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1.5

"Hey, slow down!" He called, laughter spilling from his mouth as he dodged through crowds of first years, who giggled as he brushed past them. He was oblivious to the female attention he gained throughout the school, but his good looks and charming personality gained him the popularity he was so unaware of. Marcus was in his element now, he was having one of his good days and it looked as if the sun was shining only for him, a stark contrast to his normal moody self. Turning around to laugh at him, Gabby smiled at the sight of him chasing after her, uniform all askew and messed up, throwing offhand apologies to the people he nearly knocked down. 

As distracted as she was by one boy chasing after her, she didn't notice the one in front of her until she had run smack-bam into his chest and bounded back, curses falling from her lips and hot chocolate all over the victim. Large hands on her waist steadied her from  falling back and a deep chuckle surrounded her. 

"We keep meeting like this." She looked up to see the Marcus-look-a-like she had run into the other day, hot chocolate staining his shirt. She frowned, thinking that the liquid should be burning him, and he laughed again. Marcus caught up to them, groaning. 

"Of all the people, Gabs." He rolled his eyes and stood next to her. "Meet my brother Callum." He reluctantly introduced the two, eying his brother with distaste, making Callum laugh again. His laugh was deep and loud, it seemed to rumble from deep in his chest, infecting those around him with happiness. 

"Oh, okay. That explains a lot." She smiled, looking at the two boys side by side. Callum was a few inches taller, and definitely broader, she wouldn't be surprised if he played some sort of sport. Marcus had deep, whiskey brown eyes and his hair was smoothed down more, in some  attempt to tame it. Callum's hair was messier and wavier, as if he ran his hair through it regularly, and his lips pulled up in a taunting smirk which matched the gleam in his eyes. There was no doubt they were brothers, you could tell by their golden skin and defined jaw lines, high cheek bones and almond shaped eyes. 

"Nice to meet you Callum, and I'm really sorry for your shirt." Gabby smiled sweetly, relishing in Marcus's obvious discomfort. 

"Don't pretend to be nice." Marcus scoffed, grabbing the empty cup from her hands and putting it in the bin, offering her his own coffee, which she screwed her nose up at. 

"I am nice." She scoffed, and watched as he turned at the sound of his name being called. "Go on." She groaned as she saw his friends from swimming call him over and his puppy dog eyes aimed at her. "Just don't complain when Leah tells you off!" She called as he went off, and then turned back to Callum, who was watching in amusement. 

"I promise that I am nice." She said seriously, hitching her satchel higher on her shoulder under his blue gaze. She was suddenly nervous of his impression of her, and bit her lip harshly, something he noted that Marcus did too. 

"You spilt coffee on my shirt." He pointed at the large and painfully obvious stain, eyebrow raised. 

"By mistake. If anything, it was Marcus's fault." She argued, "That doesn't mean I'm not nice."

"Both times we've met, you ran into me." He aggravated, smirk growing as her frown deepened. 

"It's not my fault that you are tall and always in my way." Gabby retorted back, fiddling with her skirt hem. She had to look up to meet his gaze and was cursing her height at the moment. She was shorter than Rory and Lorelai, inheriting her height from her birth-mother and now standing at 5'4. 

"Maybe look where you are going next time." Callum exhaled, as if the conversation was keeping him from something important. 

"What do you want me to do about it now? I said sorry for your shirt. Do you have something to change into?" She asked, genuinely concerned. 

"Oh yeah, I have my sports kit in here. But," he continued, a wicked gleam in his eyes, "I think it's unfair that I should have to change and you don't." He finished, smirk replaced with a massive grin. She didn't answer. "Well, you know, if you are nice..." 

"Oh my god, fine." She huffed, and followed him to the toilet block, ignoring the merry tune he was whistling as he strolled in front, leading the way. "I'm going to be late to class." She pointed out as he stopped in front of the door to the male toilets. 

"I really don't care." He shrugged and disappeared into the toilets, leaving her stood outside, waiting. It was only a matter of minutes until he returned, now dressed in the navy blue sports kit, the fabric of the shirt hugging his build closely. She tore her eyes away from his body and met his amused gaze as he held out the shirt for her to change into, gesturing to the female toilets down the hall. 

She rolled her eyes and grabbed it, handing him her satchel to hold while she went into the toilets. The hot chocolate was cold now luckily, but the shirt was three times too big and smelt like men's cologne. She was halfway through the buttons when the bell rang, signaling the start of class and making her fumble over the rest of the buttons. She tied her tie quickly and then groaned at the sudden realization that she couldn't tuck her shirt in without it being longer than her skirt and that her sweater vest just looked strange over the oversized shirt. Pulling up her socks and straightening her hair, she pulled down her skirt so the waist band was lower, making the fabric just peek out under the white- well, brown- shirt. Groaning again, she walked out, still pulling her skirt down. 

Callum laughed upon seeing her and she just grumbled at him to stop, grabbing her satchel and shoving her jumper in it. "What have you got, I'll walk you." He offered, looking down at her. 

"English." She told him, and started off down the corridor, cheeks dusted with pink embarrassment. 

"Oh, that's good. Other side of the school, I'm going to miss a lot of Math." He grinned, matching her stride easily. 

"Oh, I'm glad." She rolled her eyes, sifting through her bag for her pen. "So, Marcus tells me that you play really loud music to fuck with your dad." 

"That's right. I've run out of Foo Fighters now, so I don't know what I can play tonight." He hummed, tucking his hands into the pockets of his shorts. 

"CD or Vinyl?" She asked. 

"Both. Mainly vinyl." He nodded, gazing at her short figure out of the corner of her eyes. 

"Got any ACDC?" She asked, thinking of her beloved CD collection at Lorelai's house, stacked up on the windowsill. 

"No, I used to but when I moved out my Dad threw a lot of my stuff out." He explained, figuring that she knew a lot anyway, because of Marcus. 

"Oh. There's a great new music store in Hartford, just past the coffee shop, opened up last year and they have such a good collection." Gabby gushed as they crossed the courtyard and into the English block. He smiled at her, obviously amused at her sudden enthusiasm. "You should check it out sometime." 

"Yeah. Right, which class?" He asked, stopping in the corridor.  

"This one. I would say thank you for walking me, but it's your fault I'm dressed like this, so.." She trailed off, grimacing slightly. 

"See you later." He laughed, turning on his heel and meandering back down the corridor as she walked into the classroom, apologizing for lateness. Feeling everybody's eyes on her, including Rory's, she slid into her normal seat in-between Demi and Marcus, who grinned at her. 

"Don't say a single thing." She threatened, grabbing her book. 

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