Lissa was too nervous to realize the company at her side. She wasn’t worried that she had broken Gabriel's nose. He would survive after all. She had already broken much more than just her nose and was still alive, unfortunately. She only feared the stranger apprehension for the flight. The brunette was accustomed to soil. Thinking about her life, she saw life she was with Angela, whom she could run and ask for whenever necessary, and there was still her mother, with whom she had a very traumatic relationship, but who was always around ... Although, Melissa often wished she would disappear from her life. However, over the next year, she would be completely alone, though surrounded by other people. She would have no one to turn to, and she was afraid of what she would eventually reveal, even unintentionally, to herself of such vain people who would surely condemn and judge her. She had not even left the city and was already sorry she'd embarked on that tour.
“Fear of flying?” A melodiously hoarse voice sounded at her side, and the waitress forced herself to look away from the sky and look at Gabriel Voss.
He had a swollen face and an almost permanent grimace of pain, but he smiled at Lissa. It was the same smile that the brunette hated and thought forced and false, although, nothing was more spontaneous and sincere for the singer.
“I hate travel!” She answered sharply than necessary. In fact, it was not quite what she felt, but she imagined that she would sound stupid if she let the singer know what she really felt.
"Well ..." Gabriel replied. "You'll have to get used to it. We will travel a lot next year. And some of these trips will really be long.”
Melissa shrugged and looked up at the clouds again.
"I'm sorry if I was rude ..." The singer spoke again after long minutes of silence. "I'm not upset about our little incident, if that's what's troubling you.”
"I'm not worried about that" Lissa answered indifferently. “I already apologized. Besides, it was not my fault.”
Gabriel glanced at the girl sitting next to him. She intrigued him. Despite all the fans he had ever had contact with, Melissa wasn’t tried to be by her side and she didn’t seem at all delighted to have met him, just as she didn’t bother to flatter him. Gabriel doesn’t want to be pampered all the time… in fact, after a time, that exaggerated treatment made him embarrassed, but it was expected, so he felt strange in how to act before the brunette who hardly looked at him.
Lissa could feel the look on herself and she was annoyed at being analyzed, but there was nothing she could do, although she wanted to send the singer, sitting by her side, far away. Forcing herself to control herself, after all she could not put everything to waste soon the first day or Angela would kill her, Lissa returned the look.
Analyzing the young man, Melissa couldn’t help noticing that he was very handsome, despite the purple spots that were beginning to form below his eyes. Probably the nose, covered by the bandage, should be the same way. The singer had penetrating and bright brown eyes like melted chocolate, a face millimetrically sculpted to pull sighs and shaggy hair as dark as his eyes. Unexpectedly, she thought that face would bring happiness and perhaps a little more life to her best friend. The thought made her smile and wish that Angela was with her.
“What is funny?” Gabriel questioned when he saw a small smile forming on the delicate face of his fan.
“Nothing!” Lissa replied promptly. "I was just thinking it would be very interesting if our plane exploded in the air... We'd be the headline for everyone."
Without understanding why, Gabriel Voss heard himself laugh. He thought he now understood his assistant's remark about his guest's oddity. Well, she was a little odd and apparently, she had a sense of a rather morbid mood.
“Do you wanna know? I think you're going to make this tour a lot more fun than I imagined.”
“Oh, yes!” She raised her eyebrows. "I'm glad you're not mad at me. For a moment, I thought that your assistant was going to kick me out.”
"Arthur is kind of paranoid about my safety.”
Lissa laughed.
“I noticed. He takes care of you.”
"It's the first time I've seen your smile since we met.”
"I'm not a laughter person."
Gabriel wanted to say something, but it had been interrupted by Arthur, who approached with a very worried face, bringing a glass of water and a pill.
“How are you feeling?” He asked, handing them to the singer.
"It hurts, but I will survive." The singer replied, trying unsuccessfully to smile. Any sudden movement pained him.
"Take the painkiller, you'll feel better.”
Gabriel nodded and faced his friend. Lissa noticed that he was a little reluctant to take the medicine.
"Don’t worry," Arthur said with a smile. "The glasses are disinfected with alcohol, I cleaned it myself.”
"Right." The Singer nodded and took the medicine.
Lissa stared at the scene with real amazement. Honestly, the girl couldn’t understand why the rich people were so fresh.
"Very well" Arthur muttered as he took the glasses back. "Do you want to watch a movie or eat something?"
“Do you have a sandwich?” Lissa asked.
“We have.”
"Then I want a sandwich, fries and a coke."
“I will provide. And you, Gabriel?”
“I do not want anything. Thank you.”
“What about the movie? Will you want to see some? Our journey will be long.”
“You got there the movie ‘The Pacifier’?” Lissa said with a wicked grin. "With Vin Diesel."
The girl noticed that Arthur turned red immediately, but as a good professional, he was politely replied.
“I'll check.”
Gabriel realized that there was something implicit in that request. He would find out later, because he had something more important had intrigued him at that moment.
"Arthur..." He asked the assistant. "Where are we going?"
"Alaska," The blonde replied calmly.
“What do you mean? Alaska? Were not we going to Texas?
“With your little... Incident… you can’t appear in public. We will postpone the start of the tour as you recover from your Alaska home.
"I have other properties, why in the end of the world?"
"To avoid the paparazzi, that's exactly why you bought it. Do you want to appear in the media with a broken nose?”
"No" He said vehemently. He'd been voted one of the most handsome men in the world, and would by no means end this reputation.
Melissa listened attentively to each word exchanged between the two of them, and she was greatly relieved to discover that they would go to a cold place. Unnoticed, a smile of contentment sprang to her lips.
"Do you like Alaska?" Gabriel asked, staring at her. Arthur had already gone to get the food.
"I've never been there, but... I like cold places."
"I also love to enjoy the cold. Fireplace, hot chocolate...”
"If you're all wrapped up in coats, gloves, socks and hats, sitting in front of the fireplace, drinking hot chocolate, you're not enjoying the cold, but the heat.”
She shrugged.
“If you want to enjoy the cold, then, you have to roll naked in the snow.”
Gabriel laughed, causing a pain in his broken nose. The funniest thing was that she was saying something totally comic with a serious expression. That girl was undoubtedly very strange and he was enjoying it.
"Excuse me," he said, pulling off his belt and getting up. "I'm going to the bathroom.”
"You know you don’t have to tell me that, do you?" She said with a grimace.
"Sorry." He ran a hand over his bewildered hair. "Make yourself comfortable.”
“Ok, thanks.”
Gabriel walked toward the small bathroom of the aircraft. He was very intrigued with that girl. She was melancholy, weird, and rather unkind, but for some reason the singer had sympathized with her. As she headed for the bathroom, she found Arthur bringing Melissa's snack.
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"And the commissioner?" Gabriel asked, wondering if the assistant would take the job.
"She is indisposed. And the pill that I gave to you is working?”
“None.”
"Maybe it would get better if you stopped laughing so hard."
"I can’t help it, she's funny.”
" I noticed," Arthur laughed. "You're having so much fun with Wednesday.”
“Wednesday?
"Yes, she looks like the Wednesday from the Adams’ family."
Gabriel was surprised by the behavior of the assistant and friend. Arthur never made a joke. It was a sign that he and Melissa had also felt empathy for each other. Grinning and shaking his head, the musician followed his fate as the assistant went to meet Lissa.
By the time, Arthur finally brought her lunch, Melissa had returned to the same place as before. After the euphoria of the news that she was heading to a cold place which would allow her to keep her scars as a secret, the girl had come back to think of the nightmare she had and ended up in a kick that broke the singer's nose that she should pretend to love.
She didn’t care for Gabriel's broken nose at all, but she was worried about the return of her nightmares. Really, the brunette didn’t like to think about them since it reminded her of things she preferred to pretend they never existed, but she was really worried about what might have made her subconscious relive situations she liked to pretend to have been able to erase from your mind.
However, trying to do not focus too much on what did, didn’t please her. The brunette mentally told herself that it was only the sadness to be moving away from her hometown and friends and gone into the unknown. A year is a long time and who could say what would happen in the coming months? Especially when it comes to someone as troublesome as Melissa Bittencourt.
Arthur Montgomery thought of returning to the bottom of the plane and discarding the lunch, after spending long seconds standing next to Melissa, without her paying any attention to him. He imagined that the girl was just pretending she did not see him, but when she saw him shrink minimally and close her eyes tightly, he concluded that she was, in fact, with her head far from where she was. Certainly, she had not even seen him approach.
"You do not have to worry about the incident earlier.” The assistant said, taking the attention of the girl, who immediately undid the worried feature and looked at him with forced indifference “Gabriel is not even bothered with what happened.”
Lissa reached for the tray with her snack and shrugged.
"It would be awful if he was upset with me..." The young woman replied unabashedly. Maybe if the singer had been annoyed enough to dismiss her company during the tour, she could go home without Angela being able to complain. It wouldn’t be her fault, after all.
Who did she want to fool? Angela would be a beast.
"Do you think he can give up on me on the tour?" Lissa ended up questioning with real dread. She would hate every second of this tour, but she hated it even more to see the disappointing look of her best friend. Arthur smiled complacently.
"Gabriel would never do that. You really don’t have to worry.”
“Thanks!” Lissa replied simply and was annoyed at how the assistant continued to watch her.
“So, did you find the movie I asked for? You know, I need to make sure you're doing your job right.”
The strategy worked. At the same instant, Arthur's always calm face turned red and Lissa nearly choked on the sip of coke she'd taken. It was so funny to see Mr. Professional all ashamed.
"Yeah... No." Arthur began to say awkwardly. “We do not have that movie.”
“What a pity! But I think I can think of other cool movies ... What about ‘The nanny's diary’?”
Arthur felt his face get even hotter and all he could do was shake his head in a negative gesture. He knew that the girl was making waves with his face and although he was not comfortable with it, he could not get angry with her.
“No?” Lissa studied a depressed expression. “I know another movie! ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’. This is hilarious!!”
"We don’t have any movies about babysitters.” Lissa couldn’t help laughing at Arthur's cranky voice.
“Come on! They are classics. But, wait, there's one we really should watch... ‘The hand that rocks the cradle’. Now that I've thought of this I'm asking myself one thing: You're not like the protagonist, are you? All cute and affectionate, but in fact only wants to get revenge on the family that hired you and...”
“Of course not!” Arthur interrupted the insane speech. “Where did you get that from?”
“No? That would be a lot more fun if you were a bloodthirsty killer...”
"Why would I be?"
Lissa burst into laughter.
"You have no sense of humor, do you?" The assistant's shocked gaze only made Lissa not be able to make her laughter die.
"You are really strange."
“Being strange is my specialty”. Lissa commented with some pride.
“What is so funny?” Gabriel could hear her guest's crystal-clear laughter as he reached the plane's aisle and was forced to admit to himself that he loved the sound. Now that she was back next to the owner of the laughter and saw his assistant staring at her with the red face felt left out.
"I have not yet gotten used to Wednesday's sense of humor.” Arthur commented and Gabriel saw his guest stop smiling and looked as if he wanted to tear out her eyes.
“What did you call me?” Arthur smiled, but he still didn’t know what the girl was capable to do.
“I hope you like the snack, Wednesday.” He commented on his shoulders and practically ran to the back of the plane when Lissa shoved him a handful of chips.
Gabriel sat back, smiling. He had enjoyed watching the interaction between his assistant and his fan. As a longtime friend and the person in charge of managing his life, Arthur had practically become obsessed with his safety, especially after a sad episode neither of the two friends liked to remember, and with that he had become suspicious of everything and everyone who was approaching. Seeing his willing enough to do little taunts and jokes, it meant that the girl sitting next to him had somehow managed to gain his sympathy and confidence, something that was very rare to achieve.
"It looks like you guys are getting along great." He remarked casually, watching Lissa take a generous sip of her coke.
"You can’t imagine how much ... I think I'm pretty close to making him have a heart attack."
It was Gabriel Voss's turn to laugh, though the movement made him feel terrible pain.
Lissa filled her fries in the mouth to avoid accompanying the singer in her laughter, as she went on to enumerate her reasons for hating being on that plane, after all she had not liked the fleeting thought in her mind: that trip was being fun.
CHAPTER FOUR - CLOSER
"And I just can not pull myself away
under the spell I can not break [6]"
M elissa Bittencourt was properly accommodated in the comfortable recliner armchair as soft as butter. The girl had everything to have a peaceful sleep after a delicious meal, though not even all that comfort was enough to make her relax. Unfortunately, Lissa had plunged into another terrible nightmare as soon as she closed her eyes. This time her pursuer was able to capture her and do everything she feared most.
The girl awoke suddenly, sitting in the chair, shaking from head to toe. She breathed breathlessly, feeling her eyes burn with tears.
“Hey, are you okay?” Gabriel asked, turning a small light on the ceiling above the armchair.
Lissa didn’t respond, feeling that familiar sensation of fear, anger, and pain coming directly from her soul and corroding her insides. Gabriel left her alone for a few moments, then returned with a glass of water. He handed it to her and sat down in the armchair at the front.
With trembling hands, the girl tried to drink the water, choking on the tight knot that had formed in her throat. When she managed to get the liquid down, she closed her eyes, too
k a deep breath, and repeated to herself that it was only a dream. When she opened her eyes again, she wiped away the tears that had escaped and found Gabriel watching her closely.
"Another nightmare?" He asked worriedly.
"Yes." The girl answered in a hoarse voice.
"I kept my distance this time.”
Gabriel laughed for his own joke, but Lissa did not. First, because what he said has no grace at all and second because she was still terribly shaken by the dream so clearly astonishing.
“Did I sleep for a long time?” She asked to the musician, already wearing her mask of indifference. In her moment of vulnerability, she hated showing weakness in front of others, especially those she barely knew and who looked at her as if he wanted to see into her soul.
“Yes, a lot. It's already night.”
"Hmm," she murmured, opening the protection of the small window and peering out. She only saw darkness “Will we take too long to arrive?”
“A little. Alaska is at the end of the world.
"So, there is no better place to be.”
Gabriel smiled, getting used to the queer way. The singer watched her for a moment. Her face was pale, tired, and, even trying to hide, frightened. He felt very sorry for her at that moment and also an uncomfortable tightness in his chest, for the expression on the girl's face brought back memories that he wished he could forget.
Lissa didn’t like the way he looked at her. It was simply unsettling. She wanted to get him to stop, to be as thick as she always was to everyone, but she could not and as she could not face him, the girl looked away at the small window beside her, there was nothing interesting outside, only darkness, but anything was better than looking at him.
"You're going to like Alaska," Gabriel said casually, noting the girl's embarrassment and trying to ignore the tightness in his heart. "Though it's in the middle of nowhere, my house has great accommodations and around several mountains for skiing. And soon you'll meet my band. They had gone to Texas when I was doing the photoshoot, would meet me there, but...”
Broken Angel (English Edition) Page 5
