In the End

15: He Sounds Like A Catch

Pulling his undershirt over his head, Gerard tossed it towards the bench, a slightly relieved sound falling out of his mouth. it had been a difficult match, despite Barcelona’s strong start to the season, Atletico Madrid had managed to give them a scare when they’d gone one-nil up early in the game, but Barcelona had fought back to get the draw, something the defender was more than proud of, even if they had dropped a couple of points. It meant that they’d gotten though one of their toughest games of the season without a defeat.

Stepping towards the bench, he quickly retrieved a clean towel and tossed it over his shoulder before he collected his phone, his blue eyes softening a little as they scanned over the picture which still made up his background. He knew that he should have changed it, with all that had happened between him and Ariella, he knew that he shouldn’t have hesitated when it came to changing his phone’s background away from a picture of the two of them, but he hadn’t quite been able to gather the nerve to, even if looking at the picture did cause a lump to grow in his stomach. He couldn’t quite bring himself to change it.

Studying the picture for a moment, he shook his head to himself before he slipped the phone back into his bag, moving to gather his toiletries.

“You know the coach to the airport leaves in less than fifteen minutes, don’t you?”

Gerard, who’d been focused on slipping his feet out of his boots, nodded, not looking up towards Lionel who stood beside him. “I am aware of that” he noted.

“Then why aren’t you changed yet?” Lionel posed “I mean, you’re a pretty important guy, but I don’t think they’ll hesitate to leave without you” he teased with a playful grin.

Gerard breathed out a soft laugh before he shook his head, his eyes not shifting away from the bench in front of him. “I was thinking of staying here tonight” he murmured.

Lionel, who’d moved to pull his jacket around his shoulder, frowned. “What?” he posed.

Gerard merely shrugged, something which made Lionel shake his head before he gripped onto the defender’s shoulder, turning him to look at him. “You really think that this is a good idea?” he posed “I mean, she only left Barcelona a week ago, telling you that she wanted to give you some space, and take some for herself. Do you really think that you showing up at her papa’s door is going to help? Maybe you ought to just leave it for tonight, give her a few more days, and talk to her once she gets back to Barcelona” he insisted gently.

He wasn’t entirely surprised, with the team in Madrid for their match against Atletico, he had had little doubt that the defender would be tempted to drop in on Ariella, but he wanted to try and talk him out of it, not wanting to watch him get himself hurt again. It wasn’t intentional, after the breakup, Ariella hadn’t deliberately attempted to upset or hurt Gerard, but it did seem to be a trend that, whenever they spoke, the defender seemed to come off worse than the brunette, and Lionel wanted to prevent it from happening that night, even if he knew that the two of them talking was an inevitability. He wanted to encourage Gerard to at least give it a few more days and wait for Ariella to return to Barcelona.

Gerard stared down at Lionel for a few seconds before he shook his head, shrugging off the argentine’s hands. “I want to see her, Leo” he noted.

Lionel nodded. “I know you do” he retorted “I just think...”

“I’m not asking for your permission, Leo” Gerard interrupted softly.

Lionel blinked a couple of times, surprised by Gerard’s interruption, before he let out a soft sigh, shaking his head. “I’m really not going to talk you out of this, am I?” he posed.

Gerard shook his head, something which caused Lionel to let out a breath before he lifted his hand, patting the taller man’s shoulder. “I hope it goes alright for you, amigo” he noted gently before he padded away towards his own spot on the bench.

Gerard watched him walk away before he shook his head, quickly making his way towards the shower. He knew why Lionel was worried, with only a week having passed since Ariella had ducked out of Barcelona, he knew that his showing up at her father’s door was likely to be unwelcome, but still he wanted to go, even if she was likely to turn him away. A small part of him was merely itching to see her face to face again.

~#~
Tugging a pair of socks onto her feet, Ariella shuffled up the bed, taking up a position ahead of the laptop which she had left on top of the duvet. It had been a pleasant evening for her, after her conversation with her father, she had opted to join him and her two younger brothers for the second half of Barcelona’s match with Atletico Madrid, and with everyone but her father having retired to bed for the night, she had opted to head back to her room, wanting to catch up on a couple of episodes of a television show before she fell asleep. Snuggling up against her pillow, she placed her headphones into her ears before she pressed play, her blue eyes fixed on the screen of her computer.

Sparing a quiet yawn into her hand, she watched the screen for a couple of minutes before a small tapping noise reached ears, something which caused her to frown before she lifted her head, her blue eyes widening as they landed on the man who stood in the doorway, his hand lightly tapping against the bedroom door. Blinking, she stared at him for a few seconds before she shook her head, moving to sit up. “Gerard” she breathed.

“Your papa let me in” Gerard mused, stuffing his hands awkwardly into his pockets “He said that you’d still be up” he added.

Ariella merely stared at him, something which caused Gerard to let out a shy laugh, shaking his head to himself. “Can I come inside?” he posed “I mean, I don’t want to wake up your step-mother or your brothers by talking in the hall. Do you mind?” he posed, gesturing to the room ahead of himself.

Ariella nodded her head slowly, something which made Gerard smile gently before he stepped into the bedroom, pulling the door closed behind him. Ensuring that he didn’t make too much noise, he shuffled towards the bed before he sat down, leaving a gap between himself and Ariella as a silence passed between the two of them.

Ariella watched him for a few seconds, still in awe of the fact that he was there, before she shook her head, subconsciously pushing a few messy dark hairs behind her ear. “What are you doing here, Gerard?” she posed quietly.

Gerard, who’d been tracing the pattern of the rug beside the bed with his foot, looked up at the sound of her voice before he quirked a crooked grin. “We had a match in Madrid” he quipped “You probably watched it. I thought 1-1 was a good result” he added, trying to alleviate some of the tension with a joke.

Ariella tried not to laugh, but failed, letting out a soft laugh which caused Gerard’s grin to grow a fraction. He had always liked her laugh.

“You know that that isn’t what I meant” Ariella replied “I meant...”

“Why’d I come to your papa’s house?” Gerard finished for her.

Ariella nodded. “It’s not that I am not happy to see you...” she trailed off, smiling shyly.

Gerard breathed out a laugh before he shrugged his shoulders. “Honestly?” he quipped “I’m not all that sure” he added.

Ariella stared at him for a moment, mulling over his words, before she shook her head. “I broke up with Adrian” she murmured quietly.

Gerard’s eyes widened. “You did?” he posed.

“Before I came here” Ariella confirmed “It was the best thing to do” she added simply.

Gerard stared at her for a few long seconds, processing what she had said to him, before he shook his head. “I thought you liked him” he murmured.

“I did” Ariella retorted “But there is this other guy...an amazing guy, that I like a lot more than him and it wasn’t fair of me to keep him around just to try and distract me from the fact that I’d...I’d messed up what I had with him over the most stupid reason” she added, her blue eyes not even attempting to look up towards Gerard.

Gerard quirked a small smile. “What’s this other guy like?” he quipped, playing along.

Ariella breathed out a quiet laugh. “I think you’d like him” she quipped “He’s pretty great. He’s funny and he’s clever. He’s never been afraid to speak exactly what is on his mind, regardless of how people react to him. And all that is without mentioning how amazingly good looking he is. He’s got these blue eyes...” she trailed off, grinning softly.

Gerard marveled at her smile. “He sounds like a catch” he joked.

Ariella’s smile grew slightly sad. “He is” she mused.

Gerard noticed the shift in her smile before he shuffled a little closer to her, closing some of the space that he had left between the two of them.

Ariella glanced up at him, noticing just how close he was, before she dropped her head, something which caused Gerard to lift his hand, gently tucking her hair off of her face. “What are you thinking?” he murmured quietly, his thumb lightly catching her cheek.

Ariella leant into his touch, her blue eyes closing.

“Come on, Ella” Gerard encouraged softly “Tell me what’s going on in there” he added, prodding the side of her head softly.

Ariella quirked a gentle smile before she blinked her eyes open, looking up at him. “I’m thinking about how stupid I’ve been” she murmured “About how I keep making this worse, even though I don’t mean to, and about how you should be so much more pissed at me than you are. I mean, this whole thing, it’s a mess, Geri, and yet you’re still here and you’re still being the sweetest guy in the world. I don’t think I deserve that” she insisted.

Gerard smiled. “I could yell at you if you’d like me to” he joked awkwardly.

Ariella let out a small laugh before she shook her head. “I just don’t get how you’re not more upset with me” she mused “I mean...”

“I was devastated” Gerard interrupted “When you told me that you wanted to break up with me, it broke my heart, Ella, and it still hurts now, but yelling at you? That’s not going to change the fact that, despite it all, I am still crazy about you. I don’t understand what went wrong, and I sure as hell don’t understand why you couldn’t just talk to me rather than do what you did, but I don’t want to yell at you. I don’t want to be upset with you” he insisted gently.

Ariella’s cheeks flushed a light shade of pink before she gently shook her head. “I know I’ve made a mess of this” she muttered “And that I’ve hurt you a lot, but do you think that...?” she trailed off, peeking up at him for a split second before she returned her stare to the floor.

Gerard pushed his hand back through his hair.

“It’s Ok to say no” Ariella babbled, taking his silence as a bad thing “I mean, I know how much of a mess this is and I understand entirely if you don’t want to try again. I mean, if I were in your shoes...”

“Do you love me?” Gerard cut in.

Ariella stilled. “What?” she spluttered.

“Do you love me, Ella?” Gerard repeated gently “Are you in love with me? Can you look me in the eye and tell me that you love me?” he pressed.

Ariella blinked, something which made Gerard scoff, pushing himself up to his feet. “If you can’t even say that to me then there is no point in having this conversation” he muttered “I know that I love you, Ariella, and I am not going to stand here and get my hopes up on a maybe. You either love me and want to be with me, or you don’t, in which case I don’t think we can even try to be friends. It doesn’t work anymore, us being friends, it’s never going to be enough for me, and if you can’t tell me that you’re in love with me, then I should go because this conversation...it’s going nowhere.” he added, making his way towards the door. Hesitating momentarily, he willed himself not to look over his shoulder before he settled his hand against the door handle, moving to push it open.

“I love you”

Gerard stopped before he turned, his blue eyes settling on Ariella who stared up at him from the edge of the bed. “What did you just say?” he muttered.

Ariella glanced up at him. “I love you” she repeated.

Gerard eyed her uncertainly, something which caused Ariella to push herself up to her feet, her hand tentatively cupping his cheek, a little afraid that he would jerk away from her hand. Resting her hand against his bearded cheek, she gently trailed her thumb along the bone before she looked up, her blue eyes staring into his. “I know how it must sound” she murmured “And I don’t blame you at all for being dubious about it, I know I would be if I were in your place listening to me, but Gerard...Geri...I do. I don’t know what difference that makes to you but....but it’s how I feel” she added quietly.

Gerard held her stare, his blue eyes searching hers, before he leant back slightly. “I...uh...”

“I get it” Ariella mused, cutting off his spluttering.

“No, you don’t” Gerard replied, knowing where her mind had jumped to “I am not trying to let you down easily, Ella” he added.

Ariella offered him a look, something which caused Gerard to offer her a small smile. “I should go” he quipped “I should get back to Barcelona and you should stay here for a few more days and think about us. I want you, Ella, I have no qualms about saying it, I couldn’t deny it if I tried, and if you want me too, then fantastic, but I want you to be certain, one hundred percent, that you want us. I don’t want to go through this all again, I don’t want us to get through another six months just for you to turn around and do this all over again, and I think you need to think this over more before you can tell me that you are” he added.

Ariella glanced up at him, something which made Gerard smile before he stepped towards her, pressing a soft kiss against her cheek which just missed her lips. “Think about it, Ella, really think about it” he mumbled as he drew back, making his way towards the bedroom door. He had been tempted, the moment those words had fallen out of her mouth, a small part of him had wanted nothing more than to just kiss her and tell her that things would be fine, but he had resisted it, knowing that he needed more than just her word to convince him that she was serious about making things work between them. She’d hurt him badly once before and he wanted to be certain that she didn’t intend to do it again, not wanting to set himself up for another fall.
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Thanks to FootieJo and mslou1 for the comments :)