Lady of the Tigres by Elyssa Morales

Chapter 8

Confrontation

“I’m so glad it’s Christmas break,” Sydney sighed as she, Gabriel and I walked out of the classroom and towards the campus exit. She looked like she really needed a break. Her normally sleek, self-assured appearance had been broken by the wear and stress from studies. I couldn’t really poke fun at her though. Sydney was a goddess; if the goddess looked like she’d been through hell, I probably didn’t look much better.

Gabriel was the only one who, as usual, was utterly handsome and collected. But, then again, that might be just my lovesick heart looking over every single one of his flaws. He walked beside me, his arm around me making my shoulders tingle delightfully. Today, the beanie was pushed back a bit over his forehead, letting the silver hair glint. I got quite a few jealous looks from girls passing nearby.

“Amen,” I muttered in response to Sydney’s previous statement. Gabriel just laughed.

“Ha! I never thought I’d hear the day when Miss Marisa Clarke actually wanted school to be over.”

I blushed and whacked at his arm.

“Shut up.”

He just chuckled and pulled me closer to brush a kiss on my forehead. My cheeks burned. He’d been kissing me a lot lately, just random pecks, whether we were in public or at home, on my forehead. I’d gaped at him for the first few times until he explained that it was a friendly kiss. It was rather disappointing, but at least it was a start…and his lips were touching me.

“Are you guys coming over?” Sydney asked, her steps taking her towards the dorms and away from us. She paused, looking at us expectantly. Gabriel looked down at me.

“Um…”

I hated it when the decision was thrown into my court.

“Maybe we can hang out at our place,” Gabriel suggested, instantly making me redder. Ever since Gabriel had decided to become more attached to me, or whatever was going through that silver head, the coffee shop was now referred to as “our place”. He’d even landed me a part-time job there, and he would come in during my hours just to lean against the counter and talk (flirt) with me.

You’d think that my boss would be mad, but she told me to make sure “my boyfriend” kept coming, because a lot more ladies came for coffee on Saturdays just to look at him. He’d laughed at that, and then told me in this very melting voice that I was the only lady he’d ever want to look at him. I’d tried to laugh it off, but the smoldering look in his eyes held with me for the rest of the day.

Sometimes, I just couldn’t figure Gabriel out.

Sydney gave both of us a startled glance, and she gave a shocked laugh.

“Um. Well…wow. When were you going to tell me?”

I blinked at her.

“Tell you what?”

“That you guys were serious enough to get a place!” She snapped back, hands on hips. “I mean, what am I, chopped liver?”

Oh. Oh!

“Oh, no!” I gasped. Oh. My. God. How embarrassing! “Not that kind of place! Gabriel and I aren’t…”

“What Resa means to say,” Gabriel cut in, rescuing me, “is that ‘our place’ is our personal joke for the coffee shop where we met. We haven’t gotten an apartment yet, Syd…and believe me,” he winked, “when we do, you will be the last to know.”

Sydney stuck her tongue out at him, but I was too stuck on the word “yet”.

“Well, enjoy,” she said, her quick mood change striking as she spoke cheerfully. “It’s not like anyone would be home to entertain anyway. Sebastian and that stupid band of his finally landed a real gig, and Sondra and her computer are at Wesley’s.”

Wesley was Sondra’s skinny, buck-toothed boyfriend. I really didn’t see the attraction between the two, except perhaps for their mutual love affairs with their PCs, but Sondra practically kissed the ground the kid walked on.

“Bastian finally got a gig? Whoever hired him must be tone-deaf.”

Gabriel laughed and pushed his beanie a little farther back. A group of girls passing by paused briefly, their mouths wide. I shot them a glare, and they kept going. Sydney shot me a knowing look, and I glared back. Gabriel didn’t seem to notice the little exchange, obviously tickled by the idea of Sebastian landing a gig for anyone.

I didn’t blame him. If you heard Sebastian on a guitar, you would agree. I love him to pieces, but it’s true.

“What are you going to do then?” I asked as Sydney backed towards her building.

“Umm…” She flipped her hair thoughtfully. “I might call Rob and see if he wants to hang.”

Instantly, the mood changed---or at least, Gabriel’s mood did. His face hardened and his jaw locked as he glared towards the girl who was like his sister.

“I thought I told you not to hang with the Caynynes,” he snarled. “Do you enjoy courting danger?”

Sydney’s eyes flashed angrily.

“Rob is not danger, he’s my boyfriend and he loves me. He’s changed, Gabriel. Why won’t you give him a chance?”

“Because he doesn’t deserve one.”

“How would you know? You refuse to see him!”

I just watched the two of them, knowing enough that Gabriel would not tell me who Sydney’s mysterious boyfriend exactly was, or his family, the Caynynes for that matter, and why he didn’t want Syd around him.

“Know what, Gabriel?” Sydney said, finally seeming to have enough. “I might listen to you about my relationship, if you actually did something about yours!”

Gabriel’s demeanor changed. He actually seemed to stand back from Sydney, and…did he look embarrassed?

Sydney smiled smugly.

“Exactly what I thought.”

She turned to me, managing to look normal despite the fact that she’d just made an angry Greek God shut up and blush like a school girl.

“Catch you later, Marisa, okay?”

I nodded mutely. She shot Gabriel a last cat-that-ate-the-canary grin, and sauntered towards the doorway that led to her home.

Gabriel silently turned towards the street, and I followed his lead, waiting for him to look at me or say something. He seemed deeply in thought.

“Gabriel?” I tried when we were in front of the coffee shop door. His hand was on the knob, and he looked down at it, but not really looking at it, more like looking through it.

“Mmm?”

He blinked at me, the silver eyes finally becoming focused, and as always when I looked into his beautiful orbs, I lost my train of thought.

“Umm…what did Marisa mean…about a relationship?”

It was a question I didn’t want to ask or hear the answer to, but a small, more careless part of me screamed that it was necessary. To my relief, though, Gabriel didn’t blush or stammer. He just smiled, and reached out to touch my cheek.

“Oh…she just meant that I’ve never had a girlfriend. She keeps teasing me about becoming a man-spinster and stuff.”

“Oh.”

That was a weight off me. I smiled…but it quickly faded when I saw the wicked gleam in Gabriel’s eye.

“You needn’t worry, Resa. I would never cheat on you.”

“Wha…”

He grinned at my shocked expression, and opened the door.

“After you.”

My cheeks were still flushed as Gabriel and I found a table, and I still hadn’t found a reasonable comeback for the quip that Gabriel had just made.

I would never cheat on you.

Had he really meant it the way it sounded, like he was claiming me as his girl? Or, had he been trying to reassure me, knowing about my past?

Gabriel could really give a girl a headache.

I was rubbing my temples as Gabriel returned from giving the cashier, my new friend Anna, our regular order (A large hot chocolate and a dark coffee, one brownie and two large snickerdoodles) and grabbed up two of the tuna sandwiches that we always shared. He gave me a concerned look.

“Got a headache?”

He had no idea.

I tried to smile weakly.

“Maybe the food will help. I skipped lunch today.”

He frowned.

“You ought to take more care of yourself, Resa. I don’t want to lose you.”

His hand pressed over mine as it rested on the tabletop. I felt the automatic blush rising in my cheeks. He squeezed my hand, and I reluctantly let my fingers entwine with his. I was really asking for heartbreak.

“How’s your family doing?” Gabriel asked finally, pulling his hand out of mine as he slowly unwrapped a sandwich. I missed the contact, but didn’t protest.

“Pretty good, as can be expected under the circumstances.”

I got another concerned look, but he didn’t press. Gabriel knew well that even I didn’t know what was going down between my adoptive parents. Don had practically moved out of the house, even as Erica moved in, squeezing herself into my room. It wasn’t like it mattered anyway; I was looking for an apartment now. There was too much stress for me to handle, and Roane kept creeping closer and closer every day…

“Marisa?”

Gabriel stiffened at the same time I did. That voice was so familiar, and so close by…

“Resa? What is it?” Gabriel murmured, but all I could was shake my head in horror.

“No…it can’t be…”

“Marisa? Is that you?”

I turned slowly, almost at the same time Gabriel stood up out of his seat, and moved in front of me.

Oh. My. God.

The man who was approaching us was all too familiar to me---the all-too memorable shoulder-length, silky brown hair, that so many times I’d touched, or pulled my fingers through; the curved, pink lips; the hard–set jaw that I’d once thought was the epitome of manhood…

“Well, well, well…” His lips turned up into a smile. “It’s been too long, Marisa…and Gabriel.”

I couldn’t even grasp my mind around the fact that he actually knew my best friend, or that Gabriel was snarling at him like there was no tomorrow.

All I could say was, “Patrick?”

Hopefully this will mean a turning point in Gabriel and Marisa’s relationship. Really, their slow going is bothering me too!

~Elyssa