Note: Great feedback! Thank you so much! I really read them all. I alway see Holly as socially a little inept, so she tries to overcompensate. That's my headcanon. I hope i hope you all enjoy the final chapter of this story. Thank you again.
Gail stood on the fourth step and did not move. It was a good position to be in. From there she stood above everyone and could see the reactions going on around her. She could not see Holly's face since she stood at the bottom of the stairs. Lisa though looked amused. Rachel looked uncomfortable. And Rebecca's eyes, Gail noticed for the first time, was curiously on her.
"Well, this is uncomfortable." Lisa muttered loudly. All eyes turned on her. Gail was pretty sure everyone was wearing the same expression, one that screamed not now Lisa.
Holly approached the door and Rebecca. Her two friends moved to give her room.
"Becks, what are you doing here?"
Gail mouthed Becks mockingly and heard Lisa snicker. She turned to look at the drunk female and the two shared a smile.
"I can't find a file." The intruding woman said as she made her way into the home, looking as uncomfortable as it felt to have her there.
"With all that happened last night, I may have just left it."
Holly nodded and went into the kitchen, not before sparing Gail a look of discomfort herself.
Rebecca's eyes stayed on Gail, sizing her up. Gail did not mind. She was doing the same. And what she decided was she was not impressed. The woman was taller than the other three women combined. Gail smiled to herself. Okay, she may be exaggerating her height some. Still, though the woman may have had legs like a model she also looked super boring.
"I'm sorry for interrupting your night." The boring woman said to Holly.
"It's no problem." Holly replied nicely.
"Yeah," Lisa said with a shrug. "It wasn't like Holly has been with us anyway. She's been upstairs with Gail the entire night."
"Lisa!" Rachel inhaled sharply.
"What?" Lisa asked harshly. "It's not like I said they were having sex. We would have heard that! Well, we never heard you two." Lisa paused, eyeing Rebecca and Holly. She held her chin as she thought it out. "But Gail's intense. We would hear them."
"You bet you would." Gail agreed, smirking at Holly. Now that she could see Holly, she could see she was trying to hold back a smile and not look Gail's way. Lisa was not holding back at all. Rachel just shook her head furiously. Gail smirked. Lisa was not bad when Gail was not the focus of her negative tongue. Holly just turned away from the group and walked into the kitchen.
"I'm assuming the file was in a folder?" She yelled back.
"Yeah," Rebecca responded. "A blue one."
Rebecca eyes' went back up to Gail. Gail could tell she wanted to say something but she was holding back. Holly searched the kitchen, quickly finding the file, in a cabinet of all places. She rushed the file into Rebecca's hands.
"Here it is," Holly said sounding relieved.
"Thank you." Rebecca tuck the file under her arm and gave everyone one more look. She ended her gaze on Holly.
"I guess I'll see you around?" Rebecca asked awkwardly.
Gail stared at Holly, taken aback by Rebecca's question. She could tell Holly felt her gaze but was continuing to refuse to look at her.
"Yeah.. Uhh... maybe."
"I doubt it, Rachel." Lisa probably was sure she was whispering only she was not. And she leaned into Rebecca's ear, not Rachel. Holly looked imploringly to Rachel who pulled Lisa to her side. Rebecca simply nodded and exited out the front door.
Holly was still closing the door when Gail made her way back upstairs. She heard her tell her friends she would be right back, then called Gail's name. But she kept walking. Gail did not stop until she was back in Holly's bedroom, sitting comfortably on her bed. That's where Holly found her.
As the two came back together in the room no one said a word. Holly leaned against the doorway, her brow creased with concern. Gail leaned back on the bed. Finally Gail could not take the silence any longer.
"What was that?"
"That was awkward." Holly said with a drawn out sigh.
"It seems like the glasses aren't the only thing gone."
"Its like I said earlier. Someone seems to have ruined any joy I could have had in a new pair." Holly leaned her head against the door, looking pointedly at Gail. Gail shrugged.
"I hope you are not expecting an apology."
Holly shook her head. "No. I'm the one who's sorry." Holly threw her head back in resignation and went into her bedroom.
"Last night was the end of a relationship that should have never begin. You are not far off when you say I'm not good at this." She stood on her tiptoes for a moment, as if rocking herself for comfort." There are so many thing I wished I was brave enough to do. That's what I love about you."
Gail's mood perked at the l-word, though it was not said how she first expected to hear it.
"You didn't answer my question." Gail watched as Holly shifted in place. Holly licked her lips and looked away. She knew exactly which question Gail was talking about.
"That's a really loaded question."
"The best ones usually are." Gail sat up on the bed and patiently waited. Holly turned her eyes to the ceiling then back to Gail.
"First, I'm not punishing you. I would never punish you. I'm giving us the space we need."
"To do what?" Gail scoffed. "We're not doing magic tricks here. Why do we need space?"
"Because things are happening too quickly." Holly spit out the words, as if they caught her by surprise. Gail leaned in, like a cop on the scent of a new lead.
"When you say things, why do I get the feeling you mean feelings?"
Holly sighed and looked around as if for answers. Her eyes ended their search back on Gail.
"I don't know how to answer that without..."
"Without revealing too much?" Gail finished when Holly lost her words. "It's share time, Holly."
Holly rolled her eyes at Gail. Gail moved over on the bed, making room for. She patted the newly open spot beside her. Holly shook her head but sat next to Gail.
"Okay. Here we go." She took a deep breath and turned to look directly at her.
"When we first met, I knew this was going to be something different. I'm not saying I knew this was going to be as different as it turned out to be, especially for you. But I knew it was different. You know? You told me you were a cat and I became your plus one. Then I kissed you and you kissed me. You lost it a little, cut off your hair, but you also let me in, in this wonderful sort of way. And everything felt so surprising but so incredibly right. Then came that night. And I wish I would have shut Lisa up. I wish I would have been better at this. Better for you. Because you make me so much more assured. But I'm not perfect. I have neuroses, even though that's probably not a good term. Since it's an actual mental illness and I don't believe that I'm actually mentally ill, even in a minor way. We could go by the connotative meaning-"
"Hold on." Gail interrupted, giving a Holly a chance to breathe. Gail grabbed Holly's hand, kissing it, then holding it against her chest. She waited for all of the anxious energy to leave Holly. She knew everything was back to normal when Holly gave a shy smile.
"I'm sorry."
"I was scared you were going to pass out in a minute." Gail chuckled. Holly looked at Gail with wide eyes pouring out adoration. Gail thought she could look into them for an eternity and never tire of that look.
"You have become such a big part of my life in such a short time."Holly uttered, as if she was scared to let the words out. "No matter how much I try to slow it down. And how do you deal with that? I guess you either rush in or you step away. Maybe I rushed in, and you stepped away. I should have expected it. You said you run-"
"You know when I said I've learned some thing during this time?" Gail, once again, interrupted Holly. But Holly did not seem to mind. She looked relieved.
"For instance, I've learned Lisa is not that bad of a human being." Holly's smile relaxed some.
"Can I tell Lisa that?"
"Never." Both women laughed.
"Like when I said you are not perfect. Well, that kind of makes you disgustingly more perfect for me."
"I guess that is a good lesson." Holly said sweetly. Gail nodded, then exhaled slowly. It was her turn to look directly into Holly's eyes. She wanted to make sure she had the brunette's complete attention.
"Holly, ultimately I learned that I don't like my world without you in it. I don't want my world without you in it." Gail blinked as the enormity of her feelings started to overwhelm her.
"My idiot brother…" Gail muttered with a chuckle and a tremor. "My oh so idiot brother. He said either I'm with you or I'm not. He's right. I totally accept it."
Holly's forehead furrowed in confusion.
"I don't understand. It's not a challenge." Gail smiled, taking Holly's cheeks into her hands.
"Remember. I'm the cat who climbs into trees, then creates emergencies to get out of them." Gail tenderly stroked Holly's cheeks with her thumbs.
"I run. I get scared, and I run." She looked at Holly with eyes that sparkle like a lake under the shine of the sun.
"I'm the cat. But you are not a tree. You are a home. You are more than a place to run to. You are a place to stay. So I'm staying."
Tears filled Holly's eyes as she took in Gail's words.
"Don't make that promise, Gail." she whispered softly. Gail touched Holly's lips with her thumbs.
"Be with you or don't." She rested her forehead on Holly's and looked as deeply as she could at her. "I'm with you."
Holly closed her eyes, letting a tear fall. "I can't … it takes… I can't..." Gail brushed her lips against Holly's, cherishing the taste.
"I'm with you."
"Gail, if you run again I swear—" Gail cut off the rest of Holly's words with a deep kiss. Her hand moved to the back of Holly's neck, pulling her in. Holly moaned as her hand drifted to Gail's back. She drank in Holly's moans, and like any great intoxicant, it went straight to her head. The two finally separated to catch their breath.
Gail grinned as big as her face could allow.
"Holly," she waited until she once again had her full attention. When she did, Gail reinforced sincerely, "I'm with you.
For the first time that evening, Holly relaxed. She looked at Gail, her every emotion shining through her eyes and smiled back.
"Yes, you are." her look of adoration returned. "And I'm with you.
"So does this mean we're good?" Gail asked although she already knew they answer.
"Oh we're better than good." Holly said with a seductive grin. She leaned into Gail while simultaneously pushing her back onto the bed.
"And you are about to find out how much better." Gail looked at the open door then back at Holly.
"Don't you have friends down there?" Holly immediately sat up.
"I'll be back." She rushed out the door. Gail had not even sat up good before Holly returned with a huge smile on her face.
"They're gone."
"That quickly?"
"They left earlier. Called a taxi and left me a note." Holly laughed, confusing Gail.
"I don't get the joke." Holly held out the piece of paper in her hand. Gail laughed as she read.
Hols,
We saw the look in Gail's eyes when she went back up. We are pretty sure you are not coming back down. Don't worry about us. Enjoy yourself. First time sex ramped up with make up sex. Lucky girl. We are leaving now because I really don't want to test out Lisa's theory.
Love you and call me when you get the chance.
Rachel
Gail handed the paper back to Holly. "So how lucky are we?"
Holly tossed the paper and climbed onto Gail, straddling her lap. Her hands wrapped around the back of Gail's head, her fingers working their way through her hair. She smiled the brightest smile of the night.
"I think I'm extremely lucky." Holly said and leaned down to capture Gail's lips. She let out a yelp of surprise as Gail wrapped her arms around Holly's back and twisted her, changing their positions. Holly laughed as she laid with her back on the bed and Gail leaning over her. Gail caressed left side of her face, incredibly happy.
"You know what, Holly." Gail leaned in for a kiss. "So am I."
She captured Holly's lips once again. The time for words were over, and both of them gleefully accepted it.