The Loneliest Stars || EDITING

Chapter 33

Slight trigger warning - there's an encounter with the police in this chapter. I was always going to have this scene but later in the story; in light of recent events I think it's important that my writing reflects many people's realities.

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They hadn't been apart at all since they got together, a month and some change ago. Apart from being separated by their working day and more recently Lima's visit they had seen each other every day without fail.

The realisation made her teary and panicked. How was she supposed to do life, for any length of time without his smile, frequent hugs or gentle teasing? She had gotten so used to having him by her side. Without him she felt bereft, as if an important organ or a limb was missing.

She had never felt like this about a romantic partner, or rather she had never let herself feel like this about another person since her twin died. The closest she got was Lima.

Her relationship with Lima was in the realms of sisterhood and a solid soul bond. The one person she never had to explain herself to. They got each other without words. It was beyond rhyme or reason.

And with Gabe it was something similar. She could be herself, but the very best version of herself. The self that was patient, mature and who could love and accept love in return.

She was a mess without him but also she wasn't raised a bitch. As it happened, she needed to paint a smile on and fake being a functional human until she could actually make it through the day without being mired in increasingly intrusive and compulsive thoughts.

Gabe had gotten in touch when he had landed, hearing his deep voice and casual Texan drawl did little to assuage her fears. If anything it just reminded her that he was two continents away. He called when he could, it was infrequent and unpredictable. She had a new sense of sympathy for his wife. She couldn't believe that she had endured several deployments and battled cancer too.

"How are you holding up?" Ella asked for the third time that day.

"I'm fine," Natalia answered for the umpteenth time.

Ella had taken to stopping by her teaching classrooms to check up on her in between lessons. It was sweet; if a little overbearing. She and Porsha were the only people that knew of Gabe's true whereabouts, the other staff members at school had been informed that he had left for a family emergency and the assistant football coach had taken over his duties until his return.

Natalia trudged through the motions. It had been a full week since Gabe's departure, she thought that he'd be closer to returning but no such luck. Ty was still missing, there were some leads that they were following up but there was nothing new to report. Lima was a similar mess, and the two girls commiserated together daily, their macabre British humour becoming too morbid to be funny, even for them.

"Are you coming to Yoga tonight?"

"Ew, no not with you. I'm tired of your crush on the yoga instructor."

"After enduring you and your white boy's nauseating displays? You owe me."

Natalia rolled her eyes at Porsha. "Okay but food after, and you're buying." She needed to relax and blow off some steam.

"Deal."

Her phone rang, just as she was getting into a position that she couldn't care to commit to outside of sex, so Natalia took her phone and quietly tried to sneak out of the yoga class.