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1.6

She was still giggling when she got into her pajamas after her shower and she had only finished after she scrawled the number down in her own, neat and uniform handwriting on the pad of sticky-notes she left by her bed and then gathered up the shirt and some other clothes to be washed. As she padded downstairs, hair damp and in the natural waves she normally brushed out, Lorelai appeared, in a coat and shoes.

"Hey, we're going to get pizza with Lane, I take it you're having a early night?" She asked, grabbing her purse.

"Yeah. I've got laundry to do," She gestured to the pile in her hands, "Have a nice time though."

"There's money for takeout on the side." Lorelai called out as she and Rory left, shutting the door behind them. Gabby hummed as she put stain remover on the shirt, filling the silence with the soft tune that Callum had been whistling earlier. When the laundry was in the machine, she went back upstairs and grabbed her phone and the number from Callum, dialing it quickly. The sun was still streaming in through the windows, she had only left school about an hour and a half ago, but she had homework and sleep to catch up on, deciding to call him now was most time effective.

But as soon as she heard the phone ring, her skin prickled with anxiety and she hung up and called the familiar number of Leah instead, who answered immediately.

"Hey, what's up?" Leah greeted immediately, the low croon of someone singing and the strum of a guitar in the background.

"Can we go get coffee tomorrow, after school?" She asked, distracting herself by looking at her nails, the baby blue nail varnish chipped off.

"Yeah, that'd be great. I don't think that Marcus can come though, he has swimming. He's pissed cos he's doing land training again." Leah hummed and Gabby nodded, despite being on the phone.

"I know, I just need to talk to you and Demi." She explained, fiddling with her shorts nervously.

"Oh. Okay. You good, babe?" Leah asked, audibly concerned.

Gabby smiled at her friend's concern, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just need to talk to you something."

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"Hey, try not to throw this one on my brother, yeah?" Marcus greeted, looking tired and quiet as he handed her her hot chocolate.

"I'll try." Gabby laughed quietly, watching out the corner of her eye as Rory walked into school.

"I sit next to her in higher Math." Marcus commented, watching her too.

"Lucky you." Gabby snorted, as they started off towards their bench, sipping the sweet drink.

"What? Not getting on with her?" Marcus asked, pulling his tie.

Gabby huffed slightly, "Nope. I haven't done anything wrong, I don't understand." She explained and then shook her head, "Enough about me, are you okay?"

"Yeah." Marcus nodded, drowning his words with coffee that he gulped down, despite the heat of it.

"Are you sure?" Gabby asked gently, "You can tell me anything, you know." She reminded him, feeling the urge to grab his hand but restraining, not knowing how he stood with contact at that moment.

"I know, Gabs." He hummed, looking anywhere but her. He swallowed and crushed his coffee cup in his fist, "But maybe I don't want to." He added, voice low and quiet.