"Are you gonna kiss another girl the same way you kissed me all over this truck?"
The words had left her mouth before her brain had given it permission and her eyes widened slightly as she continued to watch him, her arms folded and resting on the lowered window of the passenger door. Her bare toes pressed against the concrete of the road as she balanced on them to see him, a playful, weak smile playing on her lips.
Slowly, he turned to look at her, and for a moment, it didn't feel as if he were leaving forever, just going to work... in a t-shirt and jeans. His eyes are a dark gray she's rarely seen, sad, but at her comment, his lips twitch up into a small smirk. Gazing into her bright blue eyes, he can remember every time he looked into them, whether he was glaring or about to kiss her. He remembers how hazy they turn when he's above her on a bed, or how they blaze with a strong fire when he leans her against a wall, or, well, the side of his truck.
"Are you going to play with another man's fingers when your hand is cold?" he asks quietly, his voice hoarse from barely speaking when he was packing and loading everything into his car.
"It'll be a long time before they figure out that's why I'm playing with their fingers," she answers calmly, unlocking the door and opening it before sitting on the passenger seat and closing the door again, turning to face her soon to be ex-fiancee.
"It'll be a long time before I kiss someone else and mean it," he replies and looks away from her for a moment, down at the center console. When he looks up again, he sighs and she shifts closer, adjusting her white summer dress that stopped a few inches above her knees when she was standing. Gently, she rests her head against the back passenger bench and closes her eyes, taking in slow breaths. When Gale trails his fingers slowly down her cheek, she can't help but smile, her eyes fluttering open to look at him, except he seems to far for the intimacy of his touch, so she slides closer, the only barrier being the PRNDL lever, and closes her eyes again.
"When was the last time I kissed you?" Gale asks softly, four of his fingers sliding under her chin while his thumb strokes her cheek. "Really kissed you?"
For a moment, he thinks she's asleep, but then she speaks and he realizes she must have been thinking. It's not good if she had to think about it. "A random day before you left for work," she answers quietly. "About two weeks ago."
"I should've done it more," he mutters to himself and pulls his hand back, frowning and clenching the steering wheel to avoid touching her again.
"You can do it now," Madge whispers and when he looks back at her, she's already looking at him.
He tenses when her hand rests on his bicep, a gentle pressure reminding him of what he's lost. The ache in his chest makes his breath catch in his throat and his mouth tightens into a thin line as he shakes his head. "You'll regret it," he tells her, his voice hoarse and rough all of a sudden.
"I don't regret anything I enjoy," she reassures him, shifting to sit up straight, the thin strap of her dress slipping down her shoulder and he reaches out on instinct, brushing his fingers across her soft skin as he slides it back up.
"Not even when we had that pregnancy scare?" he asks softly, looking up at her with his face more relaxed.
"I kind of hoped I was," she admits, reaching out to rest her other hand lightly on his chest. "Just a little."
"What if you don't enjoy it?"
"What if I do?"
"But what if you don't?"
"I'll regret it if you don't kiss me."
So instead of arguing more, he leans in and kisses her lips slowly and gently, remembering everything he possibly can in that one moment. The way her soft lips moved against his own, how soft her neck is and how he can mold his hand to it. The way his nose brushes her cheek when he moves closer, not being able to get enough of her even though he doesn't want to speed up their kiss. He memorizes the way her fingers tangle in his hair to keep him in place and the way her other hand holds onto the front of his shirt gently.
When he pulls away, he rests his forehead against hers and feels a tear roll down his cheek, his breathing labored for more reasons that just the kiss.
She's never seen him cry, but she recognizes that he is the moment he pulls away and immediately, pulls back to look at him. His eyes are closed, but he's shaking, the fingers on his free hand gripping the passenger seat as if to hold on to this one moment. Knowing he needs something to hold on to, she gently guides his arms around her as she leans forward, her arms tightly around his shoulders by the time her own tears fall and she sobs into his shoulder, running her fingers through his hair and feeling his cold tears hit the skin of her neck.
"I'll a-always love you," he chokes out, sobbing harder and gripping the back of her dress. "M-Madge."
"Shh..." she lets out shakily, trying to calm her racing heart by taking in deep breaths.
"I wasn't s-supposed to break down like th-this until I got h-home," he groans, angry at himself to seem so vulnerable, weak, dependent.
"It's okay," she whispers and rubs his back for a few minutes before pulling back, cupping his face in her hands and brushing his tears away with her thumbs, sniffling. "It doesn't have to be forever," she chokes out, moving her hands to curl tightly, gripping the hair towards the nape of his neck, remembering how much she had longed to touch it before they had been dating.
"That's bullshit," he says angrily and pulls away from her, clenching his jaw to keep his chin from quivering.
Instinctively, she shrinks back a bit, wiping her own tears away while he tries to calm himself, taking in shaky breaths. "We all know that days turn into weeks and weeks into months and months into years and that's it. You're gone forever until a decade has passed and I'll probably run into you in the grocery store only to see a goddamn ring on your finger that I was supposed to buy and a kid sitting in the cart that was supposed to be mine – ours."
Haltingly, she looks up at him, rubbing her upper arm slowly. "You really think that?" she asks softly and he shrugs without looking at her, frowning.
"Why not? Before we started dating you were all the guys in the office could talk about," he mutters, looking out the window of his door. "Even for the first few months they kept talking about you. They only only stopped after I lost it and punched a guy in the jaw."
She can't help the soft laugh that escapes her lips as she smiles and shifts to lay down on the two joined passenger seats, resting her head on his lap. "That doesn't mean I'd go out with them," she points out softly and he rests his hand gently over her flat stomach, slowly sliding it to rest on her waist, down to her hip.
He frowns but doesn't say anything, reaching up to stroke her hair slowly, feeling exhausted from when he cried and wanting nothing more than to hold her while he sleeps one last time.
"Did you sleep at all last night?" he asks softly, casually, as he pulls her up to sit on his lap, his arms wrapping around her tightly.
Momentarily, she's caught off guard but she smiles and closes her eyes, resting her head on his chest and pretending nothing's wrong just one last time, as if this would bring them closure. "No," she answers quietly, resting her gentle fist against his shoulder as she feels his chin on the top of her head.
"Me neither," he admits, sliding his large, warm hand up and down her bare arm.
"Goodnight then," she mumbles and smiles, pressing her face against the side of his neck.
The past few months, they hadn't really been sleeping together. Sometimes, she would sleep in the guest bedroom, other times he would sleep on the couch, and when they went to sleep together in the same bed, they barely touched each other on purpose. But right now, she wishes that she had curled up into his and he wishes he would have held her instead of turning on his side to give her his back. Especially the nights he heard her crying softly.
"Goodnight, Princess," he whispers and holds her tighter to make up for all the times he didn't, his lips resting gently over her forehead for a few seconds before he pulls away and sighs, leaning his head against hers. Within moments, they're asleep, comforted by the warmth of each other.
He wakes up first, his heart rate picking up the moment his eyes open and he takes in a deep breath through his nose, shifting slightly in the uncomfortable driver's seat. Rubbing his eyes, something moves against him and he becomes aware of Madge curled against his torso, the air that leaves her nose when she exhales washing over the skin of his neck. The sun is well into setting and he squints when he looks out the window, quickly looking away and rubbing his eyes before returning his arms to their original position around the blonde.
A quiet sigh escapes his lips as he looks down at her, sleeping soundly while gripping the front of his shirt in one hand. She smiles in her sleep and he wonders if she's dreaming of him, desperately hoping she is. Unfortunately, she wakes up minutes after and blinks slowly, looking out the passenger door's window before up at him, still smiling.
"You didn't think I was someone else, did you?" he asks teasingly, his voice rough and tired, causing butterflies to soar in her stomach as she aches to kiss him, but holds it back.
"No," she mumbles tiredly and smiles, sitting up straight and wrapping her arms around his neck instead, his arms dropping to wrap around her waist. Leaning in, she takes in the scent of his hair and smiles. "You were exactly who I wanted to see."
Minutes pass in silence and Gale swallows thickly, his throat constricting slightly as he pulls her down onto his lap fully and looks down at her with sadness and pleading in his eyes, his hands sliding up to cup her cheeks in them.
"I'll make it up to you one day, Madge, I promise," he whispers, his eyes glistening for a second time in more than five years. "I'll do whatever it takes to make you fall in love with me again."
"I never stopped," she whispers, her own blue eyes glistening as she leans in and kisses him softly, but only for a few seconds.
Again, it's quiet, but this time, Madge breaks it, pulling back and resting her hand over one of his. "Stay," she pleads suddenly, not even thinking about it. "Not just the night. For as long as you want, please. I want you back."
"I never left," he whispers, rephrasing her words and grinning up at her. His hand reaches out and opens the door while one of his arms remains wrapped around her waist tightly. "I had no intentions of letting you go that easy anyway. I probably would have been back tomorrow," he admits quietly, sliding out from underneath her before he lifts her into his arms and helped her out of his truck.
Gale takes a step back and closes the door before pressing Madge against it, smirking as he looks into her eyes and rests his forehead against hers. "Now who was I supposed to kiss 'all over' this car?" he jokes and Madge just laughs, wrapping her legs around his waist and kissing him with all she's got, pouring everything out of her as he does the same, they're tongues grazing each other swiftly as Gale deepens the kiss while reaching into his back pocket to pull out the engagement ring she had thrown at him two days ago. The moment he pulls away, he takes her hand gently and slides the ring onto her finger, smiling at her as he does so.
"Just me," she whispers.
