Tragically Yours

| 38 |

Finally, what feels like a day-long drive, we've finally arrived at the apartment complex. I parked my car to the side and sighing out the breath I didn't realize I was holding. It seriously feels like I've been driving for an entire day. I carefully unbuckle my seat belt and let my entire weight fall on the backrest of my seat. To my side, I hear Gail unbuckling her seat belt as well as letting her whole weight on her seat. It's nice to have someone spend some unproductive time inside the car. There's nothing wrong with just taking a breather before getting out of the car and starting to do things. Well, for me at least, I have to start writing some parts of Declan's novel into a theatrical play. I don't know what Gail would be up to later this evening. Maybe she'll just hang around the living room, watching whatever she finds interesting.

I hear a noise coming from the seat beside me, and I assume Gail is trying to turn her entire body to face me. Since I can feel her blue eyes piercing through my soul. I didn't even know that was possible. "So, we're here... Any plans on getting out of the car?" Maybe if I pretended I didn't hear her, she wouldn't try to continue her statement with what I think she would say. "Have you thought about what we've discussed earlier? The thing that we need to do to see if there's still a spark."

Aw, there it is. I was really hoping that she'll forget all about that. But alas, she kept proving me wrong. This might be the first time that I was truly hoping she'll prove me right. Now I'm starting to suspect that won't happen any time soon. Oh, maybe if I play dumb enough, she'll withdraw what she's offering. "Uh, what?" I made sure that my tone of voice was actually filled with confusion. Plus points if she can see the perplexity on my entire face. Or maybe a friendly gaslight might also do the trick. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about. Maybe you're hearing things, I definitely don't remember what we were talking about earlier."

I heard a slight sigh of frustration coming from her, and I concluded to myself that playing dumb and trying to gaslight her won't be the solution. It would be a solution if I want to make things worse. Unfortunately, this time, I don't want it to worsen. "You know what I'm talking about. I would rather not repeat myself again, Vy." Is it just me, or maybe I can hear the blood rushing into her cheeks? Also, she might be embarrassed to even try to redo the stunt she did earlier.

For safety measures—also for making sure if she's truly blushing—I clicked on the car lights inside. Once the light turned on, and I was close to shining a smile because I was right. Gail is definitely blushing and looks embarrassed. It seems she was just using the dark as a tool to hide it. "Uh-huh because repeating your words again might set your entire face ablaze." She immediately turned her head away and started facing out her side window. I had this urge to gently make her face me because I honestly miss the feeling of her blue eyes piercing through me. But I think meeting her gaze from her reflection would do the trick. "Gail, what's wrong? Never in your life have you been this bold." Well, she did blush her cheeks, though I'll give her some credit. Some brownie points for trying. Plus some extra points for using the dark as a cover. That was clever, not going to lie.

I see her puff her cheeks as the redness fades out. A smile was threatening to come forth, but I kept my walls reinforced, not letting a single twitch escape. A sigh came out of her, this time wasn't a sigh of frustration. It's a sigh of... Dare I say, wistfulness. It's the closest word that I can describe the kind of sigh she just did. "Nothing is wrong," Clearly there is. Though it seems she's not interested in sharing it with me. "But you're right. I was never once this bold to request that." I watched as she bit her lip in mere frustration while shaking her head as if to shake off the frustration that's building inside of her. "I just want to speed things up a little. I know I said that there's nothing wrong with taking it slow." Gail lets out a shaky breath before continuing her rant, "I'm running out of time, so there's no point in taking it slow." She rested her head on the window, as I kept on watching her while worry was building up inside of me. It seems that the quiet atmosphere of the car had turned into something disquieting. "I don't want to go back. Go back to the place where it feels I don't belong. Where I'm not myself."