I Never Meant To Be Your Pain

I trudged into work, seeing that no one was around. The shop was quiet, so that was a good sign. I sat down at my station and let out my breath. I had made it in without any conflicts. It was going well until someone grabbed my shoulder. I jumped up and turned to see Jace smiling down at me.
“Morning, A.” I looked around. “Don’t worry. Gabriel’s in the back making some coffee,” he assured, sitting down next to me. I dropped my head into my hands. He gently rubbed my back. “You know, your brother didn’t sleep at all last night.”
“Why not?” Jace laughed.
“He felt like a total asshole for what he said. He just wants you to know how much he cares about you. It just came out in the wrong form.”
“So he didn’t mean to call me a slut,” I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, okay.”
“He really didn’t. You actually believe that your brother meant to hurt you? Does that sound like Gabriel?”
“No… what he said just really hurt me.” Jace and I both looked up when Gabriel leaned against the doorframe of my studio.
“And I’m sorry that it hurt you, Ava, really I am. The absolute last thing I want is to see you in pain. Knowing that I’m the one who caused the pain makes things worse… I know what I said came out the wrong way and sounded bad, but you have to believe that that’s not what I meant.” I broke down crying and leaned into Gabriel when he sat down on the other side of me and offered me his shoulder. He wrapped me in his arms and sighed.
“Why the hell do I forgive you so easily?” I muttered.
“Because you love me and we’re family.”
“Tony take good care of you last night?” I nodded.
“As always, he does.”
“I… just want you to be careful, okay?” he looked down at me.
“With what?”
“With Tony… I know he loves you, I get that. But you stay over there all the time and you two act like you’re together. I know you aren’t, but stuff happens and I don’t want you to end up being hurt.” I smiled. “Just being the protective older brother that I am.” Me and Gabriel had been so into our conversation that I didn’t notice Jace had left.
“Now that you two don’t want to kill each other anymore, let’s get back to work you slackers,” he winked as G and I laughed.
“It’s her fault we’re sitting here with all her crying and girly stuff,” he nudged me in the ribs. I felt relieved to know things were back to normal.

Notes