Crys And Gabe

by J. A. Hornbuckle

  And, just like before, they came together in a way that filled his heart to overflowing.

  Chapter Twelve

  I woke up first and realized that, just like yesterday, Gabe was wrapped around my back. Only this time I got a naked Gabe underneath the covers with me, an arm around my waist and his muscled thigh riding between mine.

  Not a bad way to start the day.

  I disentangled myself and took stock of how I was feeling. My hands seemed to be a lot better and my headache was almost, but not quite, gone.

  I sat on the edge of the mattress and looked back at Gabe. Face planted in pillow and his hair a hot mess.

  Yummy.

  "Morning, Princess Kitten," he mumbled into the pillow.

  "Morning, Gabe," I said leaning down to press my lips on his shoulder. "I'm gonna grab a Red Bull. You want anything?"

  "Same," he muttered. He had always started his days slow, even when we were little. It was like sleep took a long time to release him and his mom used to have all sorts of trouble getting him up and ready for school.

  After she died, I was never privy to Gabe waking up.

  He was always gone by the time I woke up.

  I snagged my t-shirt from the floor and made my way into the bathroom.

  I was on my way back from the kitchen when I saw Benny's truck turning into my long driveway.

  "Gabe!" I yelled, running down the hall. "Your dad's here!"

  Chicken shit that I was, I locked myself in the bathroom and turned on the water for the shower. I wasn't good at faking things so I made sure that I was doing exactly what the sound of the water implied. Showering. And it was a long shower, too, that included shaving, loofahing and the full lather, rinse, repeat on my hair.

  After getting out, I did the girlie thing with lotions, tweezers and even gave myself a mini-facial with the trial size stuff I'd picked up when I'd been shopping with the girls.

  Uh-oh.

  Forgot to grab some clothes.

  I pressed my ear against the door and couldn't hear anything. I only had my t-shirt and the ratty robe that hung next to the door, so that's what I used. I cautiously made my way out and did a u-turn into the walk-in closet.

  Shit.

  Needed underwear before clothes and I almost tiptoed to the dresser.

  "What'd you think you're doing?" I heard Gabe say from the doorway.

  I jumped and could feel my face heating up.

  "Is he still here?" I whispered.

  "Who? My dad?"

  I nodded, trying to look around Gabe's broad shoulders that were blocking my view down the hall.

  "He's gone. Was that the reason for the thirty minute shower?" he asked with a gleam in his eye.

  "Well, yeah."

  Gabe laughed long and loud.

  I didn't know what was so funny.

  "I don't know what's so funny, asshole," I said adjusting the towel I had wrapped around my hair.

  "What are we, nine?" he asked through his laughter.

  I sniffed and waited for him to calm his shit down.

  He made his way over to where I was standing and pulled me into his chest.

  "You may not have a problem with your dad showing up without warning at early oh thirty, but I do," I mumbled against his chest.

  "I know you do, Crys," he rumbled, the laughter still catching the edge of his voice.

  "So you didn't have a problem with your dad practically seeing us in bed together?" I asked raising my chin so I could look at him.

  He looked at me for more than a few heartbeats before saying, "I don't know that I would go that far."

  Huh, that's what I thought.

  "I see you have both your jeans and a t-shirt on and the bed is kind of made. So, you're not fooling me, amigo. You were just as rattled as I was about the surprise visit!"

  "Guilty," he said, kissing the top of my head. "But, I didn't puss out and lock myself in the bathroom."

  "Dick," I muttered as I pulled out some underwear.

  "Vixen," he said making his own way to the bathroom.

  If I was gonna be called names, he knew exactly the right ones to call me.

  After a couple of days of being pampered I thought it would be my turn to make breakfast and made a pot of oatmeal with chopped apples and cinnamon to flavor it. Knowing Gabe didn't believe a meal was a meal unless bread was included, I toasted some of the sourdough I had in the freezer.

  "How're your hands, Kitten?" he asked, coming into the kitchen in just his jeans, wet hair slicked back.

  "I took the coverings off before I showered and it kind of feels better without having anything on them," I said, holding my hands palm up so he could see for himself.

  "When do we go back to the doctor?" he asked after bringing each palm up for a kiss.

  "We don't have to go back, but I go on Friday morning," I clarified with a smirk.

  "No, Crys. I'll be with you on Friday," he said softly holding one of my hands to his cheek and bending to capture my mouth. I knew he used his kisses to get his way, but to tell you the truth, if someone's gonna manipulate me, kisses are the way to go. Especially Gabe-type kisses.

  We were just finishing the last of the oatmeal when Gabe asked what we were gonna do today.

  "I'm thinking we need to get a set list together for Enrique's on Saturday night," I responded. J.R. had said that he wanted us for a couple of hours and we needed to pick out the songs that we wanted to perform.

  Gabe nodded as he cleared the table, rinsing and putting our bowls in the dishwasher.

  "How many songs per set, Kitten?"

  I thought. Since we hadn't sung continuously for years, we were gonna need breaks in between sets or we would be hoarse by the end.

  "Three sets of four songs?" I offered.

  He nodded, staring out the kitchen window which faced the woods.

  "Gabe?"

  "Yeah, Kitten?"

  "We need to talk about yesterday," I said softly.

  He turned his head toward me and gave a soft smile. "Yeah, we do. But we also need to come up with a plan on dealing with family and friends so we aren't hiding away from people. I don't want to hide or be embarrassed by what we have together, Crys."

  It was my turn to nod as I looked out the window.

  I think talking that particular subject through was going to be a hell of a lot harder than talking through the 'stash of condoms'.

  Plus, we'd already done that kind of thing before and I'd lost when Gabe caved.

  So you could see why I didn't want to revisit that little bit of history we had between us.

  My heart wouldn't survive going through that again.

  Gabe seemed to be lost in his own thoughts as well, because it was a while before either of us spoke again.

  A banging on the front door interrupted our thoughts and I moved to it, glancing out at the driveway to see who it might be. Fed Ex? I opened the door and signed for the cardboard envelope, throwing it on the dining room table on my way into the kitchen for another Red Bull.

  "Aren't you gonna open it?" Gabe asked, picking up the envelope and reading the return address.

  "Nope. Already know what it's going to be," I replied upending the small can into my mouth before rinsing it and putting it in the recycle bin. "It's just another request to sell."

  "Sell? You mean your house and land?" Gabe asked twirling the envelope by its corners.

  "Yeah. I used to get them in the regular mail about once a month but after old man Peters sold his place, the letters now come twice a month from Fed Ex. I'm guessing they want to show that I've received their requests or something."

  "How much are they offering?"

  I shrugged. "Dunno, don't care. But the ass wipes were going pretty high the last time I checked."

  "Can I?" Gabe asked, his fingers already pulling at the tab.

  "Sure," I said leaning up against the counter and watching him. "Curious, much?"

  He laughed with me as he pulled the sheets out. He r
ead through them then whistled.

  "How much, Gabe?"

  "Three hundred thousand," he replied, his eyes still skimming the words of the offer.

  My eyes bugged out.

  Okay, even I had to admit that was some major cash.

  Gabe put the papers on the table and pulled out his phone. "Dad? Busy? Good. Could you log in and pull up the county website to see what old man Peters got when he sold his house and land? Sure, I'll hold."

  I could feel my eyebrows at my hairline. I didn't know you could get that kind of information off the internet. Gabe went to the junk drawer and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. I watched him write and saw he was making a list of songs that he liked. I agreed with a few of them but reached for the pen to add to the list.

  "Yeah, Dad. Really? Wow," he said, putting a hand on the counter. "Dad? Have you received any offerings on your place? Uh-huh. Okay, thanks. We might swing by this evening. I need to upload some stuff to the website. Later."

  I raised my eyes to meet his as he shoved his phone in his back pocket.

  "Peters place sold for one seventy five, Kitten," he said. "They're offering you almost double."

  "I think his place was only on two acres, though."

  "Still," Gabe said. "Dad said that only houses with acreage on the east side of Beckman Road have received any interest from the developers."

  Well, that explains why other people in the neighborhood hadn't been selling; they hadn't been approached. And with my house the closest developed property to the highway, that's why all the interest. And the high cash offer.

  I couldn't wrap my head around that kind of money. I definitely wasn't hurting since I had a lot of business from the kids at the university and the balance of the mortgage was cleared when Dad died. But that, from the Fed Ex envelope, was some serious fucking cake.

  "Wanna have a picnic at the creek?" Gabe asked moving to me and wrapping his arms around my back. "Looks nice outside and you've gotta be going stir crazy."

  It was true.

  I didn't like just sitting around and now that I wasn't so stiff or in pain, the thought of laying low held absolutely no appeal for me.

  I was carrying Gabe's guitar and the blanket while he carried the picnic basket and a small tote as we walked through my backyard to get to the woods.

  The creek was maybe a half-mile or so from my house and it used to be our special place when we were kids.

  The path now was overgrown and I could feel the different plants and stalks brushing my denim covered legs as we moved through the forest. A thick layer of leaves cushioned our steps, quieting them as we walked.

  As if by some silent signal, we both stopped at the edge of the forest and looked out over the small clearing next to the bubbling creek. This time of year, the small ribbon of water was swollen from the snow melt and would be icy cold.

  "God, Crys," Gabe breathed behind me. "It's even better than I remembered."

  This used to be our special spot, a place we'd played as kids and a rendezvous point when we were older. The trees were a lot taller than I saw in my memories and still provided a sense of seclusion for the clearing.

  I moved forward, caught up in the images of ourselves when we were little running and yelling through the trees, splashing through the creek and shrieking as we 'accidentally' splashed each other.

  I spread out the blanket as Gabe set down the tote and the large basket. From the look on his face, I thought he was probably as lost in the past as I was.

  I sat down cross legged on the blanket and closed my eyes to better hear, concentrating on the sounds. The chirping of the birds as they flew from branch to branch. The wind as it moved through the trees and making the new leaves rub against each other. The sound of the water over the rocks.

  Peaceful.

  I opened my eyes and saw that Gabe was standing by the creek, his long legs planted and his hands on his hips.

  God, he was gorgeous.

  I didn't remember him being so good looking until he showed up at the shop a couple of days after Benny's first blood test came back.

  When he was in high school he had the length but not the bulk he had now. I remember thinking in high school that he looked like he still had a hanger in his shirt, because his shoulders were broad but he hadn't yet developed the muscle in his chest and arms.

  But now, holy Christ, he had a great body.

  He turned and looked at me and I saw his smile steal across his face.

  "Love this place, Crys," he said walking back to the blanket and sitting down next to me.

  "Me, too," I said softly.

  "Look up there," he instructed and pointed to a tree on the far side of the creek. I saw a piece of weathered rope hanging off one of the branches probably twelve feet up.

  "Ohmigod," I breathed as I sheltered my eyes from the sun's glare with my hand. I remembered when we took the rope from Benny's shed and Gabe had climbed the tree so we could have a dangling rope to swing out and over the creek.

  "Did your Dad ever miss the rope?" I asked, straightening my jean-clad legs and leaning back on my hands.

  "Not that I heard. Don't think he ever knew it was gone," he said softly. "Shit, the times we had here, Kitten…"

  Yep, special memories were here. The trees had witnessed a lot of our drama as we grew up, both the good and the bad.

  "Okay," Gabe said. "Let's get through some of this stuff so we can move on."

  I glanced at him and saw he was wearing a wary smile.

  "I didn't like what you said last night, Gabe," I admitted. "I felt like you were calling me a slut or something all because I had a lot of condoms."

  He looked at me as I spoke but his eyes moved back to the trees, roaming before he answered.

  "I've never been a jealous guy," Gabe started. "But with you, Crys…"

  He shook his head and glanced at me.

  "Like I said, I don't like thinking of you with anyone else but me. And the bowl of condoms in your nightstand hit me right between the eyes. I had a hard time facing the fact that someone else had been there before me."

  I was quiet and kept looking straight ahead, giving him the space he needed.

  "I didn't mean to make you mad, Crys. It just … just got to me and I couldn't shake it off. For whatever reason, in my heart, you've always been my girl."

  Chapter Thirteen

  "That was me in high school," she said softly, still looking straight ahead.

  "Huh?" he mumbled.

  "Yeah, that's exactly what I felt in high school. Especially after you taught me to kiss," she continued softly. "You were mine and had been mine my whole life, even though you didn't want to be with me in grade school or middle school. Or should I say, be seen with me in grade school or middle school."

  Gabe hung his head. "Yeah, Crys. That's exactly what I did and I'm sorry. I didn't want to listen to all the teasing I got from other people, but I couldn't stay away from you."

  She went quiet as he remembered those days, never knowing if he was going to have to speak to her that day or not when they were at school. He'd both dreaded it and welcomed it at the same time.

  But the summers were different. The summers were where they reconnected and became close again.

  "Going back to school was so hard for me, Gabe," she admitted. "To be with you all summer long and then have you ignore me was awful."

  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him.

  "I can't take those times back and do them over, Kitten, but I am sorry that what I did hurt you," he said, moving his mouth to her ear.

  "I didn't understand it, Gabe. And it fucking hurt. Then you'd sneak in my window and sleep next to me. At least you did until the chubbie made its appearance," she said pulling back and smiling up at him. "I had to sneak into Dad's room and tell him you were there so he could call your dad."

  It was quiet again between them.

  "Why'd you used to run away so much, Gabe?"

  "I dun
no. Combination of things really," he said laying back and using his arm as a pillow. "I was just so pissed at everybody. Dad would say things or the coach would say things or I'd think of Mom…"

  She moved so her knees were underneath her chin and she hugged her calves as she waited for him to continue.

  "I was angry all the time, Crys. But I could never be angry with you. So when I had to run, that's why I always ended up curled around you. It was the only place I felt at peace," he finished.

  "But, amigo, if I was that important then why did you ignore me in school?" she asked quietly and with a teasing tone.

  They were quiet again, both of them caught up in the memories of the past.

  "You remember Lewis Stedman?" he asked.

  "Yeah. Heard that he is with the Cortez PD now," she said. "I hated Lewis with the passion of a lonely kid with reading issues. I can still hear his voice in my head calling me a retard just because I was in the remedial classes."

  "He and his little gang of thugs teased me about you all the time. I hated it. I took them on a couple of times but always lost. Fuck. Stedman, a cop," Gabe said shaking his head.

  "He's still a dick. He came into the shop a couple of times for ink, but got told by Dex that if he ever talked shit about me again, he'd be banned," she chuckled. "I remember the look on Lewis' face when Dex called him a 'panty-clad, waste of fucking space' and told him to 'get the fuck outta my shop'."

  "Wish I'd seen that," he said, turning on his side towards her, his head in his hand.

  "Was he the reason you wouldn't sit with me on the bus?" she asked. "Every year my heart would crumble, Gabe, when you wouldn't sit next to me on the first day of school. I never got used to that hurt, year after year, although I did manage to anticipate it. Tried to prepare for it."

  He could feel her eyes on him and realized they'd never talked this through before. Hurled accusations about it, sure. But never really talked about it in depth.

  "Yeah. And it was why I ignored you at recess and lunch," he said, picking at the pills on the old blanket. "Then in middle school it was Tommy Briggs and his little gang of goofs."

  "So who was it in high school, then?" she asked softly, laying down on her back beside him.