I wait impatiently outside Gale's room while he changes into real clothes to leave the hospital. Hazelle and Posy opted to stay at the apartment. When the door open Gale gives me a great smile and wraps me into a tight hug. "Mmm," he murmurs, holding me tight to him. I grin and give him a quick kiss.
"C'mon. Posy can't wait to give you a hug." Gale snickers and gives me another kiss. He follows me to my tiny car since his truck is still getting worked on after the accident. His head touches the ceiling and he groans. "Your truck should be ready the 18th."
Gale thinks for a moment. "That's two days after your birthday." I nod. "You're turning twenty."
I snort and turn out of the hospital parking lot. "I'm aware." Gale sets his hand on my leg and we're quiet for the majority of the ride home, until we see Posy getting on the step. "Look who's waiting for you." Posy crashes into Gale's legs as soon as he's out of the car.
"Gale!"
Gale laughs and gives his sister a hug. "Well hey there." She grins like mad and Gale ruffles her hair. "C'mon, let me go inside." Posy giggles and gives me a quick hug before the three of us travel inside. Hazelle's making dinner for tonight and gives Gale a smile and a tight hug.
"It's good to see you walking again, Gale."
Gale groans and rolls his eyes. "I'm fine, Ma. Just a few scrapes." Now it's my turn to roll my eyes and Gale winks at me.
Hazelle turns back to the stove and Gale paces back to his bedroom and flops onto his bed. "God I can't wait to sleep." I laugh and he grins. "I'm gonna shower."
I nod, and even though I know what's coming next, I shake my head. "No. Your mother and sister are in your house. Later." Gale groans and sits up before crossing to me. His hands stray from my waist down to my rear.
"C'mon. Live a little." I grumble under my breath before pressing on my toes to kiss him. He tries to tug me into the bathroom, but Posy comes into the room. His face flashes with annoyance before he hurries into the bathroom.
"Madge, can you help me pack?"
I nod, but grumble under my breath, "I'm sure Hazelle set you up to this." Gale snorts from the bathroom and I stick my tongue out at him, but follow Posy to help her pack.
Dinner that night is fantastic. Gale gets at least three helpings of whatever Hazelle has made and Posy chatters the entire time.
"That hospital food is disgusting. After two days I couldn't eat it without wanything to gag." Posy giggles as Gale takes her plate to the sink. Hazelle and Posy quickly clean up before hurrying back to the guest bedroom to finish packing. Gale and I load the dishwasher in silence, before he finally speaks. "I love them, but they won't leave us alone."
I snort as Gale's large hands slide around my waist and tug me closer to his body. "I've noticed. I think your mother is setting Posy up to it. Do you think..." Gale raises a brow and presses me gently into the counter, "do you think that your mom knows that we've... Y'know."
"Had sex?" Gale suggests, dropping his voice into a deeper tone. I nod slightly. "I'm sure she does. She's my mom, Madge. I think you keep forgetting that." I blush a bit and Gale kisses my cheek. "And I'm sure that your mother would know too."
I nod a bit, dipping my head. "I wish she was alive. Same with my dad."
"I know, baby, I know." Gale murmurs, his voice still in that deep, gentle voice that I love so much. "I wish they were too. I wish my dad was alive. Sometimes," he says, "I still wake up from nightmares about him."
It's hard for me to swallow. "I know. I hear you sometimes. I just don't know how to help. You'd think that after almost nine months of being in a relationship I'd know these things."
My boyfriend shakes his head and pulls me into a tight hug, his arms grasping me tightly, fingers slipping under the hem of my shirt. This is a comforting touch, one that I suddenly need. "It's alright. It's okay." I bury my face in his chest, and I hear someone enter the room, saying something. Gale twists his body a bit to see, and I don't know what the exchange is, but the person leaves us be.
We all retire to bed early that night, mostly because everyone's tired and Hazelle and Posy have a very early train tomorrow. I will not be going to see them off, I have work, which I've been neglecting ever since the crash.
Gale changes while I shower, and when I return to the room, wearing one of his long-sleeved shirts, he grins so widely my heart bursts. He's pulling me into bed before I've even brushed my teeth. "Gale," I laugh, pulling from his grasp. "Let me get ready for bed." He groans, but let's me go. Quickly, I finish my nightly routine before crawling over Gale and into bed with him.
The man next to me lets out a deep, rough sigh. "Jesus Christ." Our bodies press together and he holds me close to him, his fingers tangling in my damp curls, lips going to my neck. My fingers grasp for a handhold, but because he isn't wearing a shirt, I settle for the waistband of his boxers. He lets out a hiss through his teeth.
I giggle as Gale rolls so he's hovering over me his fingers now around my hips, where my panties rest. "No," I laugh, pushing his hand away, "they're right across the hall."
"Do you think I give a shit?"
"No, but I do. You know I'm not... quiet." Gale chortles and sucks on my neck before pulling the shirt over my head.
"You're definitely not quiet." I flush and he grins, flopping down next to me, kissing my cheek. He gets quiet. "I really have missed you, you know."
I cup his cheek with my hand and run my thumb over one of the cuts still healing. "I missed you, too." I swallow thickly and then reality hits me: I almost lost him. He was so close to dying, multiple times. "They had to shock you, Gale." I choke, tears pooling quickly into my eyes. His thumbs swipe under my eyes quickly as words keep bubbling out of me. "They called me and I didn't know what was going on and I saw your heartbeat stop and, and and you were dead and—"
Gale shushes me by tugging on one of my wild curls, and my rambling stops. "If you haven't noticed, sweetheart, I'm right here. And I'm not going anywhere. You can't get rid of me that easy." A small smile graces my face and I press my forehead to his collarbone.
"It was just... it was terrifying. I didn't know if you were gonna make it..."
"I didn't know if I was gonna make it, Madge." Gale says seriously, his face illuminated by the sliver of moon seeping through the open curtains. "The doctors said you didn't leave the hospital for over two days." I shake my head. "Why'd you do that, Madge? You had work."
I shake my head again, wiping under my eyes. "I didn't care. They almost fired me, until they found out what had happened. You were more important." I finally say, as he runs his fingers gently through my hair. "I love you," I whisper, "I should've told you sooner."
"It's okay," Gale murmurs, kissing my hair. "I didn't mean to tell you that night. It just slipped out. But I'm glad, now."
I nod against his chest. "Me too." I whisper, curling closer. My boyfriend holds my body quietly for a little bit, and I'm sure he's fallen asleep, because his breathing has evened out. I glance up and him and find him still awake, staring at the ceiling. "What're you thinking about?"
Gale's quiet for a few minutes after that, but I wait patiently. I've learned that trying to force something out of Gale never works, you have to wait until he's ready. "I want you to move in with me."
My brows fly off of my face and I sit up quickly, pulling from his grasp. "What?"
Gale sits up as well, looking at me intently. "You heard me. I want you to move in with me."
"Why?"
He chuckles. "Because I love you and you love me and all of your stuff is pretty much here and you're here all the time." He scoots closer to me and pulls me gently into his lap, dropping his forehead to mine. "I want you to live with me."
I look up at his eyes and he's pleading for me to say yes. "Okay," I murmur, giving him a quick kiss. His eyes light up with unbelievable happiness. "Under one condition. I want to pull my own weight. I don't want you be stuck with all of my expenses and everything for school, I want to be able to pay it off myself."
"Madge," Gale grins, kissing me again, "if we're going to live together, then we're going to work together. Alright?" I nod and he grins again, rolling so he's hovering over me. He looks so happy. Happier than he has been in a while. He presses kiss after kiss to my face, anywhere he can reach. "You really want to move in here? With me?"
I smile and nod. "I do."
Gale keeps me up the rest of the night with kisses.
In the next week, my birthday rolls around. When I wake the morning of my birthday, it's around ten. I groan. Gale has been at work for about three hours, but he said that he'd come home early.
Slowly, I drag myself out of bed and pull on my socks before padding into the kitchen. I stumble over my pajama pants bottoms before yawning and venturing into the kitchen, where I find three people who I did not expect to see there.
My brows furrow as I stare at my friends and boyfriend. "I thought you had work?" I ask him, slowly settling into his side as he gives me a tight hug.
"Got off today."
I look over at my friends, brows high on my forehead. "He called us." Wren tells me and I nod. Finn holds out a badly wrapped gift.
"This is from me. Wren wouldn't tell me what she got you." I take the small box and give him a look. "You'll be surprised."
"Will I?" I spout out sarcastically, grinning at him. I know what's in the box before it's even open. "I hate you." I chuck the box at his face and Finn chortles, tossing them back.
He got me more condoms. "I figured that it should happen every year now." I roll my eyes and my cheeks burn when Finn waggles his brows at me.
"Go home, Finn." I bury my face into the couch pillow as the three of them laugh at my embarrassment.
"Hey, they're the even fancier kind!" He protests, and now I throw the pillow at him. "You're no fun."
I stick my tongue out at him and Wren grins, standing. "Follow me." I stand slowly, while Finn starts to talk to Gale about God knows what.
Wren's holding a box when I enter the bedroom. "I wanted you to open it in here. It's not exactly for Finn's eyes."
My brows raise again. "And Gale?"
My best friend smirks. "He'll see it eventually." My cheeks turn pink when I open the box.
"I hate you, too."
"You love me." Wren cackles, as I pull the piece of lingerie out of the box. My cheeks turn the color of the lingerie. I cover my face as Wren says, "he won't be able to control himself." I groan and look down at it. "I expect you to wear that tonight."
I turn a shade of magenta as I shove the tiny thing into a drawer. Wren continues to cackle, and I bite my lip as we return to the living room. Gale raises and brow and I shake my head, sitting on his knee.
"And where's my gift?" I tease and Gale rolls his eyes.
"You'll get it later." Gale pecks my cheek, before dropping his voice. "Happy birthday," he murmurs into my ear, low enough for only me to hear. His deep husky voice sends chills down my body. He nips at my ear and I blush, looking at Wren and Finn.
"Hey, I can take those condoms away."
"Finn!"
Later that day, after Wren and I were sent away to get cleaned up for whatever dinner were doing tonight, Wren and I are in the back of Finn's old Jeep as he drives to dinner. We're mostly quiet on the ride there, I keep fidgeting in my dress, not because of the dress, but because of what I'm wearing under it.
Once we've arrived, Wren and Finn twine hands and lead the way, with Gale hanging back and giving me a smile. "You look gorgeous." I flush and he gives me a hug, squeezing my ass.
"Gale! There are people around!"
My boyfriend snorts. "I don't care. You're my girlfriend I think you look amazing." I blush and he grins, pecking my cheek before pressing his hand into the small of my back and leading me towards Wren and Finn. Wren smirks at me.
Dinner passes with some amazing Mexican food, and Finn and Wren relate tales from my last birthday, embarrassing me greatly. Wren bites her lip when Finn starts to discuss how I fell in the ocean at some point and Gale rolls around in his seat. I stick my tongue out at him and Gale squeezes my thigh.
After dinner and some wonderful birthday sopapilla cheesecake that I keep eating, we head out to a field. I look at my friends questioningly, but Wren just smiles.
We pull up and Gale helps me out of the Jeep, looking up towards the sky. I follow his lead as Wren pulls a couple blankets out from the back and tosses one to Gale. I raise a brow as Gale lays it down next to where Wren and Finn out their's and plops down on it. Gale quickly tugs me down so I'm I'm his lap, surrounded by his body warmth. I wrap another blanket around myself.
"Mm," I murmur, snuggling into his chest. He laughs quietly, pressing a kiss to my ear.
"I love you," he whispers, resting his chin on my shoulder, "so much." I blush I'm the moonlight. Wren and Finn are looking up at the stars but they aren't paying any attention to us.
I smile to myself. "I love you too." Gale wraps his arms around my waist, squeezing my side. "Last year you weren't here on my birthday."
He nods and nips at my ear. "I know. I wish I could have been."
"But it's okay, cause you're here now." My boyfriend nods and lays down, pulling me with him. His hands wander the majority of the time we're outside. "Gale," I hiss, pushing his hand down once again. "We're in public."
He shrugs. "We'll be leaving soon, I imagine, and then," he waggles his brows, "you're all mine."
"I've been yours for a very long time."
Gale chuckles, and presses a kiss to my collarbone. It's not even ten minutes later when we leave the small area, Wren passed out in the backseat. She sleeps on me the entire ride home and only wakes up to remind us to use protection. I nearly die.
After Finn's dropped us off and Wren's given me a hug, Gale can barely get the front door open. Once we're inside, our clothes get removed from our bodies and Gale can't keep his hands off of me. As he's carrying me back to our room, he picks up the box of condoms from the couch. His eyes flash with mirth and lust. "We'll be using these."
A/N: So I'm very sorry for the wait, everything in my life got crazy. Everything that could've gone wrong, did. But I'm back and this story is hopefully coming to an end. I have the rest of it planned, but I don't know how soon I'll be able to get it ready. Is anyone still reading? I'd appreciate a review!
