Toxic

Toxic: Chapter #53 | Or Flight

Zach's Past

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⚠️ Warning: ⚠️

This chapter contains a severe panic attack, dissociation, vomiting, accidental triggering, trust issues and much more. Take care!

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I stood in the kitchen for a long time, watching the door, hoping and praying that she would come back, but the longer I waited, the more obvious it became that she wasn't coming back. I deflated and guilt soured in my gut as I silently acknowledged the fact that this was all my fault. It didn't mean that the letter or the necklace hurt any less, nor did it erase the pain of the betrayal I perceived but I hated it, and it took everything I had not to go after her. I didn't think it would be appreciated, especially if she and Lu were in the same place. At least she would be safe with him, because right then I didn't believe she was safe with me, though make no mistake, I would never lay a hand on Giana in any harmful way. Five hours later, Giana still wasn't back and that's all it took for me to head to my room, sit on the edge of my bed and dive deep into what would end up being the longest zone of my life and I brought it upon myself.

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Giana had quickly gone to Lu's house, and frantically began knocking on the door. It didn't take long for him to answer it. When he saw her, his heart broke. "You too?" he asked softly.

She nodded, the tears finally falling down her rosy cheeks and Lu pulled Giana into his arms protectively. He guided her inside the house and closed the door behind them. "Let's get you warmed up and then we'll talk. If you're not up to talking, then I dub today rom com snuggle day."

A whisper of a smile flitted onto her face and then vanished, but she gave a nod of assent. Lu led her to the living room, and she settled on the couch, hugging her knees to her chest as she sniffled, and more tears fell down her cheeks.

Lu grabbed some blankets and brought them over to her, wrapping one around her and laid one over her lap before climbing under the blanket himself. He then opened his arms, and she went into them, her soft crying turning into body wracking sobs. No words were said as he held her close and rubbed her back soothingly. I had broken Giana's heart and had hurt her badly, but I had no clue just how badly I had fucked up.

Giana and Lu stayed like that for a while, but Lu could tell that Giana wasn't up for talking yet. So, he pulled up Netflix and played the first rom com he came to. They settled in and watched like three rom coms in a row but, halfway through the third one, she looked at Lu, her voice very soft as she said, "I want to talk about it."

He gave her a small smile, nodded and paused the movie. "I'm all ears, GiGi."

She smiled softly at the nickname, but once more the smile quickly faded. "T-That wasn't him. Not really but I don't know what I did wrong, Luigi."

Lu tucked her hair behind her ear, shook his head and made sure she knew how serious he was with his next words. "You didn't do anything wrong, Giana. Trust me, if it had been you, he wouldn't have gone off on me."

Her heart sank as she covered her face with her hands and wept. She hadn't realized that I had gone off on Lu too. Lu let her adjust slightly to reach for the box of Kleenex but when she leaned back, her phone was in her pocket and the movement caused her to pocket dial me.

I didn't hear it when it first started ringing, but pretty soon I sluggishly blinked several times as my head cleared and through a rapidly clearing haze, I heard the familiar ringtone belonging to My Sunflower. Furiously, I wiped at my face, having no idea when I started crying but as I picked my phone up to answer, I noticed the time.