Are You Afraid of Musicals?

Chapter 8: New Life (Part 1)

Gabby's pov:

I thought it would stop.

I really thought that once she woke up, once the immediate danger was gone and Andrea left and the surgery was cancelled... I thought everything would finally be okay.

And everything is supposed to be fine now,  I mean, Dani's awake, she's smiling, she's making jokes, she has her memory.

God... she still has her memory.

And there's no more threat looming over us, no more life-or-death decisions to make, and on top of all she's being amazing, she's... she's been everything.

She called me Princess in front of everyone.

She called me her girlfriend... in front of her parents.

I don't even know how to describe how that made me feel, because my brain keeps trying to find a word, a feeling that fits, but nothing does.

I had lost hope. I was terrified. I was banned from her room and her parents were going to transfer her to another hospital that would proceed with the surgery and I couldn't do anything.

And then Gina came, looking absolutely wrecked, eyes puffy and red from crying, some tears still running down her cheeks as she took my hand and told me that Dani had woken up as she started guiding me to her room.

I just remember how terrified I was, how I didn't let myself believe it until I saw it with my own eyes, and when I did... I was absolutely terrified of loosing it.

So I didn't move, I didn't breathe, I didn't let myself ruin it again as everything but her just... disappeared. Until I heard Andrea's voice.

Andrea saying that I wasn't allowed to be there.

Andrea asking herself almost mockingly who even I was to be there.

And I couldn't help but flinch.

Because I was no one.

No. Not no one.

I was the one who had told Dani that she didn't care enough... and then she took a bullet to prove she did.

I was the one who had moved her body when I knew it could be dangerous.

I was the one who almost killed her.

Andrea was right, I didn't deserve to be there, I shouldn't be there. But the only thought of leaving, the only thought of being dragged away again... it made my throat instantly close.

Because I remembered how Gina and my mom had grabbed me, I remembered how I fought and screamed and cried and nothing worked, I remembered how I just... broke.

Honestly... I don't know if I could've survived that again.

But before any of that could happen, Dani's voice came. Steady, determined, clear.

"She's my girlfriend."

And that alone broke me in a whole other level. Because she was there, barely awake, in a hospital bed, and she was standing against Andrea. Looking at her in the eye and calling me her girlfriend.

That moment was... I don't even know how to describe it. It was everything I had been terrified to want, everything I thought I couldn't have.

And then... she apologized for saying it.

I don't remember much of that day after that to be honest, the emotions were high and I was really drained so I guess I was out cold before I could process what was happening but... I faintly recall myself pleading. Embarrassingly desperate, begging her to take me back, to just let us be us again even if that meant hiding.