Gemma echoed Bella's sigh, though it was quiet and more resigned. Gem supposed she could try and go back to the way things were with Alfie, but she also highly suspected that things would never quite be the same after this. What in the name of Merlin's beard was she going to do?

Mulling over Bella's wisdom about love, Gem rather thought her friend had misunderstood her- Gem had seen what love could do to a person, had learned what it was  capable of and what happened when it fell through. She wasn't actively avoiding it, not consciously anyway, Gemma had always been unable to focus on more than one thing at a time without losing sight of one thing or another and so she'd decided to focus on her apprenticeship and give it everything she had. If she were being honest she knew her friendships had suffered because of it, but what else was she to do? They'd grown up and moved on as much as they hadn't wanted to and that was just how it worked. Did she really have time for something like this?

"I guess all I can do is talk to him." She said finally. Without Alfie's half of the story- or at least more than a quick apology, no decision would feel fair, so that was that, she had to owl him or find a way to see him face-to-face to talk about this.