"Ashley?" Gabriel had yelled lightly as he walked through the door of the apartment, he heard something from upstairs as he dropped his bag at the counter and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge.
Chugging it before pulling out his phone, Gabriel had gone through his emails quickly before deciding to search for the girl in his home.
When he made it halfway up the stairs, he watched Ashley run out of the bathroom in a towel, kneeling by her bag that was still by Gabriel's bedside. He stood there not knowing what to do, watching her grab clothes from her bag before looking up and smiling at him.
"Hey, I didn't hear you come in...I just needed a shower really bad. I'll be ready in a few minutes!" Before Gabriel could take another step, Ashleys as back in the bathroom, closing the door with a smile on her face.
She was smiling, that's good.
Proceeding up the stairs and to his bed, he looked at the messy sheets before making the bed. She was definitely in there all day watching a movie or show until he called. Redoing all the sheets and bedding, he tossed blankets over blankets and neatly set the grey pillows at the head board, straightened out the blankets on the bed that went over the comforter he had.
Gabriel made himself focused on the bed. His hands worked delicately. He wasn't fully recovered from his panic attack or crying from at the Sanctuary, so focusing on something like the bed made it better.
That was until Ashley came out of the bathroom ten minutes later, making him sit up right and stare in a state of awe. He didn't mean to at all, but she was...
"Ready?" Ashley had tossed on black stockings and a loose red skirt, accompanied by a simple black top that hugged her figure too well for once. Her hair was loose and let down and she had her phone in hand. She felt confident for once in an outfit like this and it made her feel better about herself too. She needed to push herself to get better again.
Overall, she looked amazing. Gabriel didn't move or speak for a moment as he watched her. Something came over him that completely stopped him from moving or really thinking.
Ashley looked amazing, in Gabriel's eyes she was an angel at the moment. He hadn't been able to say anything until she walked over to him and put her hand on his cheek. Running a hand through his semi-messy hair as well as she tilted her head all concerned like.
"Are you okay? You look a little red. You aren't getting sick are you?" Her look of concern for Gabriel brought him out of a stance and made him realize that he was in fact, blushing hard. she was so close to his face he could see her freckles that were so light you wouldn't be able to tell they were there.
She stood there holding his face, looking at his eyes concerned, while Gabriels head raced about the fact that she was so close he could kiss her again.
He wanted to. Badly.
"I'm fine. Are you ready?"
"Yes. Eat go get foooooood!" Ashley yelled as she raced down the stairs to head out with Gabriel holding her hand now. Leading her out of the apartment and down the building to the garage, Gabriel held onto Ashley rather tightly, in a non hurting way.
"So...how is everyone at work?" Climbing into the car, Ashley looked over to Gabriel and smiled as he started the car and left, turning onto the road and relaxing some finally.
"They're fine. Everything's the same I guess, less talkative again but you know."
"Yeah. How's Danny doing? I feel bad for not talking to him."
"He's...upset. At me mainly."
"What about?"
"You."
Another pause in the conversation. Gabriel laughed in his head a small bit at the silence, it seemed every conversation he had today alwasy stopped for so long before continuing, the silence becoming normal for the day.
"Oh...I should- I'll talk to him tonight. Get things cleared up, I'm sure he's just stressed out with work and this whole situation I got you guys in."
"You didn't get us in a situation Ashley, we all wanted to help you. We all involved ourselves."
"But you guys didn't need to keep doing things for me and all, I'm really thankful for it all. Don't get me wrong. But...You guys have done more than enough with just helping me get rid of John, let alone coping with everything. I just feel bad I guess."
"And all of us want you to know that you shouldn't. We want to help you."
"Thank you." The conversation ended and it went to an okay silence in the car once again. The two were fine with it, both trying to think of things they wanted to talk about at some point today.
They were both preoccupied with their thoughts, so much in fact that Gabriel avoided the restaurant he was going to take Ashley to before and ended up on the other side of town. Ashley didn't complain at all, she liked the drive.
Looking over to Gabriel every so often, she noticed his eyes were semi-reddish-pink when he got to his apartment, but decided to not say anything. Maybe he had a rough day or he was getting sick.
When they finally stopped at a restaurant, it was a nicer one in the city they lived in, smaller and family owned for sure, but an extremely nice and expensive one at that. Gabriel had been at it before, for business meetings and such.
He thought it was fine for lunch with Ashley. He was more used to the higher end restaurants if he ever went out. With his money and lifestyle and business, it was just something he preferred. Ashley was not used to these establishments at all, but didn't argue with Gabriel when he led her inside.
He gave the host his name and was led to a table on a second floor that was shut off from the other tables by sheer currents circling them. Ashley thought it was weird, Gabriel thought it was normal. Usually they were in a secluded area for business meetings and dinners, so he was fine with the remote privacy.
With him coming here before and having his name on a record, he didn't need a reservation like someone would normally need. He had come plenty of times before and was always placed up stairs.
"How upset is Danny? I mean, I know I haven't talked to him in a few days and that's my fault. But I wanna know before I try calling him tonight. I think it would help. You know? Both of us maybe. Is he mad at me?... I'm sorry, this was a terrible way to start a conversation, especially in a nice place."
"It's alright Ashley. I would prefer to talk about it here anyways. He doesn't seem all that mad at you. He's more upset at me."
"Why? I mean, I know he can get defensive and all but he isn't the type of person to get really mad at people."
"I would say otherwise based on today."
"What?" Ashley was genuinely confused, playing with a fork and her fingers as she looked at Gabriel; who watched her hands fidget lightly with a piece of silverware.
"He just...blew up today. I went to talk to him and he just yelled and was upset about me and you. I get it though, really. I understand where he is coming from, you're his friend and he hasn't been able to help you that much."
"But...he's mad because you're helping me?"
Before Gabriel could continue a waiter had come through and handed them drinks, coming and going quickly which didn't truly stop the conversation, just set it on a small pause for a moment. This caused Ashley to now play with her drink in the glass or run her hand over the side of it.
"More or less; He's upset you're staying with me. I don't think he understands that you made a choice to come with me to my apartment and stay there until things really calm down. I wanna say he sees me as another version of your boy- your ex. I want to say that he thinks I'm forcing you to be with me in my home, that I'm not letting you come to work."
"I mean you did tell me I can't go to work yesterday." Ashley tried to joke around but Gabriel only nodded and looked down at his own drink. Not caring much for the small joke right now.
"But if you said you really wanted to go, I wouldn't have stopped you."
"I know. I never thought he would see you that way."
"I can't tell you what way he sees me right now, but I just don't think it's good in any way, shape, or form. He's upset he can't help you a lot. I understand that, he's really mad at me for helping you when I hardly know you."
"You don't hardly know me...I mean you don't KNOW me, but it's not like we are complete strangers anymore either." shrugging at Gabriel, Ashley still tried to smile slightly at the becoming heavy conversation.
"Right. Well Danny doesn't know that."
"I guess."
Against a pause, Gabreil started to over think what he wanted to say next, but decided to go with it seeing as he told Danny he would talk to Ashley about it.
"I think you should stay with him for a few days. It might help the both of you."
"What?"
Taking Ashley by surprise, she stopped playing with her hands and looked at Gabriel in an almost hurt way, shocked he would say this. It hurt Gabriel in a way. He didn't want her to go and stay with Danny for a few days either, but it was a thought they should think about. He wasn't one to necessarily live with people or have close relations with people either, so having Ashley over with him was still new to him.
"I think that you should either stay at Danny's, which I don't like. Or at Jacks with both of them. I've talked to Jack and he is perfectly fine with it, he said he would love to have you and Danny stay for a few days. I don't know, but I think it would be good for you too."
"Well...what if I say no?"
"Then you don't go. You can stay with me all you want, I won't tell you that you can't stay in my apartment. I just think that it would be good for you to talk to Danny and maybe be with someone who knows you better. You've had a rough few days and I just don't know how helpful I have been or I can be."
"Gabriel. You have been...the most helpful person through all of this. I mean that. I mean, Danny has always known but I kept him back from helping me at all. It's a thing we have, like a swear to secrecy. He didn't tell anyone because I begged him not to. But you didn't really care about that. I mean, you even came down to an old bar with us to check on me. No one has done that for me. You're giving me a safe place to stay and not firing me from my job...which I appreciate by the way! You've kinda seen me through shit too, so there's that, you're incredibly helpful to me in every way I need, even if I don't want it."
"Ashley-"
"I mean it, you take my mind off things and I love that. I really do. You've helped me keep my mind off of John and this a lot, you've let me talk and break down and you don't care about it. I really do appreciate that, the only person I could break down to is Danny. And some days he isn't helpful in the slightest, he's my friend though. But sometimes I need someone else and you kinda pushed your way into that spot, and I really like that you did that in all honesty. I know you aren't a big people person or talker or huge on a lot of intimacy or letting people your life."
"I've never told you tha-"
"You have, and I can tell. It's easy to tell, I'm the same way. The only people I would talk to are John and Danny, I was weary of letting you guys from work in my life and still am. There is a lot you guys don't know because I'm scared to let you guys in. I'm scared of getting hurt. I can tell that you don't like letting people in for whatever reason you have. And that's fine. I'm not asking for you to share everything with me, just so you know. Basically what I have been trying to say is thank you. And I appreciate what you have done for me, I really do. It's comforting and I feel safe with you. I haven't felt safe with people in a very long time. So thank you. You have helped me no matter how much you think your aren't."
There was a long silence and a lot of looking down into their laps.
A lot.
Before the waiter even came around to talk about the food, Gabriel stood up and pushed his chair in.
"Do you wanna get out of here?"
"Yes please."
Almost instantly, the two were out of the restaurant and driving again, until Ashley pointed out a park and forced Gabriel to pull over so they could walk around. It was barely getting dark, but the sun was still setting rather quickly.
"So, are you okay after work?" Walking down a small path to a clearing of grass, Ashley looked up at Gabriel and asked him a question in all seriousness. She was now the one worried about him.
"What do you mean?"
"You said Danny blew up. Are you okay? Emotionally, Physically?"
"I am perfectly fine Ashley."
"I think you are lying."
_________
Ooooooh.....upcoming trauma or upcoming spice? I guess you'll never know....
We kid, we kid.
We love our children too much to do one or the other guys....you'll get both.
But in all seriousness, next chapter is dealing with very heavy topics on Gabriels part. We mean heavy trauma and very triggering topics. of course we will put a TW in the beginning of the chapter but remember that this story is not meant to be all sunshines and sexy or whatever.
This is suppose to be a very dark meaning book overall with it's topics and such.
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