Scarlett struggled to open her eyes, the sun coming through the window dazzling her. The first thing she saw that morning was Gunnar's face and she could not help but give a hint of a smile. He was still asleep, oblivious to her stare. His expression seemed so serene she didn't dare to wake him up, not yet.
She had been worried sick. A thousand terrible scenarios had crossed her mind the day before. Anything could have happened to him. He had disappeared from the party without saying a word. First she had thought he might have met a girl and she had gone home without thinking anymore about it but when he had not showed up at their morning rehearsal, she figured out something was wrong. As he wouldn't answer his phone, she had called all Nashville's hospitals without any result. She had gotten upset, paced up and down the living room, gotten angry at his selfish ass, worried, cried and finally just sat in an armchair all day waiting for any sign he was still alive. And that's when she had realized it. What would she do without Gunnar in her life? What would she become if he never came back? Her heart had been crushed at the mere idea. She hadn't known him for a long time but when they were writing songs together, she felt as if she'd always known him. With him, she felt secure, she felt understood, liked for who she was, admired for what she did. She loved how their voices melted together when they sang, how he put exactly the right intonation into every word without her having to tell him what she had in mind. She was in love with him, there was no denying it. And now she was thinking about it, she had been in love with him for quite a long time now. She had only been blinded by the sadness and the anger she had felt after her break up with Avery.
When he had finally come home, she had felt overwhelmed. Seeing Gunnar so depressed, so broken had made her heart sting. The pain being almost unbearable, she had done the only thing she could think of to make the both of them feel better. She had kissed him.
There was so much despair, so much need in the way he had made love to her last night… For the first time since a very long time, she had felt whole, as if she had finally found the place where she belonged. That's why she was ready to overcome all the hurdles that would stand in their way; she wanted to stick to his side no matter what. This wasn't going to be easy but she was willing to take the risk. She would not let him fall.
Gunnar's eyelids fluttered and he opened his eyes to discover Scarlett's soft smile. God, how could something so terrible and something so amazing have happened to him in such a short time span? Was it even decent to feel how he felt about her when he'd just heard about his brother's death? How could a part of him feel so happy when another part felt so depressed and guilty? He should probably be thinking about all the things he'd have to take care of for the next few days like gathering money to organize his brother's funeral. But he just wanted to hear her voice, to feel her warm skin on his to make sure this was real, to make sure he was not alone even though he had lost his only family. He didn't dare to say anything, not wanting to break the moment for fear he'd realize it was only a dream. He just wanted this graceful moment to never end. He just wanted to loose himself in her ocean blue eyes and stop thinking about all the pain, all the guilt.
-Hi there, she finally said, smiling softly, without breaking eye contact.
God, this was real. What should he do? Did he have the right to do this? Did he have the right to embark her in this chaos his life had become? He thought about it for a split second and realized he had no choice. Without her, he would simply fall. So he decided to take one step at a time and simply answered back, with a weak smile:
-Hi.
So this is short and VERY sappy and probably full of grammar mistakes (I'm not a native speaker, sorry), I know.. But well, it bugged me so much to see there were hardly a couple of stories about those two that I had to do something! I mean, don't you think they're amazing? Great chemistry AND great music, they're perfect!