The Loneliest Stars

Chapter 20

"Yes, I've found her..." Gabe said on the phone to Ella, looking over at the woman sitting at his kitchen table.

The her in question was busy scrolling through her own cell phone notifications, tapping away still oblivious to the carnage she had caused earlier that day.

Finding her and her car missing from the school car park with a big storm rolling in had fear gripping his stomach in a vice.

An emotion he hadn't felt for a long while. He'd been so numb to all emotions except grief and regret for so long.

The fear he had felt was so visceral it left a tangy metallic taste in his mouth. He drove home against common sense and advice and breathed a huge sigh of relief when he found her. It was a stark contrast to his normally level-headed self. He was a Marine, he had experienced worse things but he couldn't shake the fear until he'd seen she was okay with his own eyes.

How did she do that? Go from a complete stranger, to a pain in the ass he barely tolerated to someone dear. She was stubborn, outspoken and didn't have a passive-aggressive bone in her body. She was an open book and said and expressed exactly what she was feeling. It was refreshing. It meant that he never had to wonder and right now she was angry at him. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. She had taken to ignoring him in his own home.

Had he left her to her own devices she'd be sitting in a freezing cold home with no power. Had he overreacted? He had practically hauled her like a caveman over his shoulder and forced her home with him. But she was safe and sound, how they got there didn't really concern him all that.

"When will this storm be over?" She asked when he was off the cell phone.

"Soon," Gabe answered noncommittally as he gathered all the materials to make grilled cheese sandwiches.

She made an annoyed sound at the back of her throat but didn't speak.

"So eager to get away?"

"No offense but you're not high on my list of people I want to socialise with right now." She told him with her face to her cell phone screen, blue light illuminating her face against the dimly lit kitchen. She looked ethereal, and his stomach twisted again. This time with a different fear, that they would never get back to how they were.

"Natalia, we should probably discuss —"

"—there's nothing to discuss, you're entirely within your rights to spend time with anyone you want to. I clearly had misunderstood the situation between us." Her tone was casual, as if she was discussing the weather.

Gabe blinked, slowly. Staring at her face. If she felt his burning stare, she didn't show it. He had been prepared for an argument, a discussion, a fight, anything it took to convince her that Agnes kissing him was a mistake and one that would not happen again. He didn't expect this, however. A complete one-eighty degree turn.

"And what's your take on the situation...?" Gabe asked once he had gathered himself enough to pose the question.

"Can we just drop it?" Natalia said, "I'm genuinely not in the mood."

"Sure." Gabe said tightly, they didn't speak again as he made a light dinner for both of them.

"Thank you." Natalia said when he served her a plate. God forbid, she was impolite in the middle of their fighting. She surprised him in a lot of ways but she was quintessentially British in her demeanour. The epitome of keep calm and carry on.

She offered to clean up when they were done eating, but Gabe refused. There was an awkward silence before she excused herself to watch TV in the living room. And now he felt awkward in his own home.