"Why are you sneaking around your own house?" Gabriel queries from beside me as we spy on my house from inside his new-smelling vehicle, parked on the curb. I know this vehicle. He had sold it approximately a month before we tied the knot. He has the plastic on the seats still- annoying but whatever.
It's dark, so I'm not worried about being seen, besides, nobody knows Gabe's vehicle.
He irritates me at the moment because now I know he sold it to get rid of the memories or shared moments in the car, he's had with Cassandra.
Yesterday, I had called my neighbor and told her that her daughter could take my bicycle and to just tell my parents I sent them. Then I ordered Chinese and called my father and told him to tell Mom not to cook tonight because I had sent over food. He chuckled and thanked me.
Today, I had delivered a new type of plant for my mom to busy herself with, hoping that it would rattle her brain a bit and change her thinking too. It should alter the events leading up to- anyway- sunflower plants.
That was earlier and I was currently racking my brain on what else to do to change the events of things. To rattle the cosmic string of things- or whatever it is called.
I am doing everything I could think of to alter the events. Every little thing counts, I believe.
"Shh," I mutter and get out of his car, walking slowly towards the house with Gabe behind me. Ignoring him, I crouch down as I run behind to the kitchen window side. Nobody is in sight, and I go into panic mode again.
Pulling out my phone, I dial Liz's number and wait for her to pick up. She does not. I dial again- same. Gosh, she probably is super busy with Matt. They live together but our parents don't know- Mom will never know and after she died Dad just didn't care much about anything anymore. Not even when his grandkids came into existence.
Next, I dial my twin, pushing away Gabe who was too close to be.
"Avrielle's phone is low on battery because her sister is acting like a crazy person and questioning her on her whereabouts," she answers with.
"Hey, are you certain you're not coming home this weekend?"
"Meg, you're literally killing me."
It had been a total of a million times I had asked her this in the past few days. So, I get that she is irritated but she did not know why I was nagging. It was to keep her alive.
"Ugh, I called because I have a legit question to ask you," I lie, and Gabe raises an eyebrow. What? I mouthed to him, and he shakes his head, doing the 'crazy' turning finger motion by his ear, at me.
"What?"
"Uh, yeah-" I fumble not knowing what to say. I'm making this up as I go.
"Spill."
Then I say what I did not even know I was thinking. "What do you think about Gabriel?"
The man in front of me gives me a lowered-eye look, his head rearing back, his jaw muscles working.
"Dad's colleague's son?"
"Yeah him," my tone is lowered in case my parents enter the kitchen and hear me. I'd already said it, I might as well go with it, right? She might call Mom and Dad, and this might cause another chain of events, right? I would sacrifice my reputation. I admired Gabe's long thick lashes that he had naturally, but I had to use voluminous mascara to achieve. His thick shapely eyebrows slash so confidently across his forehead, shadowing his deep-set silver-gray eyes that seem to hold a quiet intensity right at this moment as he focused them on me. His nose is straight and prominent, a testament to his striking profile.
Avrielle pauses for a bit as if really considering my words. "I think you met him before that night Dad introduced us, and you are lying to us all."
Gabe opens his hands palm out. What? And I comprehend then that he could hear her side of the conversation as well. But it does not faze me. In fact, my twin's words have distracted me for the moment.
"What makes you say that?" My gaze is now on his full lips. Wide and defined. So masculine yet soft- I know first-hand just how they taste.
"Chemistry, my dear Watson."
Gabe folds his huge hands as if he was enjoying the play of words about him.
"Is this why you broke up with Dan?" My sister goes on blabbing. She had only met Dan once, but she liked him.
"No, that's not-"
"You guys gave off a weird vibe, you know-" and she was back to talking about Gabriel. "I get the feeling that he was a jerk to you and that's why you were so off. Either that or you guys were sizzling hot for each other, and it was difficult to keep your hands off one another with the parents present."
My jaw nearly dropped. We what? Even in our married life we never had that type of chemistry that she described.
"I saw the way he looked at you from by the bar you know." My eyes circled. "Or was it you who was eating him raw? Hmm."
"Liz told me how he did the whole, Mr. Lee, if it's not an issue with you, can I have your daughter's number. Tch. As if we didn't know, he had it already. Right?"
Cheeks- my entire face was heated, and Gabe was staring into my eyes while she spoke into my ear. Gabe did a teeth gnash and a smirk, pointing himself then me mouthing 'chemistry', following that with a finger on my neck and him pulling it back as if it was on fire and sucks in a harsh breath, making a sucking-in sound.
"Right." It was all I could say because the air around me is shifting. My chest tightens as if I've forgotten how to breathe. It's ridiculous, this flutter of panic and longing. I know him- or I thought I did. But the way he's looking at me now, with a quiet intensity, feels different, dangerous. There's something raw in his gaze, something that unravels me.
"I knew it!" She squealed and added, "I told Liz you guys would get married- of course I don't mean literally but- ah!
Gabe leans in closer to me and when I do not pull away, he bends his head, pulling me into a soft slow kiss. My stomach grows heated as he moved his firm lips over mine. Not me with my whole- nearly thirty-year-old self, returning the kiss with butterflies swimming in my ribcage to my belly.
The flutters caught me by surprise. At this age, I should not really be feeling those things but- I am twenty now, aren't I? Maybe this is why.
"What is that sound?" Avrielle is in mid-air- no behind his head and I move to pull away startled by what is transpiring but Gabe does not allow it.
"I'm kissing her right now," Gabe says against my mouth and meshes our lips together once again.
Dear Diary, let me tell you about my ex-husband...