see you later // Pablo Gavi

Chapter 57

𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒖𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒖𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕. 𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅. 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒚𝒆𝒔-𝒔𝒊𝒓, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓. 𝑭𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒙, 𝒇𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒍𝒅.

𝐈 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐅𝐓 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐆𝐀𝐕𝐈, 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐈 𝐒𝐔𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒. I want to get up, shower, get dressed, and do something. I smile at simply the thought of wearing his clothes, and I roll off the sofa to go shower and do just that. I know he wouldn't mind.

When I sit up, though, a horrible feeling happens to me, and so does stress and anxiety, because I know right away what is happening. Blood. The pants between my legs has a horrible wet feeling, and I realise yesterday I was so excited about Gavi coming home, I rushed here, and completely forgot I was supposed to get it today. And I got it tonight.

My period.

My head whips to where I was laying on the sofa, and my stomach lurches. Oh God, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! There's a spot... of blood... on his sofa... on his white couch. I feel a lump in my throat, and I can't believe myself... What if he gets mad at me? That will be so awkward when he wakes up. Should I wake him up now? I breath heavily, and walk as fast as I can to the bathroom to try to get myself cleaned up as best I can.

I break down on the bathroom toilet crying, not knowing what to do, trying to keep my tears silent, to listen for any sign of him waking up. Why am I crying? Why did I do this? Why am I so stupid? When did I get so pathetic?

Maybe I was always pathetic, and know that Gavi is here to make me vulnerable and weak, I finally see the truth about myself.

Suddenly, my heart is in my esophagus when I hear from the other room Gavi's tired voice say, "Huh? Ember, where'd you go?"

Obviously, I don't have the guts to call back. I mean, what am I going to say? Oh, just in the bathroom, crying my eyes out, babe, because I got my period and put an awful stain on your couch! Anyway, how was your sleep? No, obviously not.

I hear silence for a little too long, although I'm not sure how long it really is. Time leaves when things are really good and when they're really bad. I think extreme emotions overwhelms time sometimes.

Finally, though, after however long it is, there is a gentle knock on the bathroom door, and Gavi says through the door, "Ember, you're in here, right?" He doesn't sound mad... Or sympathetic... Or mad... He sounds nothing. There's no special emotion, but it doesn't sound monotone, either. It's just asked as the question it is. I'm in here, right? "Please just answer, Ember. If you think I'm mad, I'm not. Just answer me. I know you're in there."

And, of course, I can't bring myself to ignore him. Of course I have to acknowledge my presence to him. I say, my voice cracking, "I'm sorry, Gavi. I'm so sorry, I didn't know... I didn't realise... I was so excited to see you, I forgot, and... I ruined it... I'm sorry, Gavi, I'll buy you another whole sofa, I swear. I'm so sorry... I shouldn't've... I'm so stupid!" I pull at my dark, tangled, messy hair. "Please don't be mad at me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Gavi, I'm sorry! Please don't-"

"Ember, shut up!" he suddenly says through the door, which makes me jump. But then he says, gentle again, "It's okay. I'm not mad, not at all. And you aren't, by the way, going to be buying me a whole new sofa. I've got it under control. But you obviously don't, considering you've been sitting in there for at least fifteen minutes. So... I'll go out. What do you need me to buy for you?" He just sounds... normal. He's not making it a big deal, but not being overly mad or overly sympathetic. He knows things happen, and it's a part of life, and he accepts it.

And he's being a gentleman about it all.

I want to cry this time because of how amazing he is.

I sniff, wiping my face with toilet paper, before responding, "Yes. Thank you, Gavi. I love you. You can just pick up pads for me, and... I'm going to need women's underwear, and a new outfit..."

I hear him clear his throat on the other side of the door, before saying awkwardly, "Right, yes... Uh..." He clears his throat again, before saying, "What sizes?"

I tell him, kind of embarrassed as well, because of this whole situation.

"M'kay... And, do you want anything else? Like, I could buy you some treats, or candies, or... Do you want anything like that?"

I smile softly to myself, finishing wiping down my face. "Chocolate, please. Any kind."

"Okay, well, I'm going to head out to the store. I'll go as fast as I can, but in the meantime, I want you to get in the shower, turn it on nice and warm, but not too hot, and relax, okay? Once you're finishing, I'll be back. Just enjoy yourself. You can use my soap."

"Okay, love, sounds... perfect. Can I just say something else."

"Sure...?"

"I'm a really lucky girl to have a guy like you."

"Oh," he says softly, and there's a smile in his voice. "I'm a lucky guy to have a girl like you, Ember, even if you don't think so. Now, you get in the shower, and I'll see you later. Love you, bye."

"Love you too. Bye. See you later."

Once I hear the front door of the house close, I get into the shower, under the warm beating water, and I wrap myself up in the scents of his shampoo and body wash, and I feel as though he's all around me, and in me.

I giggle to myself, because my dirty mind wouldn't mind if he was in me.