Angel (Damiano David & Victoria De Angelis)

Chapter 32

She entered the backyard, slowly approaching Damiano, who was standing close to their fence, facing away from her. Once she was a bit closer to him, she spoke up in a calm and steady voice: "Hey, Angel..." "Hey.", he replied. It wasn't too obvious that he had been crying but the slight quiver in his voice gave it away. "Wanna talk about it?", she asked, standing next to him and carefully taking his hand into hers. She could feel a few warm droplets on her fingers, indicating that he had hurt himself again. "I only cut one time...", he explained quietly, as if he had just read her mind. "You carry your blade with you?", she asked, adding "That's okay.", shortly after to make sure he wouldn't think she was mad or disappointed at him. For a few seconds, there was silence but then he nodded:" Yeah...yeah, I do. I don't even know why to be honest. I just do. Knowing it sits in my pocket keeps me calm. I guess situations like that are the reason why. It just gives me a sense of security...you know? Knowing that I can always count on it to be there to release some pain if I have to." She was surprised to see how willing he was to talk to her. Maybe Thomas' strategy was even better than she had thought initially. "That's alright, honey...", she assured him, gently squeezing his hand. "If you need me, you can always count on me as well, Angel. I know I broke your trust when I just left but I'm willing to do whatever you need me to do to regain it. I love you Damiano...I always have...and I always will." Finally, he turned to look at her: "I love you too...really. And I know you always wanted the best for me...I trust you." That probably was the most surprising thing she had heard ever since their journey had started. "Can I give you a hug?", she asked, despite being very ecstatic keeping in mind how important it was to ask for his consent. He nodded, almost immediately letting her pull him into her arms. It was a quite emotional hug...but for the first time in quite a while, it was a positive one.

That night, she was sitting on their window ledge, her thoughts wandering. She was wondering how long it would take for him to get better. Not because she was impatient but because she wanted him to be able to live a relatively normal life. She looked at the night sky, remembering the night she had first confronted him. She didn't regret it. She was thankful for it, but it had definitely changed her life entirely. Nothing was how it had been before that fateful night. But that wasn't the only thing keeping her from falling asleep: Their conversation kept on repeating in her head. He loved her...he had said it. And she loved him...if there had ever been any, there was no doubt about it anymore. But what did that mean for their relationship now? Were they together again? Or had he meant it in a platonic way? How was she supposed to know anyway? I love you could mean a million things...it could mean all or nothing, basically. It could have been something he had just said in the matter of the moment, without even having thought about it. Then again, Damiano wasn't the type for that. He rarely ever spoke of his feelings, so there was no reason for him to do it just for fun. If she thought about it, he hadn't even been in the right state of mind to crack jokes at that moment. But maybe that had been the problem. What if he had just said it out of his inner pain? Maybe as a way of saying Thank you. Probably not. That just didn't seem like him at all. She could just ask him, but no. She didn't think he was mentally stable enough to talk about a relationship of any kind. Not his past one and certainly not a new one. She sighed. Thinking about that now was stupid. She wouldn't reach a conclusion now anyway. She wanted to get back to bed but there was something else that was stopping her: Thomas. She just couldn't wrap her head around the things he had said. What if she had just never noticed the warning signs in him just like she hadn't noticed them in Damiano. He had never seemed like a guy who was struggling but now she was smarter and knew that things weren't always how they seemed. The advice he had given to her had been way to accurate to come from someone with zero experience in this field. Now that she thought about it, he disappeared with Ethan a lot. Maybe there was more to it than she had thought but it wasn't something she could really think about now. She had enough to do with Damiano already.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey ;)

I am so sorry for not posting for like 3 months. I totally forgot. I'll try to be a bit more active, though.

Anyway, I hope you like it. Let me know what you think.

As always, thanks for reading.

-Thalia :)