U n t o u c h a b l e
[13 | Death by Flattery ]
Two rings and, "Hadley."
"Mother," I greeted in the same icy tone she answered the phone with. There was a distinct sound of sighing on the other side, followed by a groan. "Is this a bad time?"
Please, say yes.
"Yes. Please hold," she answered sternly, and the beeping sound of a flat b greeted me.
"Rude. She put me on hold," I stated, frowning. Gavin, who was busy getting dressed chuckled, shaking his head, mumbling something along the lines of me being impatient. Then, with a promise of coffee, he left the bedroom, giving me privacy while I waited for my mother to answer the phone again.
"Sorry about that, I had a client," came her hasty excuse a minute later. She didn't sound sorry at all. "I wasn't expecting you to call so early. How's school treating you there?"
I rolled my eyes. She probably wasn't expecting me to call at all. If she wanted to communicate with me, she would have done more than just tell Dad to call her. "What do you want, mother?" I asked bitterly, skipping the pleasantries. The less I talk to her, the longer I have time to spend with Gavin.
"I was wondering if you want to come by during Christmas."
I frowned at her words. I haven't spent a holiday with her since Lily's death. What made Christmas so special to every other holiday out there? She wasn't particularly religious-or at all-so I doubted that she wanted to bond with me during the holiday. "Why?"
"I only want to spend time-" she began her BS, but I knew she was lying so I cut her off with: "Cut the crap, Mom. What do you want?"
She grumbled something along the lines of me being ungrateful but it was hard to hear. "I have a new client I need entertained."
Excuse me?
"I am not selling myself."
Which, I realized is completely hypocritical of me to say because that was technically how I got Gavin to cooperate in the first place. But she didn't know that and she didn't have to know that.
She chuckled. "Not that kind of entertainment," she assured me with a light chuckle. As if I could laugh about this. It wasn't even funny. "I've been invited to this silly party and need my daughter to come with me."
"Mother, no." I remember Lily telling me about these grande parties Mom would always bring her. Even before their divorce, it was always Lily she brought with her, never me. Of course, I was a little bitter. But at the same time, I didn't want to go because it was hers and Lily's thing. Never mine.
She sighed. "Listen, Penelope," she said in a strict manner, "I am your mother and you are coming to this event."
"Would you like fries with that?" That was when Gavin decided to enter the room, a half smile on his lips and a cup of coffee in his hand. I really wanted to conversation to be over.
"Please, dear," she said in a softer tone. I didn't want to, but who was I to say no to my mother? Even as crappy as a mother as her, I've always seek for her approval and went beyond my ways to please her back then. She was only asking me because Lily was gone, she wouldn't have bothered with me if Lily was still here. At the same time, that little girl inside of me that always wanted her mother to give her a glance was a little gleeful, if not excited by this. But I was too bitter to actually feel the bit of excited-ness from her invitation.
"Mother, I don't-"
"Lope, please," she tried again, using the old name she used to call me.
"Fine, whatever," I grumbled, rolling my eyes. She wasn't going to stop pleasing and I rather not waste my time arguing with her. "Email me the details. Goodbye." And I hung up.
Gavin snickered when I threw the phone on the bed, walking towards me and handing me the mug of steaming coffee. "Come down for breakfast," he insisted, kissing my forehead and laughing when he heard my stomach growl. "There's pancakes and we can talk afterwards."
Gavin and I had breakfast with his parents, which was pleasant. They asked how school going and what were our plans for the winter holidays. Gavin and I answered their questions politely and I wondered if they knew what kinds of things Gavin and I were up to. If they did, they never protested or voiced their opinion on my staying over often. They seemed like a perfect couple-the perfect family, like the things Maddy told me about their divorce and the rehab never actually happened.
When we finished breakfast, Gavin and I left, with him saying that we have errands to run. His parents bade goodbye warmly and insisted that I was always welcome at their home. Gavin hastily pulled me out of the house, muttering, "God, they're so embarrassing."
"Your parents are perfect," I told him once we were in his car, driving down the road.
"Perfectly annoying," he retorted, shaking his head. "Don't let that act fool you, love. We're just as dysfunctional as the next family." He didn't explain any further but I already knew part of the story. I just never got what he felt about it since he never really said anything about it.
"So where are we going?" I asked, changing the subject as we turned to an unfamiliar street.
"You sent me the files of the book, right?" he asked, glancing at me for a second I nodded and he turned his attention back to the road. A familiar smirk made its presence on his lips. "We've delayed the plan long enough. It's time to take action again."
I nodded, feeling a smile come as I understood what he meant.
We kept driving for another twenty minutes until we pulled into a normal house. It wasn't like the mansions Gavin and the others at Ashcroft lived at, but it was a normal, white-picked fence house in a homey neighbourhood. It was odd seeing this scenery again.
"Come on," Gavin said after he opened the passenger door for me and held out a hand to take. Looking around the cozy home, I felt an uneasy feeling of nostalgia, remembering the earlier part of my childhood when my family used to live in a modest home and Lily and I would play in the yard with the neighbourhood kids.
We entered the house without ringing the doorbell or knocking and Gavin made our presence known by shouting "Oi! We're here!" rather loudly. There were two little boys running around that greeted Gavin a quick hi before continuing their chase. Seeing Gavin smile warmly at them made me question who he really was.
I knew that his tough guy act was all an act and he could be quite nice and sweet sometimes but it made me wonder if a lot of people really know that. I thought that it was just me, that I was kind of special for knowing this side of him. Seeing him making himself at home in a stranger's home was rather odd.
It shouldn't have taken me by surprise to see a girl around our age descend from the stairs and give Gavin a hard punch in the arm. She was wearing a blank tank and sweatpants and her hair was a mess, as if a bird made a nest out of it. She probably just woke up, I assumed, watching her rub her brown eyes under her glasses.
"This is Penelope," Gavin introduced, taking my hand in his as he pulled us up the stairs, passing the girl, "My girlfriend. Love, this is Chloe, a friend of mine. She's here to help us."
Chloe greeted me with a yawn and followed us up the stairs into, what I assumed was, her room. It was pink and the epitome of girly. The walls were white and there were flower and butterfly wall stickers everywhere. One side of the wall had several bulletin boards. In some were photos pinned-some of which, I recognize Gavin in, and in others were tables and sketches and words. It was mostly tables though with random words though.
"Take a seat," Chloe said, gesturing to the unmade bed beside the computer table. I sat down, taking in the ambience of the room. It was a lot to take in.
"Chloe here runs a website," Gavin explained, once he opened up his email and downloaded the files I've sent him earlier that contained everything I gave to David in the sketchbook. Chloe then pushed him off of the pink swirly chair and Gavin made himself comfortable on the bed beside me before manhandling my body and placing me on his lap.
"And?" I wondered, not really following. I shifted a little so I was more comfortable.
Gavin just smiled, kissing the top of my head. "We'll have her enter the files you sent me in the site," he answered, letting his arms wrap around my waist as Chloe made gagging noises.
I then realized what he meant. "So when David turns in one of Li-my works, he's caught for plagiarism." Gavin nodded, but there was a flaw in the plan. This was what I planned earlier too, but the moment I tried to upload them online, it would give it a date stamp, which wouldn't really help my case if they were uploaded a few days before David's were. He could even argue if he wanted to that I copied his. "But the date it's uploaded is-"
"That's why I'm here," Chloe interrupted, swirling her chair around so she faced us, smiling brilliantly as she pet a cat plush. She pushed the chair slightly, showing us her computer screens, pointing at a screen filled with tables and words I couldn't really comprehend. The other screen was filled with random words. I assumed those were codes as the only ones that made sense were arbitrary words like "stripslashes" and "cookie" and "BURNT BANANAS ERROR."
She explained to me that since she can change the database of her website, she can alter the date and time that it appears on the web. She could make it so that my user was signed up three years ago and the things I uploaded were uploaded two years ago with thousands of people having it already viewed. I wasn't quite sure what she was explaining, but it all seemed fascinating and overwhelmingly difficult.
"And it's done," Chloe announced an hour later, turning to face me and Gavin with a smile. "My payment?" she asked, sweetly, putting her hand out to Gavin.
"You're such a dork," he grumbled, pulling something out of his wallet and placing two tickets for something in her hand with a piece of paper.
"Thanks, Loser," she said with delight, turning to write something on her sticky note before pinning the ticket, piece of paper and sticky note to one of her bulletin boards. It was two tickets to some convention. "Your sacrifice is much appreciated."
"Thanks so much, Chloe," I said sincerely, her bubbly character rubbing off of me. I wasn't entirely sure if she knew why we were doing this or why I wanted the art works and poetry posted but she never really questioned. I doubted that she asked Gavin about it else he would have probably tried to scare her out of town like the woman from Halloween night.
She grinned back at me, her eyes beaming. "No problemo!" she stated cheerfully, patting me on the back. Then, she leaned closer to me, whispering in my ear as she pulled me into a hug: "Between you and me," she whispered, "I'm super glad you're with Gavin. He seems happier since he met you. You're all he talks about."
My jaw dropped in surprise as she pulled away, my gaze at Gavin who was busily logging off his email account. "You're lying."
Chloe giggled, shaking her head. "I'll see you in a few days for the Christmas dinner?"
She didn't provide any more response to me calling her a liar. I smiled at her, realizing that her grin was very contagious. "Yeah." And suddenly, she threw her arms around me and pulled me into another hug.
Ugh. This was getting real annoying real fast.
"Okay!" she announced after letting go. "You know your way out," she said to Gavin, "I've got work to do. See ya' later, gators."
"Bye, loser." And with that, Gavin grabbed my hand and we left the house.
.
.
.
"She was...interesting," I began once we were back in the confines of his car. "Is she one of the girls that pursued you?"
Gavin smirked, raising a brow. "Why? You jealous?"
"Hardly," I retorted, rolling my eyes at him as I watched the street turn from the warm neighbourhood to distant mini-mansions with large lawns. "But she's nice."
"Yeah," he agreed, his voice softening. "She's something alright. Something crazy. Psychopath that girl is."
I rolled my eyes at him. "You're just a bad judge of character." Then as an afterthought, I added, "Are all your friends like her?"
He shook his head. "No. Just Chloe. The others are less overwhelming. You'll like them."
"If you say so," I teased, reaching up to give him a kiss on the cheek. Gavin groaned, rolling his eyes as he turned to an unfamiliar road. I wasn't even sure if it was a road. The path wasn't paved, but it seemed like other cars had passed through it enough times to create a pathway.
"Is this even legal?" I wondered, looking around. There were trees close by and if another car passes by us at the other side, I was sure that there'd be less than an inch space between his and the other person's car.
"Since when did you care about the legality of things?" he wondered, amused.
I did care, but I didn't let him know that so I just rolled my eyes. "This is dangerous," I told him flatly, eyeing the branches that grazed the glass of the passenger's window. "We're not even on a road."
"Don't you trust me?" Gavin's eyes turned to me, a familiar smirk gracing his lips. He had a look in his eyes that just screamed trouble and the way he was looking at me made me want to just step on the break and have my way with him right now. He must have read my mind and seen the dirty things I pictured doing to him because the next thing he says was, "Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll give you a reward if you're good."
I just glared at him and turned my head away, keeping my attention on the blurring trees outside.
Gavin laughed and it sounded so carefree that I was tempted to look at him but decided against it. I wasn't weak. I could resist him when I want to.
It's just, I really didn't want to right now.
It took us a few more minutes to get to a small clearing where Gavin parked the car. I eyed him suspiciously as he opened the passenger's door for me, holding a hand out. I looked around, finding trees and nothing but trees in the vicinity.
"You're not going to kill me are you?" I asked half joking, half serious.
"Nah," he answered with a shrug, a smile on his lips. "I like you too much to kill you."
I bit my lip, holding back a smile. "Flattery won't get you anywhere," I told him, taking his hand as he helped me out of the car.
Gavin quickly wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me close after he closed the door of his car and locked it. Gavin placed a hand on my chin, tilting it upwards as he slowly leaned closer, my eyes closing as the proximity between our lips decreased. "You're right," he whispered, his voice low, the warmth of his skin almost touching mine. I leaned up, impatient for the kiss. "Seduction works better," he breathed, pulling back and letting me go before he walked away and chuckled.
I was left there: a little breathless, a little frustrated.
What the hell was that?
"Dick," I shouted as he walked away, not even looking back.
Gavin threw his head back, running his fingers through the locks of his hair and laughed.
//a//n
heyyo.
next update on any of my works will take a longer while. exams are in a week and i'd rather not fail any of them as i'd like to get my degree as soon as possible. i'm already a semester behind my graduating class. so, if i pass all of my classes, i'm officially a graduate student when october rolls around, which means: better job pay and more job opportunities. so, this is important.
i'll be MIA for about 3 weeks but i'll try to upload once more because OH MY GOD COLE IS GOING TO TAKE UP A LOT OF READ TIME(?) SOON AND I LOVE HIM. Maybe more than Gavin? Okay, no. Gavin's my bae. But Cole will be pretty darn amazing.
IMPORTANT BUT SPOILERS:
I'm writing TWO alternate endings for Untouchable. The first ending is the original ending, where Penelope goes mentally crazy. Like, bring her to an asylum kind of crazy. It's kind of dark. Originally, she does NOT end up with Gavin on this ending (or anyone for that matter), but I might change that b/c of the second one.
The other is a happier one. But in this one, Gavin is out of the picture in Penny's future (sorry guys for the ship).
Rest assured, these are not set in stones. Gav was supposed up be out of the picture a few chapters ago but I decided to keep him like how I can decide to change the ending.
NOT SPOILER NEWS
Anyway. If you guys head to my other account (_teacups) you'll see more work by me. It's mostly works I've already written and revising to be more mature-rated. But you know, the mature-rating that doesn't involve funny words like 'bosoms' or 'inner goddess' or 'heaving.' Check them out if you have time <3
sorry for the shameless promo.
love, grace