@gaelblanco
Honestly, Adrina should’ve known. She thought it was weird when Lena called her the previous afternoon, asking if she had plans today and wanting to know if she was interested in coming over for a barbecue. She asked if Gael would be there, hoping he would be; it had literally only been a week since they saw each other last but being without him had proven to be difficult. She was just starting to get used to being alone after Jake, learning, again, what it felt like to lay in an empty bed and as much as she didn’t mind it most nights, Gael’s presence provided a sense of joy she hadn’t felt in months. She felt safe around him, comforted, as if she’d been invisible to any sort of ruin. Was she supposed to feel this way, however? Was she supposed to pine for him and miss him this much? Definitely not. And as much as she tried thwarting her feelings, ignoring them as she worked long hours in the kitchen, as she dusted the plants in her apartment and danced alone in her living room as she mopped her floors, the half-emptiness was always there, like she’d been a puzzle with a missing piece and he was it.
So you could imagine the equal excitement she felt alongside her nerves when she made her way out of the back kitchen door to Lena and Fernando’s yard, only to see Gael chatting up a man his age that she guessed was probably a cousin. There was a heaviness in his face, a weariness she noticed more and more as she neared him and part of her wanted to leap and wrap her arms around him, kiss him and offer him the comfort he always did her.
“Hola,” she called out simply, her face decorated with a soft smile, her eyes gleaming with excitement at finally seeing him again. She didn’t reach out, too nervous about all the eyes on her in the yard. She probably had twelve freakin’ aunts watching her. Her eyes flitted from the man in front of them to Gael’s, “I asked Lena if you were coming and she said no! I thought you had Nanda this week?? Is she with Marianne now?”
