If Only (GxG)

Chapter 59 Offer

『 °*• ❀ •*°』
Alison's POV

Morning arrived quiet and grey.

A pale light pressed itself against the windowpanes like it wasn't quite ready to wake the city, and honestly, I understood. My alarm rang at half-past five, but I had already been awake for over an hour, lying still beneath the blankets, listening to George clatter softly in the kitchen.

Today was the day.

I moved to Edinburgh.

I got out of bed slowly. The ache in my chest had become familiar by now—dull, constant, like something stitched there. I kept waiting for it to pass. It hadn't yet.

But today, I tried.

Because they were still here.

George and Emily were already up, bleary but smiling as they moved through the hallway half-dressed. Olivia arrived ten minutes later in oversized sunglasses, dragging a pink carry-on behind her like it had insulted her family. Her hair was knotted into a bun so tight it looked weaponised. She insisted on coming. I think George was secretly relieved. More hands to carry the weight.

I appreciated them.

I tried to show it.

I asked Emily about her dissertation. I made a joke about Ron refusing to wake up early even for his own wedding. I leaned into the conversation on the train, even when the ache behind my eyes begged me to retreat.

Five hours north.

Five hours of blurred countryside—shifting greys, muted greens, and golden stretches of wind-tossed grass. Sheep dotted the hillsides like soft punctuation. Olivia snapped blurry photos through the glass. George passed around snacks no one had asked for. Emily found a playlist called Fresh Start, No Meltdowns.

We arrived just after eleven.

And the air hit different.

Cooler. Clearer. As if the sky had been rinsed out overnight.

The station pulsed with life, but beyond the noise, the city rose—weathered and breathtaking. Edinburgh looked like something pulled from the spine of a storybook.

The buildings climbed straight from the stone—jagged and dignified, their façades stained with centuries of soot and rain. The castle loomed in the distance, perched like a watching guardian. Cobbled streets curled between crooked shops and alleyways that vanished into shadows.

It felt like walking through a painting.

A city built on story.

And somewhere beneath the ache in my chest, something shifted.

The blend of old and new charmed me—turrets beside cafés, legends scrawled on alley walls, poets carved into brick. It was romantic. Strange. Fiercely alive.

I fell a little in love with it.

Even with the weight I carried.

Even with her name still burning beneath my tongue.

We climbed into a taxi, winding through streets that didn't seem to know how to be anything less than poetic. Olivia leaned out the window, pointing at architecture like she was discovering Atlantis. Emily squealed when we passed the university. George tried to navigate, despite the fact that the driver clearly had everything under control.

And I just sat back and watched the city move around me.

I missed Rodger again in that moment.

He would've loved this place—his nose pressed to the glass, tail flicking with every turn. For a second, I imagined him there beside me, ears perked, the weight of his head on my knee.