Are You Afraid of Musicals?

Chapter 2.10: Pushing Through

Gabby's pov:

The day of the final is finally here and now that I'm sitting on my spot at the changing room, it's starting to feel too real.

I wrapped my foot tight at home and took it as easy as I could during this week, cause after last match fiasco, I'm willing to prove myself on the field.

EJ told me before the game what was going to happen and why, and thank god he did cause I don't know if I would've survived Jave messing with me about it the whole week.

No one really followed his lead but still, he kept making comments and laughing about it with his friends, which if I'm being honest, sucked.

He kept going until Thursday, when Mack heard him and confronted him.

You know when someone talks low enough for not to be shouting but loud enough for everyone to hear it? Well, that's exactly what he did.

He didn't say much, but it was enough for shutting Jave up and making the whole cafeteria laugh.

We were already dragging everyone's attention as EJ got tired of Jave and got up to confront him, and when Dani stepped in and snapped, the attention of the whole cafeteria at lunch time landed on us.

So when Mack stepped in and said that the captain of the men's team should not be calling the girl that beat his ass a "benchwarmer", and ended it with a "what does that make you, captain?", everyone went crazy.

Mack doesn't really care, the men's season ended last weekend and he's returning to Spain when the classes are over. He has 3 weeks left in the US, so exposing the captain of the team he's playing on like that, it's not really much of a deal for him.

I know that he only stepped in because Jave was being a bit too cocky with Dani, but I thanked him anyways cause this time, things were getting a bit out of control.

The moment Dani hugged me at the match, I smelled it. It was barely noticeable but it was there and when I asked her, her face told me all I needed to know.

I was too familiarized with that smell to not recognize it.

When my father died, my mom went through a really rough time. I was too little to  understand what was happening back then, but now I know better.

We never talked about it and she's been doing well for years, but no drop of alcohol has entered my house since.

So when Dani hugged me, I instantly knew that she had drunk, just as I know that she definitely drank on Thursday when things almost got out of control.

The rest of the week has me concerned cause I can't tell if she did drink, and her ability to hide it that well only means that she's done this before.

I've been wanting to talk to her the whole week, and regretting the moment I decided that I'd give her space the day of the semifinal.

I know I did the right thing, but she was receptive that day. She didn't argue when I stepped on the drivers seat of her car to drive us to Franccesco's, and she didn't argue when I did the same thing to head home.

I keep asking myself what would've happened if I'd talked to her right there and then, cause now every time that I make up my mind and approach her to talk, I can't help but feel that I'm crazy overstepping.

She's been extra careful this week, except for the incident on Thursday when she almost punched Jave. I know she wants to talk to me about my ankle too, but she just asked me to be careful and let me handle it.

I don't know if she's doing that because she thinks that if she tells me what she really wants to say, I'll confront her about what's going on with her, or if she's just letting me handle it by myself because she trust me, or even a mix of both.