I'm For You

-8-

The days following their fight stretched into silence, but neither Crystal nor Gigi reached out. It wasn't anger anymore that kept them apart, it was exhaustion. Emotional, mental, physical. Their worlds, once filled with moments of connection, now felt foreign to each other. They had both retreated into their own lives, and neither knew how to find a way back.

_________

The message sat unsent on Gigi's phone for almost a full day. She had typed it late the night after Crystal reached out, her heart heavy with indecision. She stared at the screen now, lying in bed, her mind replaying the words over and over:

"I'm going to Milan for a week. I leave tomorrow. We can talk when I get back."

It felt cold, distant. But it was all she could manage.

Her flight was booked. Another international campaign, another chance to build her career, to be part of the world she had worked so hard to enter. It should've excited her. This trip would be another step toward securing her spot among the elite, but there was a hollowness inside her, a sense of dread that no amount of career success could fill.

She hit send before she could talk herself out of it, feeling a pit settle in her stomach as the message was delivered. There was no going back now.

Gigi tossed the phone onto the bed and ran her fingers through her hair, staring out at the city lights beyond her window. She had always believed in hard work, in pushing forward no matter how tough things got. But now? Now it felt like everything was crumbling, no matter how hard she tried to keep it together.

Crystal hadn't called. He hadn't texted. And part of her wondered if he ever would. She didn't blame him. After the argument, things had felt final, like they were standing on opposite sides of a canyon, too far apart to reach each other.

Maybe that was what hurt the most, that they were both hurting, but neither knew how to fix it.

________

Crystal didn't even see the message until late the next day. He had spent the better part of his morning locked in his studio, trying to pour all of his frustration into his art. But everything felt off. The lines weren't flowing, the colors felt wrong, and every time he thought about Gigi, his hand shook with an unspoken fear that had no place in his work.

He had expected her to reach out. Maybe not to apologize, he wasn't sure if either of them owed the other that, but at least to talk. To try. But when he finally checked his phone, all he saw was her message:

"I'm going to Milan for a week. I leave tomorrow. We can talk when I get back."

Crystal stared at the screen, his chest tightening as he read it again and again. A week? She was leaving for an entire week?

The words felt like a punch to the gut. Not because of the trip itself, Gigi was always jetting off somewhere, and he had gotten used to that, but because of the timing. After everything that had happened between them, after the argument, after the silence...now she was leaving?

It felt like abandonment.

Crystal set his phone down, pacing around the studio, his mind swirling with thoughts he couldn't seem to untangle. He wanted to be angry, to let the frustration and hurt fuel his work, but all he felt was numb. Maybe this was it. Maybe this was how things ended, not with a bang, but with slow, steady silence.

_________

Milan felt different this time.

Gigi had been to the city countless times before, each trip another exciting chapter in her career, another milestone achieved. But this time, the glamour and excitement of fashion week couldn't touch her. She went through the motions, posing for the cameras, attending fittings, walking down the runway with the practiced grace of a top model, but her mind was far away.