know much about him, just that he was 21 and he worked at the little diner near the lake and he liked to read poetry. He was a character in her idealised fantasy of the life she was currently living. They were there in that moment but neither of them could say they knew each other, not really. There wasn't any history or hurt between them. He pulled her in for a kiss. 

"I'm leaving soon" she whispered

"where are you going, it's so late already?" he replied. 

She shook her head, "I'm going back home." 

He smiled; a smile that said 'I'll never see you again but I will never forget you'; she smiled back. 

          Five days later she landed back home. She carried her suitcase through the airport and couldn't help but feel the slightest tinge of jealousy seeing the girl who was sitting next to her on the plane embracing her boyfriend and him holding a card saying 'Baby'. She wished she was doing cringe shit like that with Dean or even Andrea. She couldn't stand being alone and yet, there she was. She got a taxi to her friend Ria's apartment. Ria was out of town but she had a spare key. 

         The night went by slowly and after two hours of watching reality TV, she was bored out of her mind and decided to go to a bar instead of wallowing alone on someone else's couch. 

        She walked into the first bar she found, a small rustic place. It was fairly busy but she found an empty stool at the bar and made her way to it. 

"Vodka tonic, please" She said, looking up at the bartender, "Dean?!" Her jaw dropped. 

"Gaia", he looked dumbfounded for a second and then gave her a small smile, the kind that always made her heart feel warm and her day better.