I Can't Be Without You

Luisita could not get the smile off her face as she made her way into the call center. Having woken up this morning, she had felt as if the two days she had taken off work to be with Amelia had been a mistake and that she should have let Amelia have her space. She had left Amelia's house feeling even more sunken than she had arrived. She had thought her presence had not been the comfort for Amelia that she would have hoped it to be. But she was wrong. Whatever she had done must have been enough because it got Amelia to come back to her and tell her everything she needed to hear for her to breathe again.

She bit her smile at the image of Amelia chasing after her on the bicycle. And her breathless words. Amelia still loved her. She hadn't ruined everything with the way she had behaved these past few weeks. Amelia loved her more than ever, she had said. And Luisita didn't think it was possible to love her girlfriend anymore than she did, but she was learning that with Amelia there was no limit. No matter what they went through, the good and the bad, her love grew more and more.

She almost skipped to her booth and her friend who had covered her shifts for her, turned to look at her.

"Why are you so happy?" She laughed at the brightness of Luisita's expression. She hadn't seen her so animated in the entire time she had known her. And she yelped as Luisita unexpectedly hugged her.

"You are a lifesaver." Luisita said and left a loud kiss on her head. "I owe you big time."

She laughed at Luisita's actions. "Things went well then?"

Luisita nodded. "It was exactly what I needed." She sat down and turned to her friend, now a little bit calmer. "Thank you," she said, looking sincerely into her eyes. "I couldn't have done it without your help."

Her friend smiled, glad to have helped.

Back at her parents house, Amelia had just finished drying her hair after a shower. It had been much needed. Not only because of the sweat from the tiring bicycle ride but from the emotional weight of the past few weeks. She had still been carrying it all around until this morning.

Sitting in front of the mirror, she saw and felt a light that had been missing. A light that she only got from Luisita. These past few days had been like hell with the guilt and grief she felt about her father. And the pain was even worse because of what was happening with Luisita. She didn't have Luisita to comfort her. Or she hadn't allowed Luisita to be that comfort. Until today.

Finding her dad's phone had released something in her. All that sadness and anguish. And it had made her realise that she couldn't let her go. She needed her. And whatever had happened these past few weeks was not enough to ruin what they had. Luisita had come all the way just to be with her. She had tried to comfort her, and had given her space too and Amelia's heart squeezed at the way her girlfriend took care of her. She loved her more than she thought possible.

She smiled to herself and got up with a sigh, feeling that newfound energy after so many days and went to look for her mom, ready to make the most of the day.

Midway through the afternoon, after having had lunch, Amelia got a phonecall from Luisita.

"Luisita, darling" she answered.

"Love, how are you?"

Amelia smiled, just hearing her girlfriends voice and that soft 'amor' was enough to make her smile.

"Good, I spent the morning doing some more packing with my mom. You?"

"Good too, I'm just on my break. Amelia I was thinking..." she trailed off.

"What?"

"I was thinking of coming back to yours after work."

"But don't you have work tomorrow?"