Chapter 6:
Gaia sat at the table, staring at the crumbs from pastries eaten by the previous customers there. She breathed in and out a long breath before looking up to Ed.
"Gaia? Are you ok?"
"I have to talk to you about something." He winced. "What?"
"That wasn't a good, 'I have to talk to you about something.'" Gaia shook her head.
"No, I just have a bit of a…problem." He leaned back.
"Usually your problems involve a little more than the average person's."
"It's about Chrissy." He thought for a second.
"Ok, well she's a nice kid. So what's the problem?"
"The problem is…" Gaia sighed. "The problem is I'm not sure if I can be friends with her." Ed brought his eyebrows together.
"Why?" he asked.
"It's just…with you, it's different. Because you know about all my shit. Almost all of it. And Chrissy…" Ed slid his hand across the table and put it on hers.
"I get it. I know that you want to protect her. But pushing her away isn't going to do that. You tried it with me and it didn't work." Gaia took back her hand.
"You don't know that, Ed," she told him.
"I fought back. And I'm sitting here, aren't I?"
"But you don't know. It could have saved your life. I don't know if Oliver was watching me. And–."
"You can't do this to yourself." Gaia looked up from her hands.
"I don't like people telling me what to do," she mumbled, the words slightly laced with sarcasm.
"Well I'm different. And I'm telling you that she's just a kid. You should be friends with her. You guys have so much in common and–."
"Exactly," she said softly. "She's just a kid. I think I should just tell her to leave me alone. It'll save us both a lot of pain."
"How do you know that?" he asked, leaning forward. "You've been acting totally un-Gaia-like. Did you notice that?" She nodded.
"Yea. I did. I just don't want to be friends. Because I've tried that before, remember? Several times."
"But it was different with–." Ed stopped as a shadow cast on their table. The two looked up to Chrissy, who was standing beside them, staring at Gaia. She looked crushed.
"How much did you hear?" Gaia asked quickly. Chrissy shook her head.
"Just enough. You don't have to be my friend if you don't want to." She started to walk away, but Ed grabbed her wrist.
"Wait." Chrissy looked back to him in surprise and Ed gently let go. "That's not what she wants." He shifted his gaze back to Gaia, who was gritting her teeth.
"You don't know what I want. You're wrong." She turned to Chrissy, keeping her face stiff. "You should leave."
"Gaia," Ed snapped. She shifted her angry eyes to him. "This isn't Mary or Heather," he whispered. "You can't do this forever." A lump suddenly lodged itself in her throat and tears started to burn her eyes.
"I have to go," she murmured. Quickly blinking away the tears, Gaia jumped up from her seat and bolted out the door.