Young Love (Gabentine Fics)

Drift Away

The breeze drifted around Gabe as he sat in the sand and looked out at the sea. He shifted his bare feet around in the sand, sighing in comfort as it steeped between his toes. It was a beautiful day and Gabe imagined that anyone would be thoroughly enjoying this warm weather and the atmosphere, but not him.

Gabe closed his eyes and breathed out, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to come out. A sound nearby made him open his eyes and the teen looked around to see a family walking side by side down the beach. There was a mom, a dad, a son, and a daughter. They were all laughing along with each other as the sea water splashed their bare feet and Gabe had to look away as the dad picked up the daughter and put her on his shoulders.

The tide was coming in even further and finally started to lick the bottoms of Gabe's black dress pants. His black loafers and his black socks lay behind him, Gabe making sure that they wouldn't get swept away by the tide. The teen almost wanted to leave, but he just couldn't because then he would just have to face the world again and that's the last thing he wanted to do right now. Gabe looked to the side when the family grew closer and his eyes locked on something that finally brought the tears out.

Mariana's cassette player and headphones.

The teen shut his eyes tightly and shook his head, not wanting to believe that he had just come from her funeral. Gabe still remembered the way she looked laying there in the casket and he knew it would haunt him for years. Sobs raked his body as he tried holding them in and put a clenched fist to his mouth to try and shield the sound of his cries. The family had barely passed him when he decided they were far enough away and just let it out. Gabe's lungs clenched painfully from the lack of breath from the teen and he was beginning to hyperventilate when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Gabe. Come here."

Gabe twisted around and seen Clementine standing there before pulling her down and burying his face in her shoulder, tears and snot instantly soaking the material of her black dress. Clementine paid no mind to it as she rubbed his back and whispered soothing things into his ear, trying to calm her fiancée down.

"Gabe, it's going to be alright. There was nothing you could've done. Mariana wouldn't want you hurting like this over her."

Gabe cried even harder and his grip around Clementine tightened as he shook his head.

"It should've be-been me, Clem. She wa-was buckled up ju-just like m-me! Why di-didn't she ma-make it?!"

Clementine felt her own tears start rolling down her face and tried keeping it together for Gabe as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"The truck driver didn't see you guys turning and you couldn't control that. Gabe, you couldn't control if she was going to make it or not and you can't beat yourself up over it."

The teen clutches the cassette player in his hand behind Clementine and fiddled with it as he finally calmed down. He knew that he couldn't control what had happened, but the doctors had told him that Mariana had a 65% chance of pulling through. Gabe spent hours in the ICU by Mariana's bed, singing to her at night and reading the old bedtime stories that Kate used to read to them when they were younger. He had went home after the sixth day of being there and let Kate and Javi watch over her, needing to shower and then come right back to see Mariana.

But, things never go the way they're supposed to and life was a bitch like that.

Gabe had returned from his and Clementine's house to see his mom and Javi holding each other with tears streaming down both of their faces. He immediately knew what had happened and dropped to the floor onto his knees and just sobbed, screaming out for his sister and shaking his head in disbelief. Apparently, Mariana had a brain aneurysm that the doctors didn't catch until she started seizing up and then she just went brain dead. Gabe had to hold her hand as her heart quit beating and sat with her body for hours until the doctors escorted him out.

Snapping back to reality, Gabe released Clementine from his hold and stood on shaky legs. He walked towards the water with the cassette player in hand and reared back his hand, throwing the plastic deep into the sea and watching it slowly drift away. Clementine stood beside him and rubbed his back as he sadly smiled out towards the water. His sister would always love going to the beach and playing in the water, this was the perfect send off for her that Gabe could think of.

"Adiós hermana. I will see you again."