Give Me Your Heart

“Are you feeling OK, Gerard?”

Gerard, who was pushing a piece of food around his plate, lifted his head, his blue eyes landing on Alexa who sat across from him, a small frown on her face. It had been a quiet evening, after his visit to Riley, he’d arrived home to find Alexa waiting for him, but since they’d sat down to eat, he’d hardly uttered two words to her, something he could tell was starting to get at her. She was talkative, it was one of the very first things he’d learnt about her, and he could tell that his quiet, and somewhat sullen behavior was starting to irk her.

“I’m fine” he shrugged.

Alexa shook her head. “You’ve barely said a word since I got here” she countered “Are you sure that you’re alright?” she pressed.

Gerard nodded stiffly, causing Alexa to scoff. “You’re the worst liar, you know that?” she muttered as she moved to her feet, collecting their plates.

Gerard took in a small breath before he let out a small sigh, his blue eyes flicking towards the woman sat opposite him. He didn’t want to hurt her, despite what everyone else thought of her, Gerard had grown to like Alexa, and whilst he knew it was for the best in the long run, he wanted to be tentative. He didn’t want things to be worse than they needed to be “Alexa, I need to talk to you” he mumbled.

Alexa tilted her head, caught off guard by the sound of his voice. “You do?” she pressed.

“I do” Gerard confirmed with a slight nod “I’ve been thinking a lot recently, about you and me as well as about Riley and the baby, and I think that it is best that you and I...I think it is best that we stop seeing one another” he breathed out as kindly as he could. He had given it a lot of thought, even despite Riley’s insistence that things between then couldn’t be fixed, he wanted to try and he knew that in order to prove that he was serious, he needed to end things with Alexa.

Alexa, who’d been placing their plates into the dishwasher, stopped. “What?” she squeaked.

“I think it is best that you and I break up” Gerard repeated gently “I’m sorry, Alexa, but I don’t want to keep going with this” he insisted.

Alexa blinked a couple of times before she shook her head, a scoff falling out of her mouth. “The woman having your baby” she muttered.

“Alexa…”

“She’s the reason, no?” Alexa interjected, her expression firm.

“I just don’t think…”

“Don’t lie to me” Alexa snapped, cutting of Gerard’s words “We were fine before she showed up with that bump of hers and now, all of a sudden, you’re going to break up with me? It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. You’re still into her, aren’t you?” she muttered, her eyes fixed on the defender who shifted in his seat, all but confirming that she was right.

Gerard spared a small sigh. “It’s complicated” he muttered “Our breakup is still new and then there is the baby to think about. My feelings towards Riley are…they’re complicated, but it does mean that we should end things before we take this too far. I don’t want to hurt you, Alexa, I really don’t” he insisted firmly.

Alexa scoffed.

“I am sorry, Alexa, I really am” Gerard insisted.

Alexa rolled her eyes. “Did you ever have any actual interest in being with me?” she muttered. She was hurt, part of her had thought that she and Gerard were onto something good, but she wasn’t entirely surprised by the news that he wanted to end their relationship. From the moment she had seen him and Riley together, she had suspected that there was something between them still and she wasn’t surprised that Gerard wanted to act on it. One look at the grin that appeared on his face whenever Riley or the baby were mentioned told her all she needed to know.

“Of course I did” Gerard insisted, his expression a little soft.

Alexa admired the expression on his face and shook her head, another scoff falling out of her mouth. She could see that he was trying to be sincere, the expression on his face was one that suggested that he meant what he was saying, but still she irked. She had thought that they had something good between them and was more than a little hurt by his decision to end things. “I didn’t want to be some rebound thing, Gerard” she muttered.

Gerard sighed. “I didn’t mean for it to be like that” he mumbled, his expression slightly sheepish.

Alexa let out another scoff before she moved to collect her bag, placing it on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Alexa” Gerard mumbled as he pushed himself to his feet, moving to press a kiss against her cheek.

Alexa merely avoid his touch, shaking her head. “You deserve each other” she spat before she stepped out of the room, closing the front door with an audible thump that echoed for a few moments before Gerard let out a small breath. He knew that it was the right decision, the longer he left it, the higher the chances were of him hurting Alexa or Riley, but he doubted that it was going to be the last he heard of Alexa, something which concerned him. The last thing he wanted was Alexa causing problems for him or, worse, for Riley and their bump.

Listening to the quiet for a moment, he spared a small sigh before he moved to pad out of the kitchen, making his way towards his bedroom. He knew that he had to wait, after the way that Riley had been with him when he’d gone to see her, chances were that she would be less than impressed to see him again that night, but he knew what he wanted. It had been a mistake, the decision that they had made to end things had been the wrong one, and he knew it, even if he had been a few months too slow in figuring it out, he knew that he should have fought harder to make things work with Riley.