The Academy In My Head

Trouble N Meanie

“Trouble, Trouble, Trouble…”

I smiled as the sound of Gabriel’s voice washed over me as he sat down on the porch next to me. “Hi, Meanie.” I said, glancing at him. “What are we going to do today?”

“I’m not fuckin’ sure.” He said, running a hand over the back of his head before straightening the collar on the shirt he was wearing over a tank top. “Is there anything you want to do today?”

I laughed softly. “I haven’t thought too much about it yet.” I admitted. “I mean, Kota just cleared our schedules less than an hour ago.” I reminded him.

“Very true.” He agreed. “I guess we could go somewhere and look at art or I could take you back to my place, I’m almost done with the new mural on my bedroom wall.”

“I had an idea though…” I said after nodding that his suggestion would work out okay.

“An idea?” He asked, eyeing me.

“Yes… I was thinking it would be fun to do some family pictures. You know, all of us… the Blackbourne team… dressed in a similar style and having a picture or two taken together. But then, I thought that maybe it would be nice to give some pictures to the other people in our lives. Like, you and I could take a posed picture that would be us as boyfriend and girlfriend which means you would have a picture of our relationship to give to Pam. Luke and North could take some together or with me and have something to give to Uncle.”

He ran a hand over his head again. “And we could take Jessica with us to make sure that Erica would be able to have a picture that shows all of her kids, not just us.” His eyes lit up at the idea. “Shit, Trouble. You have really good ideas when you don’t start out with them.” He said, leaning over and kissing me lightly.

“Why thank you, Meanie. I do try.”

He laughed. “That means we need to go shopping. Did you happen to have any ideas about what we should wear in those pictures?”

I shrugged. “Nice pants, maybe in black? Sweaters over dress shirts and ties… I think it would be fun to see you all wearing your favorite colors but in a very nice, classy way. As we take other pictures, the ties could be done away with, sleeves rolled up…”

He narrowed his eyes, but he wasn’t looking at me. I knew he was visualizing how the pictures would look if we started to make changes. “Sweaters off, shirts untucked because you know most of them will wear a shirt or tank under the button up shirt.” He said.

“Exactly. And some of you… I mean, them… can’t hardly stand to be dressed up the way they are on Thanksgiving as long as they have to be dressed up.”

“Another excellent point.” He tilted his head and studied me. “And you? What would you be wearing?”

“Black or dark heather skirt… same thing as the rest of you, except no tie.” I shrugged.

“Oh, I do like the sound of that. But you may need a tie at least for a picture with Mr. B.” He mused.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “What are you planning for me?” I asked. “And that’s your idea, you will not be making it seem as though anything with ties and Mr. Blackbourne are my idea.”

He shook his head and laughed at me. “Oh, trouble… whatever would I do without you?” He grabbed my hand and tugged me up from where I was sitting. “Are you able to go out to the mall then? I want to see if I can find the sweaters I like for the guys.”

I smiled and stepped closer to him, stretching up to plant my lips on his and kissing him deeply. “I’m always ready to go anywhere with you.” I said.

This time, the ‘Trouble’ seemed to escape on a bit of a groan.

“Come on, let’s go shop. I’m hungry too. We can get ice cream.”

“And not tell Luke?” He feigned shock.

“What Luke doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” I said, firmly before starting down the porch steps and leading him away from the house.

“That’s what you think.” He mumbled, following along as I headed to his moped. “Shit, Trouble, are you sure you want to ride on the back of my moped all the way out to the mall we need to go to?”

“What other options do we have?” I asked. “It’s our date. If we have anyone else take us, then we sort of end up crashing our own date.”

He pursed his lips before snapping his fingers at me and pulling out his phone. “That’s it, I’ll just call for an Uber.”

I laughed. “Sounds like an excellent plan.” I teased, wrapping my arm around his waist as he did it. “Um, not to be a bother but is that actually safe? You know… an Uber? Is there an Academy Uber?”

“I know someone I can call, if you’re worried. Someone from another team, okay?” I nodded. “And you may be on to something.” He told me. “Why isn’t there an Academy Uber?”

“Great question.” I teased, knowing full well that I sounded an awful lot like Mr. Blackbourne when I said it.

He rolled his eyes and smiled before dropping an arm around my shoulders as we headed to the sidewalk to wait for the ride, he’d called for so we could go on our date, which included shopping for sweaters for a Holiday portrait for all of us. He turned to look at me, crystal blue eyes staring into mine. “I know that I can be fuckin’ overbearing at times, Sang. But I would do anything you asked me to do.”

I reached up and touched his cheek, making him lower his gaze and look at me. “I know, Meanie. That’s why I don’t intend to ask any of you to do much. You’d all do anything I asked and that’s not the best way to run a relationship as complicated as ours.”

“I love you.” He murmured, as he lowered his head, more towards mine before his lips slanted over mine and I found myself being thoroughly kissed.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, my fingers tangling in the hair at the base of his neck as I kissed him back. “I love you too.” I mumbled against his lips before we broke apart, both of us needing to take a breath.

He grinned at me. “Ah, Trouble, what are we going to do with you?” He asked. “Don’t answer that…” He said, quickly. “Because no matter what, I know the answer is love you forever.”

I could only stare at him as he led me out to the sidewalk to wait for our ride. “I like that answer.” I murmured. He smiled and ducked his head to kiss me again.

“Me too, Trouble.”

~ Fade ~