All You Want

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Lucia:

"He what?" I bit my tongue. My palms grew damp. Isabel was across from me fiddling with her straw, oblivious to this revelation. 

"I don't know. He just called out of the blue and he said, look it's not you. It's me. Isn't that typical? Isn't that cliche?" Gabi's voice shook. I took a deep breath, leaned forward and struggled to form something to console my sister. 

"It is. What a...." My phone vibrated. Van. He was trying to reach me now, even if he'd just broken my sister's heart in two. And what was I supposed to do? "Where are you?"

"I'm at work. Can you come over after?"

"Yes," I breathed out, feeling Van's call end. "I'll be there." 

I held the warm phone in my hands afterward, swallowing. I opened a message to Van and all I could type was:

???????????

Van: CALL ME

Isabel raised her eyebrows, "Is everything fine?"

I swallowed. "Van broke up with Gabi." 

Isabel's eyes widened. "Oh, this is interesting."

"That's my sister Isabel." I rubbed my neck, leaning back. "He wants me to call him."

Van: Where are you? 

I looked down at his message and rubbed my eyes. "Call him." Isabel leaned forward. "Call him now Lucia." 

I dialed Van and held the phone against my ear. My heart thudded, and I took a deep breath. He answered in no time. 

"What did you"-

"Did Gabi"- 

We both grew quiet. I talked quickly. "What did you do to Gabi?"

"I didn't do anything. I just, I didn't want things to go too far. She was talking about coming back to London with me for a while and I..." Van's voice died. 

"She called me. She sounds out of her mind. How could you do that to her?"

"How could I do that to her? How could you ignore everything I've told you and then pretend to be surprised?"

"You told me you liked Gabi. You told me you cared for her so much, more than you did me." 

Van's sigh was loud. "I thought you'd be relieved."

I was supposed to be getting over Van. But now he wasn't tied to Gabi. My stomach flipped. "I"-

"Forget it. Christ, I can never get to you huh?"

"No wait," I spoke quickly. "No, wait Van. You've always gotten under my skin, you"- I looked at Isabel and saw her eyes widen. No, I didn't want to say everything in front of her. She's my best friend, but there were some things I wanted to reach Van's ears only.

"I've got to go."

"Van." The line went dead. I pushed my hand against my forehead, looking at Isabel. 

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I drove to Van and Larry's apartment, shifted my weight to one foot and then the next. Standing outside their front door, I looked at my phone. Gabi would be expecting me in minutes, and here I was visiting the person who'd broken her heart. I knocked. 

Larry opened the door. "Lucia?"

"Is Van here?"

"In his room. He's kind of in a fit though, probably over Gabi."

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