Me Without You

"If you love me, you just love me."

Lucy had been sitting in front of Vero for the better half of thirty minutes and the pair hadn't exchanged so much as eye contact as of yet.

It was awkward.

Painfully awkward and the silence brought with it tension as well. The kind of tension that spoke volumes about a situation. The kind of tension that you could practically see if you squinted hard enough.

And Lucy tried to recall a time where she'd ever felt awkward or uncomfortable around Vero and came up with nothing until that point. For all intents and purposes; they were the perfect couple. They understood each other to a level Lucy didn't think anyone could understand another person. Vero was literally the ying to Lucy's yang. Lucy saw everything with Vero; she saw the white picket fence and kids and a pet and a minivan and soccer practice or little league.

Lucy had always seen this clear future with Vero where she'd come home from work and greet her with a kiss and they'd make dinner together and chat about each other's day. Lucy had never wanted to be domestic or ordinary before, but with Vero she never felt like ordinary was a curse.

In fact, in those moments of painfully awkward silence, ordinary with Vero would have come as a blessing.

But Lucy's dream of the perfect life was shattered the second she walked in on Vero kissing Alexa.

She'd been wanting to surprise her girlfriend with news about a new job she'd scored at a popular club, a DJ job she'd had her eye on for the past few months and she'd raved on and on to Vero about it.

She showed up to Vero's work place at the exact time she knew her girlfriend had her lunch break with her favourite food from their local Mexican restaurant. Lucy had been so excited to talk to Vero, the smile couldn't leave her face even if she tried. It was almost permanent.

Almost.

The thing was; Lucy was unsure if it was a one off. She was unsure if Alexa maybe forced herself on Vero and Lucy simply hadn't waited long enough to see her girlfriend push the other girl away. And as painful as the very sight was, Lucy knew she could forgive Vero if that were the case. If the kiss wasn't Vero's fault, she could forgive her.

But the reason Lucy had avoided talking to her girlfriend had been because she feared that wasn't the case. Lucy was terrified that it was Vero's fault. She was scared that Vero wanted the kiss to happen. She was scared of finding out that maybe it had happened before. That Vero had feelings for Alexa.

That would destroy Lucy. She was sure of it. Because if Lucy was sure about one thing; it was that Vero was the love of her life, undoubtedly. No one would ever compare to the girl and Lucy was sure she didn't want anyone to. She wanted Veronica Iglesias. She would always just want Veronica Iglesias.

"Lucy, I love you." Vero finally spoke and the older girl's head shot up at the raspy in her girlfriend's voice. It was only ever there when she was about to cry. Why was Vero about to cry? "And I don't want to lose you, you have to know that. You're my life, Luce. You're everything I never knew I needed."

"Did you kiss her?" Lucy found her voice as well, surprised by how devoid of emotion it was.

"Yes." Vero broke both their hearts. "Just let me explain, okay? You have to hear me out because we need to fix this, we need to get past this and get back on track and just...this can't break us, Lucy, we can't let it break us, okay?"

"Why wasn't I enough?"

"No, Lucy, dammit, that wasn't it!" And then there were tears flowing down Vero's cheeks and Lucy still had that overwhelming urge to wipe them away, to eradicate those tears and will them to never come back. Lucy hated seeing her girlfriend cry, it left claw marks on her heart. "I never want you to think that, I told you that. You're always enough for me, you're perfect for me, we belong together."