STORM

-twenty-eight-

Storm winced, so did Gabriella. She hadn't meant for it to come out so harsh. Truthfully, she hadn't realized it bothered her that much until the words spilled out of her mouth. She thought she'd gotten over the jealousy issue, or at least that she could bury it.

"I'm not. It's not like that. You know that. Alana and I ended on good terms, we happened to meet at a party then I met her friend. She doesn't mean anything romantically to me. With Echo, we were friends before. I didn't want to ruin our friendship simply because we weren't compatible. We've already talked about this and you said you were okay with it, why are you acting like this? You were happy literally a second ago."

She wasn't sure either, but there was just a lot going on recently. Gabriella had thought had it all handled, yet, one little thing and it was all brimming to the surface.

"I know what I said but it doesn't feel okay. We are supposed to be girlfriends but sometimes I don't feel like we are. While I'm scared of Joey's reaction too, at least I would have the guts to fucking tell him if you asked. He's your best friend and my brother for fuck's sake! You tell him literally anything! I know you would do anything for him."

Her voice was raising, she didn't like arguing with Storm. Yet she was the one who always had to start up shit for nothing. She mentally cursed herself out, but she couldn't bring herself to calm down.

"Fuck, Gabriella. We've had this argument a million times. I will tell him, why are you in such a rush? He's been with me through everything, obviously I would do anything for him."

"Maybe it keeps getting brought up because you keep making promises that you can't keep."

"I'm not. I will tell him, that isn't a lie."

Gabriella turned around so she could only see her back. She bit back the tears and crossed her arms, willing them in.

"I just can't help that I feel like you will always mean more to me than I will to you."

Stepping forward, Storm placed a hand on her shoulder. "That is not true. I don't think I've ever cared about anyone in the way that I do about you. Especially not in such a short period of time. When will you believe that?"

Shutting her eyes briefly, Gabriella let her head droop before opening them again. A tear fell.

"Look at me, Gabi. Please."

She didn't want Storm to see her crying. Gabriella felt ridiculous. She had all this love for Storm that had been building up for years. It grew so strong that Gabriella feared it would crush her someday. Storm had hurt her unknowingly so many times over the years. Although it was no one but Gabriella's fault, she'd already suffered so many heartbreaks at the expense of Storm that her heart was already fragile.

Gabriella could not expect Storm to understand that while for her their relationship had just started, Gabriella had loved her too much before it even began. They were at different stages in the same relationship. Gabriella tried so hard not to flood her with all her feelings when Storm's feelings had just been a puddle at the start. She kept wanting Storm to love her like she did when Gabriella's feelings had years to brew and hers barely had a summer.

Gabriella knew she needed to give Storm's time to progress and grow if they ever would, yet being selfless was hurting her in the process. It wasn't just about Joey, it was about everything and Gabriella could barely put that into words. Deep down, she desperately wanted Storm to have noticed her when she noticed Storm.

But the past was already written and Gabriella didn't have the power to change how Storm viewed her. That was all up to her. Gabriella had no control over it. Albeit, Storm was here right now in the present and she was ruining it all because she loved too much.