see you later // Pablo Gavi

Chapter 85

𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒀𝑶𝑼.

𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐍, 𝐈 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐊. So instead I say to him, "Tell me what happened after I ran off."

He sighs. "Pedri grabbed his shoulders and basically tried to yell in his ear, through his thick head something like 'Ember just ran off because of your rage fit, crying! Aren't you gonna go after her?' Gavi looked like he was about to, but then Ferran made the mistake of saying, 'Yeah, go after your girlfriend,' so that kind of snapped him back into his anger over the whole thing. He said he was doing the right thing, and that you must be upset about something else, because he was defending you. He said that was heroic, and what you wanted him to do. I said bluntly that what he was saying was complete bull crap." He points to the bruise by his jaw. "So that's how I got this bad boy. Ferran was saying that his nose wouldn't stop bleeding, and he was getting freaked out about that. Gavi promptly hit him again for good measure, and Eric asked if he should call someone. Ferran said, 'Who would we call? It's not bad enough for freaking 9-1-1, Eric. But it's not like any of us have medical background.' That's when Ansu made the good but completely irrelevant point that you, Ember, probably have studied medical topics at least a bit. Meanwhile, Pedri was still holding back Gavi, and Eric said that someone should go make sure you were okay and find you. I said Gavi should, and he told me not to tell him what to do. I dodged another punch from him. Your boyfriend is freaking insane, Ember. I don't know what his problem is, but there is a lot of pent up anger and... bad, bad feelings inside that guy, and he is desperately finding for ways to get it out. That shouldn't include beating up his teammates. Or anyone, for that matter. Anyway, so I told Eric that Ember is probably really upset about the whole thing, and that we can't just go running to her, you, for help with Ferran's nose and so on. Eric said, putting that aside, someone had to make sure you were okay. At this point, Pedri was managing to calm down Gavi a bit, so at least no more punches were being thrown, so I said I'd go and find you to make sure you were okay."

I study Angel's face, then shake my head, looking down, running my fingers through my drying hair. "Gosh," is all I mutter. My emotions are in turmoil within me. "Did Gavi... did he really do all that?"

"Yeah," he says softly.

I sniff, holding back tears that suddenly come on me again. "That doesn't make sense."

"Why?"

"He's so sweet," I mutter.

Angel waits a few seconds, sitting there very awkwardly, and I decide he's not very good at the art of comforting, but whatever. To just have someone here with me is all I need. Finally he says, ever so quietly, "Ember, can you do me a favour?"

I sigh, looking up tiredly. "I don't know, Angel."

"'Kay, well, I'll tell it to you anyway. Please, please, please don't give up on Gavi, okay?"

I stare at him, trying to figure out his eyes. "Why do you care...?"

He sighs, awkwardly shifting again, before saying, "I see how much he loves you. He stares at you like you're the world to him. He never wants to make you cry. He really doesn't. He's probably beating himself up about it right now. He desperately wants to make you happy. He wants to please you, Ember."

I nod, wiping my eyes. "Then why'd he hit you guys so hard? Sure, I hit Ferran, but... He went way off the deep end, man."

He snorts, "Listen, I'm not hear to be some psychologist, but I can tell you want I think is going on. Just take it with a grain of salt."

"Sure," I nod, eager to hear some explanation to all this.

"Okay. I think it's obvious to everyone that Gavi has a hugely hot temper. On the pitch, it's just an issue. Xavi, Busi, the others, they tell him he needs to calm down. You saw Pedri and me doing it. He gets mad off the pitch, too, obviously, as you've just seen. The thing about him, is maybe you have, but in public, at least, you only see him with two emotions: Casual, and in a good mood, or completely clouded with anger. I feel like he's a really emotional person, but his default go-to is anger. I couldn't say why. Maybe anything else seems too pathetic or something. I don't know. But I think he takes all these emotions that he doesn't know how to handle and just converts them to anger. And then he has so much anger that he can't get it all out, and he does nasty things in order to. He bottles up his emotions and lets it all out in huge spurts of anger, Ember. It's not something to get bad back at him about at all. It's something that you have to realise is something he struggles with, but he needs help with it. I know you probably thought he was perfect..."

At these last words, tears come back to my eyes, saying, "He seems so perfect sometimes."

"Nobody is perfect, Ember. You love him, don't you?"

"Of course I do..."

"Good. He needs your love, because it's easy for the rest of us to get so mad at him when he bursts out in anger like that. It's hard for us to understand, and honestly, it hard for us to contain our anger back at him."

I nod, wiping my eyes once more.

"So promise me you'll stick it out with him? Because I think you're exactly what he needs. I mean, you, and therapy, likely, but the idea of him accepting the idea of needing therapy is as realistic as the idea of pigs flying."

I snort, shaking my head with a nod. "Yeah, that's true."

"So you'll stay with it?"

"Promise you, Angel."

"Good," he smiles.

Every so often, while I'm considering what to go to school for, I think of being a psychologist.