Transparent Hearts | ✓

08.

OTTO

THE GIRL COULDN'T SLEEP. It was three in the morning, Gemma was in the music room of the Radcliff residence, she sat on the piano bench and played a familiar song her mom taught her. It was beautifully harmonious and apparently loud, seeing it woke up Lyle and brought him to the music room.

He watched her from the doorway. He tried to be as quiet as he could. Lyle didn't want Gemma to notice her, but he didn't really have a reason why either.

He was frozen. Mesmerized. It was beautiful, watching the girl he's known his whole life play a soft tune.

Suddenly, it stopped and before Lyle knew what was happening Gemma stood up and turned to leave the room, only then seeing Lyle.

She flinched, holding her chest. "Holy shit! You scared me." She breathed out with an easy smile.

Lyle cleared his throat, standing up straight. "Oh..uh yeah. Sorry I-I didn't mean to."

"It's fine." Gemma smiled and walked closer to Lyle.

"I didn't know you could play." He told her and gestured to the piano.

"Oh yeah! My mom taught me a few things when I was a kid and in New York I had a couple lessons as well." She said with a smile, reminiscing on the memories.

He nodded.

And then it was silent. Pin dropping silent. Not like it was a comfortable silence. It was awkward, tension filled and Gemma hated that because Lyle used to be the one person she was most comfortable with, he felt like home to her once upon a time.

Lyle let out a small sigh, "Gemma I don't want to keep arguing." He admitted.

"Me neither." She replied and Lyle released a breath he was holding in.

"I am sorry for leaving though. If I could..I would go back and say goodbye to you a million times..or maybe just not leave." Gemma apologized.

He shook his head, "No, Gemma. Don't say that. You left because of NYU and look at you now! You're a lawyer! You're doing great and I'm proud of you." He smiled.

"Actually, I'm not a lawyer..anymore." She said, looking down at her hands. Avoiding eye contact.

"Wait! What? What do you mean?" He asked, furrowing his brows.

Gemma sighed, sitting back down on the piano bench. "Exactly what I said."

Lyle let go of his pride and sat next to Gemma. "Gem.." He started and the use of her nickname made Gemma want to cry. "What happened?" He continued in a soft tone.

"I can't-" She shook her head briskly and fought the tears.

"Hey, you're scaring me." He told her and without thought wrapped his arms around her and brought her into an embrace. One that she longed for. She wrapped her arms around him to, tightly. She didn't want to ever let go.

"It's okay." He whispered in her ear. "I'm not leaving." He promised and she almost believed him.

"I'm sorry, Lyle." She mumbled in his chest.

He let go of her but she didn't let go of him.

"Please do not apologize," He sighed. "You literally have no reason to say you're sorry to me."

Gemma couldn't reply because her battle against the tears ended.

And she lost.

...

The two ex-best friends were now dressed with coats and shoes on. They decided on going out for a walk. The Radcliffs had quite the lengthy backyard and their garden had the perfect scenery to trail.

Side by side, Gemma and Lyle fell in step with each other. She felt closer to him than she's ever before and that amazed her. She knew one thing :

Gemma Flores was still in love with Thomas Lyle Bauer.

"Are you happy?" She asked after a while of silence. This time it was comfortable.

"What kind of question is that?" He answered with another question. Classic dodging technique by Lyle.

Gemma pushed his shoulder playfully with a scoff. "Just answer the question."

He sighed. "Yes. I mean, yeah, of course I'm happy. Why wouldn't I be?" There was some sort of insincerity in his voice and Gemma read him like a book.

Gemma shrugged. "Just making sure, I guess."

Lyle creased his forehead. "Okay then, your turn. Are you happy?" He asked.

Gemma thought of the question, she took it deeply. She was about to answer before Lyles phone started ringing.

He pulled it out of his pocket and all Gemma saw was Lauren's face on his phone.

"Sorry, I have to get this."

"It's okay. I'm just gonna go back inside."

"Gemma wait..!" He called out but she was already on her way back to the house.