The Loneliest Stars || EDITING

Chapter 18

"We better go," he sighed regretfully, taking her hand as she descended down the porch steps towards his truck.

"Have I told you how beautiful you look?" Gabe said as they pulled into the school parking lot.

Natalia's face was in flames again, but that perma-grin she always wore around him made its way to her face.

"You may have mentioned it once or twice..."

"Well it bears repeating. You look beautiful tonight."

"Thank you." Was the only response she could manage. The intensity of his gaze made her mouth dry.

Gabe cleared his throat. "Natalia, I — "

" — There you are! I've been the only one here for ages."

That voice.

Never had she hated someone's accent, and cadence of speech so much before. It was the aural equivalent of being doused with a bucket of cold water. Natalia was seething.

"Hey, Agnes," Gabe said politely, which only served to stoke Natalia's anger. His hand was on the small of her back, radiating heat, it was kind of grounding and electrifying at the same time. He was right, they should have skipped this event all together.

As usual, Agnes ignored Natalia completely, focusing all her attention on Gabe, chattering mindlessly, she walked on Gabe's other side as they made their way towards the converted auditorium for the dance.

Porsha walked in minutes after them. It was kind of empty except for the usual early bird students, with the supervising teachers dotted around.

"Yes! You ate this look," Porsha exclaimed when she got a closer look at her.

Natalia shimmied in place, pulling off a subtle twerk as she moved in a circle, to Porsha's excited hollering. From across the hall, she could make out Gabe's watchful stare, a little heated and a little amused. This could be a fun evening, maybe, Natalia decided.

"Can you believe I caught these idiots spiking the punch?" Porsha said interrupting, Natalia showing a group of senior girls a dance move from her youth.

"Oh really, I thought that only happened in films?"

"Oh, it happens," Porsha grabbed her by the elbow steering her away from the crowd. "And I confiscated it." She wiggled a bottle of vodka back and forth with an evil grin.

"You're so bad." Natalia admonished with no conviction whatsoever.

"And you love me for it."

"Let me grab Gabe and we can get this party started."

Natalia walked over to the corner she had last seen Gabe, deep in conversation with Ella who had arrived to crown the Homecoming King and Queen. He was nowhere to be seen, Natalia looked around the hall quickly before deciding to visit the ladies' room.

She quickly took care of relieving herself and touched up her lip gloss, making sure that her makeup was still intact and left.

She heard some voices in the hallway. Her curiosity got the best of her and she went to investigate.

What she saw made her stomach turn. She dropped the lip gloss and her phone in shock.

Both solid items landed with a loud noise that reverberated off the linoleum flooring and echoed off the empty walls.

It got the attention of the duo standing in the middle. One was shocked and the other stood still, her face impassive.

"Natalia!"

Natalia grabbed her dropped items and as quickly as her heels would allow her, left.

Swift footsteps were following her, rounding on her heels. Why was she running? She wasn't the guilty party. She stopped and walked slower. She was sure it was him - Gabe, following her.

"What's going on between you and Agnes?" Natalia asked as soon as she had rounded the corner, and no else was within earshot.

"Natalia — "

"Don't!" She took in a shuddered breath, walking unsteadily in her high heels into the cold, night air. She fiddled with her earrings and ran her hands through her hair frustration painted on her face.

"Natalia, where is this coming from?"

Natalia laughed shrilly. "No, you don't get to do that." She pointed her black clutch at him. "You don't get to gaslight me and make me look like the fool."

"Natalia, just stop and listen to me, for a second," Gabe said exasperated.

"You have one minute."

"Okay, okay." He drew in a deep breath. "She kissed me. I had nothing to do with it. I have no interest in her - hell, I can barely understand her."

Natalia stared at him, her face unreadable. So he continued. "I guess she has a little crush on me, she's been emailing me, finding excuses to talk to me. But nothing physical. Today, was the only time it got physical," he swallowed nervously, willing her to believe him.

"And you couldn't tell her, you're not interested, is that not a thing?"

"I just didn't want things to get awkward. We work together," Gabe said and the excuse sounded thin even to him.

"Well congratulations, it just got awkward."

Natalia went inside the building, back to the dance where she knew Gabe couldn't speak to again without making it obvious that there was a problem and making a scene in front of the kids.

The fun evening that they had planned, became an exercise in self-control and anger management. Natalia wanted nothing more than to have a few choice words with Agnes maybe throw some hands if the spirit moved her but she knew she couldn't play into the Angry Black Woman trope.

She let it go and when the evening was over, she got an Uber home, avoiding looking over across the road to Gabe's house, where his truck was already parked.