In the End

14: I Think I Know Why

Tapping the end of her pencil on the desk she sat at, Ariella let out a tired sigh, her blue eyes thoughtfully scanning the piece of paper which sat ahead of her. She had been working on it for a little while, with no meetings scheduled for the couple of weeks that she had planned to spend in Madrid, she had been keen to get a head start on a few of the designs she had been asked to complete, and whilst it was slow, she was making some progress, something which pleased her, even if she wasn’t getting through it as quickly as she had been hoping for. She was merely glad that she was making some kind of progress.

She had struggled to focus, with all that had transpired between her, Gerard and Adrian, her mind had been scattered for a little while, but after a couple of days in the Spanish capital she had started to relax, allowing her to focus more of her attention of her work rather than the mess that she had left behind in Barcelona. She knew that she couldn’t just ignore it, eventually, she knew that she would have to return to Barcelona and figure out what would happen next, but for a few days she merely wanted to relax, even if she knew that there were things that needed to be figured out. For a couple of days, she merely wanted to relax.

Studying the sketch in front of her for a few seconds, she flipped her pencil over in her hand before she moved to erase something, sketching another few lines in its place.

“Are you cold?”

Ariella, who’d moved to survey her sketch once more, jumped at the sound of her father’s voice before she lifted her head, offering him a slightly confused look. “What?” she posed.

“That sweater’s pretty big on you” Jacob commented “I was wondering if you were cold. Where’d you get it?” he posed, glancing down at the sweatshirt that she wore.

Ariella followed the line of his stare, studying the sweater for a moment, before she shook her head, a sheepish smile on her lips. “It’s...uh...It’s Gerard’s” she stumbled out, readjusting the material shyly “I don’t really know why I packed it. He bought it over with a box of my stuff before I left and I guess...I don’t know, I’ve always kind of liked it” she added, sheepishly playing with the material of the sleeve that she had folded over to expose her hands.

It had been an impromptu decision, after Gerard had left her apartment, she had opted to stuff the sweater into her suitcase, and whilst she knew why she had done it, she didn’t want to say it aloud, not wanting to admit to having feelings for him when she knew that the chances of him offering her a second chance were slim to none. She didn’t deserve it and she didn’t want people around her to pretend that there was still a chance when she was very aware that it was highly unlikely.

Jacob, who’d moved to sit down at the foot of the bed which sat in the centre of the bedroom, watched her for a couple of seconds before he quirked a small smile, moving to turn the desk chair around so that she looked at him. “I think I might have an idea why you bought it with you” he quipped, a slightly sad smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

Ariella mirrored his smile briefly before she shook her head, diverting her eyes back down towards her feet. “You didn’t come up here just for that, did you?” she posed, trying to quickly shift the subject away from Gerard.

Jacob frowned a little at the change of subject, but didn’t challenge it, instead opting to pat her knee gently. “Alex and Diego were wondering if you were going to come downstairs and watch the match with us” he mused “They’re very excited to spend ninety minutes with you, telling you over and over again that Atletico are so much better than Barca” he added, grinning playfully.

Ariella scoffed. “They’re so wrong” she quipped, playing along.

“That’s what I keep telling them” Jacob stressed playfully.

Ariella smiled at her father’s teasing before she gently shook her head, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I think I might give this one a miss, papa” she mused “I’ve got some work that I need to finish and then I was thinking about getting an early night. I’m pretty tired” she added.

Jacob stared at her for a moment, watching her tuck her hair behind her ear, before he shook his head, gently moving to take a hold of her hand. “Are you just going to avoid him forever more, princesa?” he posed quietly.

Ariella shook her head. “Papa...”

“You’re wearing his sweater, Ella” Jacob pointed out, lightly tugging on the sleeve of the sweater she wore “And you didn’t ‘just’ put it in your suitcase. You wanted to bring it with you” he added.

Ariella merely stared down at her lap, something which made Jacob shake his head before he offered her hand a light squeeze. “You know” he quipped, breaking the silence which had fallen between the two of them “Talking to him probably won’t hurt” he added.

Ariella shook her head. “It’s not likely to do much good” she mumbled “I messed things up, papa, I hurt him, I hurt Adrian and I don’t want to go back to Barcelona and make things hard on him again. He doesn’t deserve me trying to get back into things with him after the way I messed it up before” she explained.

“But you love him” Jacob countered.

“Papa...”

“You do love him, Ella” Jacob interrupted “We both know that” he added, shooting her knowing look.

Ariella scanned the expression of her father’s face for a moment, briefly contemplating arguing with him, before she quirked a small timid smile, something which caused Jacob to squeeze her hand gently once more. “You can’t pretend that what happened hasn’t happened” he mused gently “And you can’t pretend that things are just going to go back to what they were before, because they won’t, but I think you’d be pretty stupid just to not even try and talk to him about it, even if he doesn’t feel the same way or he’s not interested in trying again. I think you need to ask” he added.

Ariella glanced up at him warily. “Really?” she asked.

Jacob nodded. “You want to be with him, Ariella” he mused “And if you ask him about it, you’ll know if he wants to be with you too and then you can figure out the next step, but the first one? That’s talking to him. Take your time, stay here for as long as you need to, but when you do go back to Barcelona, go and see him” he enthused gently before he pushed himself up to his feet, excusing himself to go and watch the match.

Ariella watched him out of the door, allowing his words to hang around her for a few moments before she dipped her head, her blue eyes settling on the material of the sweater which sat around her shoulders. She knew what she wanted, after she had broken things off with Adrian, she had only grown to be more sure of what it was that she felt for the defender, and what it was that she wanted to happen between them, but she didn’t know what he wanted, and she didn’t want to try to push for something to happen between them if it was only going to make things worse for him.

Shaking her head gently, she tugged the material of the jumper around herself a little more before she caught the slight scent which lingered on the material, a scent which made her smile gently before she turned back towards the desk, trying to figure out what to do next.
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Thanks to Jayme112234, FootieJo and mslou1 for the comments :)