The Brightest Stars ✨

Chaper 36

"You look tired," Lima said, handing him a coffee, which he gratefully accepted. He needed the fog clearing boost and the scalding heat on his tongue.

"Thank you," Gabe replied. "Did you get much sleep?"

"No." She slumped down on the seat he had just vacated. Long legs drawn up to her chest. She was wearing a grey hoodie, with the hood pulled up on her head exposing wavy strands of hair. She had deep circles under her eyes and her small nose was red and pinched, like she had been crying the whole journey to the hospital.

"How did you get here anyway?" Gabe asked.

"Ty dropped me off," came her answer. She was staring at Natalia, she was fixated on her face, as she stroked it with the back of her hand. "He had to get to work," she explained as an afterthought. It neither detracted or added anything new to the conversation. If you could call it that.

"Mm," Gabe grunted in reply. His mind was numb, polite small talk was beyond the realms of his capabilities right now.

"Why don't you go and have a shower. Shave. Grab some breakfast. How long have you been here now? 6 days? You need a break. I can hold down the fort."

Gabe froze at her suggestion, his ambivalent mood switching to agitation so fast he couldn't pinpoint what had triggered him exactly. He didn't like her suggestion one bit. He didn't like her waltzing in and assuming her post at Natalia's side like she hadn't been harder to reach than Osama Bin Laden in his cave just days prior. He didn't like her telling him what to do. He didn't like her assuming she knew how to take care of Natalia better than he did. When Natalia had always been the caretaker in her and Lima's relationship.

Leaving Natalia was a hard boundary, the only other person that he had allowed to sit with her while he tended to his human needs was his mother. She was currently at her home, catching up on sleep and probably cooking up a storm. She had been keeping everyone on the ward fed, the nurses, the doctors, the staff, patients and visitors alike.

"My mom will be by in the afternoon, I can wait 'til then," Gabe said coolly.

Lima turned around to face him, her ears had pricked up at his frosty tone. "You don't trust me?"

"I didn't say that," Gabe returned, not wanting to pick a fight with his girl's best friend.

"You didn't have to."

"Mm," he said noncommittally, refusing to engage further.

"I can watch her for half an hour, seriously," she laughed a little at the end so it wouldn't seem so aggressive but Gabe saw through it. She was at a loss, riddled with guilt and was trying to reassert herself in Natalia's life. Well, she wasn't going to do that at Natalia's expense.

"No offence but where the fuck were you when Natalia was trying to reach you all these weeks?" He saw her visibly wince, her eyes instantly going glassy with tears.

She wore her heart on her sleeve just like someone else he knew. Fuck, so much for not starting shit with his girl's best friend. Now he'd made her cry. Her tears didn't even bother tracking down her face, they spilled on the floor straight from the source, like a cartoon.

She wiped at her huge brown eyes with the sleeve of her sweater and Gabe could swear angels, fairies and woodland creatures were all throwing curses at him, he felt the dull and slow spread of remorse, "No–yeah, I deserve that. I've been a shitty friend. I have no excuse except the truth, which I will tell Natalia in due time."

"Whatever it is, it's none of my business. Natalia will probably choose to overlook it, as she always does." He couldn't help but to add the last bit in a sniping tone.