Tearing Apart

SUMMER

Almost a year had passed since Ally first met Gus and, as the date slowly approached, it had also started to remind her about the sabbatical year that he'd told her he was taking at the very beginning. She had no idea when he had started it, but she figured it was soon to be over, along with his savings. And that worried her.

With each passing day, the thought of him doing nothing for so long started nagging her more and more. And she knew that yeah, he had the gig with the band. But that was not a steady income or anything. So, she fretted... a lot.

And as the weeks started passing by, she found herself feeling annoyed. She began to notice his daily routines, which consisted mostly in preparing meals, playing video games and rehearsing on his Jackson.

Slowly, she started wondering if maybe he had become too attached and fond of the carefree style of life that he'd been living, and that now, he didn't feel like doing something with his life.

So, she started dreading that he would turn into a deadbeat...

Just like Ralph, her ex-boyfriend whom she'd lost so many years with before finally dumping his ass.

She scolded herself every time she surprised her mind drifting into such thoughts. After all, Gus was not one bit like good-for-nothing Ralph. And more importantly, he'd never shown any real signs of wanting to stay in his current way of life permanently. He'd been clear enough since the very first start and back then, she'd felt that he was mature about it. He'd stated his reasons plain and simple and he also seemed to have a plan.

So, after all this reasoning, she didn't know why it kept bothering her so much. But she started to resent him for being home all day, doing nothing while she worked her ass off, and she found herself being rude and throwing scornful comments at him for no real reason.

She noticed that, out of his friends, he was the only one currently unemployed. Saul was an architect just as Christie. Peter and Oliver were accountants and Alex worked for his father's company. It seemed as everyone was moving forward and he was stalled or something.

She often told herself that she'd been very ok about everything for the last months, and she wondered why this was happening to her just right now. But slowly, her perception of him started shifting and she could not help to feel a little disappointed of him.

The worst part of it was that she knew he excelled everything he put his hands on. He was so talented and dedicated on everyday things, that she was sure he would make a great asset to whichever engineering company he went to work with. And this angered her.

Without her noticing, it started building slowly inside of her, clouding her judgement.

-Babe? – she said one night as they ate dinner at his place- Are you planning on getting a job anytime soon?

He paused and laid his fork aside. Looking at her intently, scanning her eyes.

-Why do you ask, princess?

-Well- she started – I figured that your sabbatical must be over soon, if it isn't already... so...

-Yeah, don't worry about that hun, I still have some savings left so, it's ok- he smiled at her

She stared at her plate, playing with her fork, not knowing what else to say.

He grabbed her chin with his finger and pulled it up, looking into her eyes

-Ally, it's ok. Really. Don't worry about it, princess. Let me take care of it, ok?

But she kept on worrying, nonetheless.