I Never Told You

Days went by like seconds and every second was flooded with school work. Sure, I went out from time to time with Bea to the mall when she felt I “needed a break” or was “drowning myself.” I kept my calls with Gabe to a minimum. I still felt, at times, like I was a little clingy, so I would hide my phone and dive into another paper or web assignment.

*Knock, knock*

“Katy?” I heard Cecelia ask from the other side of the door.

I stood up from my desk and walked over to my door. Opening it, I greeted her with a smile.

“Hey, what’s up?”

She smiled warmly back at me. “Did you look at the time? Dinner is ready.”

I looked over my shoulder at the alarm clock on my desk and sure enough, it was 5:30, the normal time throughout the week that Cecelia would have dinner ready. Turning my head back to her, I shrugged my shoulders.

“Sorry, I must have lost track of time. I’ll come down now.”

Cecelia chuckled lightly. “You seem to be losing yourself in school work a lot since you’ve been home.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh no, not you too, Bea’s been hounding me about that already. She takes me out every three days because I ‘need a break.’ It’s annoying. I just want to get my work done.”

Cecelia smiled and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “Well, we’re just a little worried about you, that’s all. Ever since we’ve got back you’ve been, well, a little off. Thankfully, you have a week off soon, so you can take that time to relax.”

I waved my hand in front of myself. “No, I’m fine really. It’s just there’s a lot of work to get done. This semester is almost doubled the last one and that week off, isn’t really a week off for me. I have a group project to work on with some people from school.”

Cecelia didn’t say anything, but she did nod with a small smile. “Well, just remember to take some time for yourself, sweetie. Don’t let your schoolwork drain you.”

I nodded. “I know. I’m not trying to let that happen, but I just want to get everything done as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

We reached the dining room and were greeted by smiles. Once I sat down to eat, I felt Bea nudge me. I looked over at her with a raised eyebrow.

“So, what paper have you been divulging into this time?” she whispered to me.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, piss off. I’m fine. I have a lot on my plate right now.”

She snored. “Yeah, and I’m an Auror.”

I couldn’t hold back my smirk even if I tried. “Worst timing for an awesome reference, I tell you.”

Looking up from our plates, we saw the two elders of the house sharing a loving glance. It was then that I heard a familiar phrase whispered.

“Jag älskar dig.”

My eyes widened and I dropped my fork. Bea looked at me like I had at least five heads.

“What is it, Katy?”

I shook the shock off before answering her.

“What did your mom just whisper to your dad?”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Just now?” I nodded. “She whispered that she loved him. Why?”

I quickly gained my composure and put my focus back on my dinner.

“No reason, just curious.”

She smirked at me. “You writing down things to say to Gabe next time you see him, huh? Man, he’d love to hear that one.”

I scoffed lightly. “Yeah….”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gabe’s POV

Getting back home from practice, I sat on my couch and channel surfed. Matt walked in and shook his head at me.

“What?” I asked him, confused.

“Oh, nothing.” He said as he sat down beside me. “You’re a little pathetic though, you know that?”

I scoffed. “How do you figure that?”

“You’re debating as to whether or not you should call her and invite her out here.” He grabbed my cell phone off of the coffee table. “Don’t be a pussy, man. Call her.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a pussy. I’m going to call her. I’m just….I’m scared.”

Matt leaned back on the couch. “What do you mean, you’re scared? Scared of what?”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “I told her…”

“Whoa,” he interrupted me. “You dropped the “L” word? Dude…”

“What? What’s so wrong with that?” I asked, trying to make sense of it all myself.

“Well, clearly since you’re second guessing even calling your girl, you’ve already figured that out.”

I fumbled with my phone in my hands. “Well, what do I do?”

“Seriously? You’re asking me?” I nodded towards him. “Dude, you’re barking up the wrong tree. The only woman I drop the “L” word to is my mom.”

I couldn’t hold back the chuckle that escaped no matter how hard I tried.

“Why do I even talk to you sometimes?” I shook my head.

“I’m not really sure of that myself.” He stood up from the couch. “What I do know, however, is you gotta figure this out with Katy. I know you love that girl, but you can’t have a relationship just to say you’re in a relationship.” With that, he left the living room and walked to God knows where.

I looked down at the phone that was still in my hands. Thinking back to Matt’s parting words, I dialed the phone number I had down to a science.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katy’s POV

After dinner, I went back upstairs to my room and dug my nose into another book to research for another paper. I was summarizing a page when my phone went off. Getting off of my chair and walking over to see who it was. Seeing Gabe’s name on my display, I hesitated for a few seconds. After hearing my ringtone blare for about 30 seconds, I picked up the phone and brought it to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey.” I heard the hesitation in his voice.

“So…. what’s up?”

“Not too much out of the ordinary. Just missed talking to you. What’s new with you?”

I ran a hand through my hair. For some reason, I felt like this was a really awkward conversation. “School’s been hectic, but I’m pushing through it.”

“That’s my girl. So, I remember you telling me you got a week off coming up.”

At that moment, I felt my heart sink. As much as I felt awkward just to talk to him especially after realizing just what he said to me at the airport, I missed him.

“Yeah,” I hesitated.

“Well, what if you come here? I’m home that week, got a couple games, but no travelling.” He cut me off before I could continue.

I sighed. “I can’t.”

“Oh.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. I just have a group project due and the only time we can work on it is during that week. We all have hectic schedules and even doing it then is cutting it close to the due date.”

{b] “Oh, okay. Well, school comes first. Honestly, I thought you weren’t going to come because you were avoiding me.”

My eyes shot open. I wasn’t ready to get into this conversation just yet. “What? Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know. We hardly talk since you left here, and I just think that I did something.”

I sighed. “Gabe, if you did something, I would’ve told you by now, believe me. My school work has just piled on a lot more this term. I didn’t think it would be this much work, but I’m trying to get it done as fast as I can so I don’t fall behind.”

“I know you are, I’m just feeling a little selfish, that’s all.”

“Plus, I don’t want to become one of those clingy girlfriends who cries when her boyfriend doesn’t call or text. We’re both busy, so I enjoy the time that we do get to talk. I just make sure that I keep myself busy so I don’t fall into a funk, y’know?”

I heard him chuckle lightly. “Yeah, I hear ya. Hey listen, it’s probably really late there, isn’t it?”

I looked over at the clock, and sure enough, it was rounding out to be damn near close to 11 o’clock.

“It’s almost 11, but I’ve got about another 2 hours of research to do.”

“Oh, well then I’ll let you go, then.Text me before you go to bed, yeah?”

“Definitely. Talk to you later.”

I hung up the phone and stared at it in my hands. Before my mind wandered too far, I put my phone back on my bedside table and dove back into my research.