longing for the comfort

"Oh, I dunno if we should meet like this." Clare sounded like she might be a gypsy with secrets, but the fact was Gabby didn't have anybody to talk too.

Clare handed over the hot chocolate, with lots of whipped cream on top. Honestly, Gabby decided no one could make hot chocolate like Clare.

Gabby had missed Will by a few minutes. She didn't want to tell Clare, she'd been watching the house, waiting for this moment to arrive.

Gabby only nodded. "I don't mean..to be putting..Will off..you know. I mean, he's so..." She winced trying to find the words to describe him. "I don't want to say I want a baby just like him..but if I could..some day..I'd want him..to be somebody..just like him."

From Clare's alarmed look, she knew she'd said to much.

"I'm not gonna have a baby." But she didn't promise. She never made promises anymore. "It just..He means a lot to me..and ..and I'd hate for him to know..that..that..I've got problems."

"What kind of problems?"

"I used to drink ..a lot.." Gabby sighed. "That's why I'm so far behind, in school." She pressed her lips tight, wishing she hadn't said it, but it felt good for someone to know. "I got alcohol poison when I was twelve."

It felt so grim to tell the truth. Gabby nursed her bottom lip. "And..and I met Randy, in rehab."

Clare only nodded, as if she understood. She sipped her coffee.

Gabby sighed. She winced hard.

"I ran away with him." It sounded like a romance of some kind, but it wasn't all that wonderful. She'd ended up with a broken wrist when they were jumping off a train. Yes, she'd said she loved him once, but not now.

"Does he want you to run away, again?" Clare wanted to know.

"I guess." But she wouldn't do it. She thought he was only back to make her miserable. She'd somehow found  a better life. Or so he said.

She didn't think he was all that cute, anymore.