Caught in the Middle

Chapter 8

And then you'll know
I'll wait for you every night
If you ever wanna fall in love
If you ever wanna bet on us
If you ever wanna be my one
I'll be waiting
If you ever want one more night
If you ever wanna make things right
If you ever wanna change your mind
I'll be waiting

I'll be waiting – Cian Ducrot
(https://open.spotify.com/track/0JIhRhZPF5j5dx0FGqTWxy?si=0ee4d75205594095)

Maya
Borris gave me the flowers. They're beautiful, thank you.
But I still can't go out with you. I'm really sorry, Carina.
I have my reasons.

Per l'amor del cielo! I look down at my phone after falling onto the couch after a busy day at the hospital. I reread Maya's text message and my heart sinks. I sigh in disappointment and start biting on my thumbnail while I think of another way to get through to her. I can tick the biggest bouquets of flowers delivered to her apartment building off as another fail. The seventh idea that had a less than satisfactory ending this week.

I wish she would just talk to me, to help me understand why the thought of having me in her life, is making her run for the hills. The way her eyes became haunted, after I asked her out the first time, reminded me so much of her old self. The Maya I hardly even recognized anymore since spending all this time with the real one. The Maya that has been so open and honest when it was my shit we had to figure out.

I wish she trusted me enough to unlock that vault of self-doubt that she kept hidden in her mind. The way she clamped down on her words, hid her feelings and pushed me away again, made my skin crawl. I wanted to shake it all loose and pick up the shattered pieces I left her in, mending her broken heart, one crack at a time. If only she'd let me get close enough to see the full extent of the damage I caused. Se solo... If only I hadn't broken her trust by walking out on her when she needed me most.

I gave her that night to work through her feelings and worked on my own game plan to win her back. Using some of Maya's own moves on her, in an attempt to get her to open up to me. An idea pops into my head about how I seduced her into an actual date the first time around. I get up from the couch and head to the kitchen to get started on making Maya and her team my infamous lasagna. It's time for me to bring out the big guns, seeing how all my other ideas had been a big stall zone.

I lift my hands to knock on her front door just as it swings open. Maya looks at me in confusion, probably wondering what I'm doing at her doorstep the day after she basically told me that she was done with us. "Carina, what are you do-" I hold out the takeaway cup of coffee from our favorite café down at the marina. She gives me a dubious look, but her lips involuntarily lift into a smile.

I look her up and down and admire her golden and muscular legs in her running shorts and lick my lips when I remember the washboard abs underneath that tight fitting t-shirt. Clearly, she's been using the few days of sunshine in the new season to keep herself in shape. Cari cieli lassù. Mia moglie è mozzafiato. She clears her throat and lifts her eyebrow at me, knowing exactly where my thoughts just took me.

I can only shrug at her because she has caught me red handed. She takes the coffee cup and trace her fingers over the lid while she tries to figure out what is happening. "I was hoping to catch you before you went on your run." Maya shakes her head, but I love how her smile keeps stretching. She looks so innocent. And sad.

The bags under her eyes are evident that she didn't sleep a wink last night. What is haunting you, bella? I have to fight the urge to run the pad of my thumb underneath her eyes and take her back to bed. Maybe letting her get some sleep after I quenched the hunger, we both clearly still have for each other. "I'm meeting Maddi for practice." She takes a step closer to me, shivering when our skin touch.