Chapter 5 - You're Not My Type
~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up with the hugest grin on my face. Gee, if I could wake up every morning like that...
And the funny thing was, I didn't even know why I was smiling. Usually, I was a, quote, quote, "holy terror" once woken up. Mack's words, not mine.
After brushing my teeth and washing my face in front of the fogged up mirror that I'd gotten used to over the past week, I padded downstairs, rubbing my sleepy eyes. I saw the time on my little clock in the room; it was about nine o'clock in the morning, and that surprised me. I usually didn't make it out of bed until eleven or later. My record was two thirty in the afternoon.
There were only two people downstairs. I had kind of anticipated that; we had stayed up pretty late last night. I was just kind of dreading running into Gabriel, as stupid as that sounds.
He and his mom were sitting at the island counter, chatting quietly over some pancakes. The last step squeaked when I stepped on it and both mother and son turned around. Mrs. Fayne smiled at me. "Have a good night's sleep?"
I nodded shyly. "Yeah. I'm actually surprised I got up this early."
She laughed good naturedly. "Well, at least you can keep us company now." She gestured to the one extra stool beside Gabriel, who had been watching my every move since I made it to the ground floor. "Go on, sit. I'll fix up a plate of pancakes for you, how about that?"
"That'd be great, Mrs. Fayne, thank you," I replied, walking over to the stool. I made sure not to make eye contact with Gabriel.
"Oh, don't call me Mrs. Fayne," she said dismissively, pulling an extra plate from the cabinets. "Call me Linda. I've known you since you were a baby, so it's only fair," she winked. I was willing to bet that that was where Gabriel picked up his little winking thing.
I grinned. "Okay, Linda." I took a bite of the pancakes she set in front of me and almost groaned out loud. "This is so good!"
Linda raised an eyebrow at me, sweeping her eyes over my figure. "Honey, don't take this the wrong way...but are you wearing Gabe's shirt?"
I automatically snapped my eyes down to my outfit...that I'd forgotten to change out of. I heard a little pained moan come from my left side, quiet enough so that his mom wouldn't hear it. "Um..."
"I let her borrow it," Gabriel cut in. "She...couldn't find her pajamas." I almost snorted out loud. Yeah, right.
His mom nodded slowly. "Okay. I'll trust you on this one," she told us, but I could hear a tiny bit of doubt in her tone. "I'm just glad my son had decent enough manners to lend you something. You can look for your pajamas today; they could've gotten mixed up in your luggage," she suggested gently.
Gah, that was so embarrassing. I could only imagine what was running through her head, I mean, she was his mom! And she sees me wearing his shirt, only his shirt, down for breakfast. That must've screamed, 'I had sex with your son yesterday' all over it.
A loud screeching jolted me from my thoughts as Gabriel noisily pushed his stool back, dumped his plate and glass in the sink, and jogged back upstairs. Once again, without a single word of acknowledgement.
I spun right back around to face Mrs. Fayne. "I swear we didn't do anything, he really did just let me borrow it and-"
She laughed. "Okay, okay! I believe that coming out of your mouth...maybe not my son so much, but I'll trust you. If you'd like, I also won't mention this little misunderstanding to your parents."
I hopped off my stool and gave her a hug. "You're the best." She really was. Mrs. Fayne was practically my second mother.
"I know," Linda responded condescendingly with a light chuckle. "Oh, Rosie?" she called after me as I was halfway up the stairs. "Would you mind doing something for me today?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"We're running low on milk, butter...and I'll get back to you on what else we're low on once I check. Do you think you and Gabe could pop by the grocery store in town?"
I froze. "Um...I-I can go grocery shopping by myself, Gabriel doesn't have to bother."
There was a shuffling noise as she rummaged in the fridge. "Do you have your driver's license with you?"
Aw, seriously? "No," I admitted. "I didn't think I'd need it so I kind of left it at home..."
"Gabe has his, so he can drive you and help you with everything. Go on, change!" She flapped a hand at me and I jogged up the stairs. "And a little word of advice, darling, don't ever call Gabe 'Gabriel', alright? It puts him in a rather awful mood."
I stopped. "Okay, thanks, Linda!"
"Thank you, dear!"
As I dug around in my closet once I got to it, I kept wondering why on earth Gabriel didn't like being called that anymore. Did he just not like the sound of his actual name and shorten it to Gabe? Or was there another reason? I personally didn't think there was anything wrong with 'Gabriel'. It suited him just fine, but I'd have to watch what I called him if what Mrs. Fayne said was true. Who knows, I was so used to calling him Gabriel that it could just slip out on accident.
And Lord knows, I don't need him in a bad mood.
I settled on a white crop top and denim jeans before pulling on flip flops. A quick brush through my hair and I was done, it was just the grocery store.
I was debating on what I should do with Gabriel's shirt. It was now draped over one of the bedposts and I was wondering if I should just wash it and kind of mix it in with his laundry, or if I should go give it to him personally. I was slightly apprehensive of the latter because...well, because I felt like his emotions were kind of crazy.
Let's face it. His mood swings were worse than a pregnant lady's.
On that note, I just folded the shirt nicely and laid it on my bed. I could wash it later if he wanted me to. Taking a breath, I walked out of my room and knocked three times on his door.
It swung open practically two seconds later and his dark eyes narrowed at me. "What do you want?"
Joy...the asshole was back. "Your mom asked us to go grocery shopping."
Gabriel groaned out loud. "Why can't you just go?"
"I don't have my driver's license," I replied calmly, but in reality, his mood swings were starting to bug me. They were annoying and unpredictable, and getting on my nerves.
"Fantastic," he muttered. "Fine, I'll drive you."
"You're also helping her with the groceries, Gabe!" Linda yelled from downstairs. Geez, did she hear that? If she did, then she had incredible hearing.
"Damn it," he swore, fixing his gaze on me. It lingered for a moment on the strip of stomach I had exposed with the crop top, and I had an urge to cross my arms over my midsection.
My own inner voice scoffed at me. He's already seen you in a bikini, this is hardly anything compared to that.
Oh, true. But still...
"My eyes are up here," I snapped at him, surprising even myself with how harsh I sounded.
His eyes bore into mine. "I can see that." There it was again, that somewhat mocking look in his eyes that made me want to punch his lights out.
Great, he's turned me into a violent psychopath.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The drive into the little beach town was quiet, except for the beginning of Macklemore's 'Can't Hold Us' playing through the Faynes' stereo. Without meaning to, I started to quietly rap the lyrics.
Return of the Mack, get up! What it is, what it does, what it is, what it isn't. Lookin' for a better way to get up out of bed without getting on the internet and checking a new hit me, get up! Fresh out, pimp strut walking, little bit of humble, little bit of cautious. Somewhere between like rocky and Cosby sweatergang nope, nope, y'all can't copy.
Something nudged my shoulder and I turned away from the window. Gabriel was looking at me with a half-amused smile. "You know the rap parts?"
I nodded, partially embarrassed. "The whole thing," I admitted. Hey, would you look at this! We weren't arguing!
"Not bad, Rosie," he said thoughtfully, facing the road again. "Not bad."
I squashed down the faint feeling of butterflies in my stomach. That was hardly even a half-baked compliment, so why was I having this reaction? It was irrational.
He pulled up to the tiny grocery store and when we walked inside, a perky redhead practically appeared in front of us, causing me to take a couple of steps back. "Hi!" she chirped cheerfully. "Welcome to Cherry's Market!"
Would it be too pessimistic of me if I said that her happiness almost made me sick?
Out of the corner of my eye as I smiled at her politely and reached for a basket, I saw Gabriel's eyes fixed firmly on her chest. I resisted the urge to roll mine. I got the feeling that he was a complete player from him a lot.
"We have a sale today on peaches!" exclaimed the girl, who looked no older than us. "If you buy four, then you get two free!" How was it possible for someone to be this cheery this early in the morning?
Okay, fine, it was like ten thirty. But it was still abnormal.
Gabriel just nodded at her and nudged my arm. "What did my mom ask us to buy again?" And now he was back to being civilized.
I pulled out the list from my pocket. "Er...quite a lot of things, actually." The list unrolled itself, reaching from my chest height down to the bottom of my shirt.
Oh, geez, the look the redhead was giving me right now was probably cold enough to freeze every droplet of sweat I had on my forehead just from standing there. This little town was freaking hot! And the redhead's glare could've counteracted all of that.
Once again, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Jealousy was written all over her face, but she didn't have anything to be jealous of. He didn't even remotely like me!
As Gabriel started to walk away with the list in his hand, I leaned over to the girl and said, "You can have him; he's not my type, anyway."
The shocked look on her face almost had me bursting out laughing before I could walk away fast enough. When I caught up with Gabriel, he turned to me and asked, "What the hell is okra?"
I pulled a face. "I think it might be a vegetable?"
"Sounds like some wine brand to me," he muttered under his breath. "God, Mom, why couldn't you have put common foods on here? And what the hell is a ram-butt-tan?" he pronounced slowly, and I couldn't hold in my laughter. Gabriel gave me a 'don't you even dare' look. He defended himself, "Hey, if it's foreign, then I can't pronounce it for shit."
We walked down the seafood and poultry aisle. I poked his arm teasingly before I could stop and think about my actions. "How good were you at foreign languages, then?"
"Don't touch me."
Gabriel sped up his pace and I just kind of stood there with my mouth open. Gosh, what a jerk! I did know that I probably shouldn't have poked him, but I couldn't help it. It was like a reflex; we used to do that all the time when we were kids.
When the shopping trip was over, and yes, we did find out that okra was a veggie and a rambutan was some sort of Asian fruit, Gabriel carried the majority of the bags to the trunk of the car while I lugged the remaining two. I think he purposely gave me the ones filled with heavier canned items.
He got into the driver's seat, slamming the door shut with a bang that made me flinch. My hand had just barely touched the door handle when I heard, "Hey, you!"
I spun around to see a dark-haired guy run out of the store, waving his hands wildly. "Me?" I asked, pointing at myself. As the guy got closer I let out a gasp of recognition. "Oh! Hey, Aaron!"
Aaron grinned at me. "Long time no see, right, Rosie?" He was dressed in a simple t-shirt and bermuda shorts, but dang, he looked good.
"It's been little over a week," I laughed. "Clingy already?" I joked.
"I just missed seeing your glorious face," he said in a high falsetto that had me laughing again. "I can't live without you in my life, Rosie!"
I shook my head, still laughing. "You are so embarrassing."
He winked. "You secretly love it."
See, now, this was a guy I could befriend, may I add, way more easily than I could ever befriend Gabriel again.
"Sure, keep dreaming," I teased back.
Aaron shot me another mischievous smile. "So...since I obviously can't stand not seeing you often, would you go on a date with me?"
I blinked. What? "Are you serious?" I squeaked. What the hell was happening? I almost never got asked out. Ever. And we barely knew each other! Oh, but he seemed so nice.
"Well, if you wanna take it slow, we can just call it 'hanging out'," he laughed. "I want to get to know you, and I hardly ever get to see you. How about Sunday night tomorrow? Meet me on the beach at six?" he asked, giving me another one of those warm smiles.
I opened my mouth to reply, but was cut off by a rude comment, courtesy of Gabriel. "Rosie, get in the car! We haven't got all day!"
Before I had time to react, he was out the door and hauling me into the car, strapping me in as if I were a child. "Gabe! What the hell?"
Aaron was standing by my open window, frowning at Gabriel. "Is this your brother or something?" he asked.
"I'm not related to her," Gabriel growled out, changing the shift so he could back out of the parking. "Bye."
I yelled out the window as fast as I could, "Sunday sounds great! See you there!" and laughed again as Aaron did a little victory dance. Gosh, that boy was weird, but I kind of liked it. We could get to know each other tomorrow, and that sounded pretty good to me.
Obviously, it didn't sound very good to the irritated looking guy next to me. Gabriel had a permanent scowl on his face the entire way home. I suddenly remembered what he'd said to me before, and it made my chest hurt again.
"Why would I be jealous? If you two end up together, I'll pity the poor guy."
But then I thought to myself, why should I care about what Gabriel thinks? He made it perfectly clear that we were no longer friends; just two strangers spending the rest of summer vacation together. I could still enjoy the time we had here without him.
I jerked forward in my seat with a little squeal when Gabriel slammed on the brakes as we swung into the driveway. Jesus Christ, he drove like a maniac!
He got out of the car, slammed the door shut, and went around to the back of the car to get the groceries. He slammed the trunk shut, too, before stomping into the house. I unbuckled my seatbelt with a sigh and followed after him. What was his problem?
Mack was perched on the couch watching some TV show when I came in. She waggled her eyebrows at me and nodded her head slightly towards Gabriel, who was stowing away the food in the refrigerator. I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly what she was thinking.
I headed for the kitchen and reached into a grocery bag to help him put the food away when his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. Almost gave me a damn heart attack!
"I don't need your help," he said coldly, turning back around to the refrigerator.
I shuffled on my feet. "Are you sure? I mean, I could-"
Gabriel went motionless, his back stiffening. "Just leave."
Ducking my head down, I walked away from him quietly and went upstairs to my room. Talk about a cold shoulder. I didn't even do anything to him, and then all of a sudden, he just hated me again.
Mack flew into my room about half a minute later. "So, where'd you guys go?"
"Grocery shopping," I replied in a tired tone.
"That's it?"
I stared at my sister. "What did you expect? We were at the store...getting food."
"So nothing happened?" Mack sounded almost disappointed. "Nothing at all?"
"He seems pretty pissed at me if you haven't noticed," I chuckled wryly. "I didn't even do anything."
Mack pursed her lips. "I believe you."
"But something did happen." I started to smile. "I ran into Aaron again today."
"He asked you out, didn't he?" she gasped. Was she a freaking mind reader? "Where are you guys going?"
I giggled. "I actually have no idea. He said to meet him at the beach tomorrow." Now I was starting to get excited. Call me cheesy and cliché, but I'd always wanted a summer romance since...forever. Wasn't that practically every girl's secret dream?
"Wait..." A look of understanding passed over her face. "Did he ask you out like, in front of Gabe?"
What did that have to do with anything? "Yeah, Gabe was in the car and I was just standing outside. Why?"
She smirked at me. It was scary, really, seeing a version of Gabriel's smirk on her face, especially when they could pass for siblings quite easily, with the blonde hair and darker eyes. "He's probably jealous, then."
I scoffed. "Sure." That was completely ridiculous. "You know what he said to me a while ago? He said that if Aaron and I ever ended up together, he'd feel bad for Aaron."
"Maybe he was trying to discourage you from dating Aaron because he wants you all to himself," Mack laughed, rolling onto my bed.
I burst out laughing; the idea was preposterous. "That's hilarious!"
"Come on, Rosie, I bet he likes you." She stopped laughing and sat up with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Uh-oh. "And I know how we can prove it."
I held up a hand. "Calm down. I don't need to prove anything; I know he doesn't like me, and I'm fine with that," I lied the last part through my teeth.
She narrowed her eyes. "You're sure you're fine?"
"Yes."
Her eyes went wide as she snatched Gabriel's black shirt from the top of my bed. Shit! "Is this his shirt?" she almost yelled. "Why do you have it? Did you two-"
I grabbed it back from her. "It's not what you think it is," I groaned. When did fourteen-year-olds get so perverted? "He dumped sand in my pajama drawer and I didn't have anything to wear."
Mack blinked at me. "You stole his shirt? Dang, Rosie," she started laughing again.
"No! He threw it at me! Ugh, I give up," I threw my hands up in the air exasperatedly. No matter what I said, Mack would find a way to twist my words.
"Ooh, he gave you his shirt? That's so romantic!"
See what I mean?
I rubbed a hand over my face. "Did you not get the part about him filling my drawer with sand?"
"I chose to ignore it. That was so cute! See, Rosie, I told you he likes you!"
"I don't give a flying sh-" I corrected myself, "poop, about whether or not he likes me, but would you be interested in-"
"Getting him back for ruining your pajamas?" my little sister finished with an evil grin. "Well, I do like the idea of you two together...but a guy can't ruin a girl's clothes without some form of payback. It would be my pleasure."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Dinner that night was a fried okra and rice dish that Linda had prepared, along with some cooled rambutans and vanilla ice cream for dessert. If I kept eating like this every night, I'd weigh ten pounds more at the end of summer than what I started with.
Mom turned to Mack when we were all finished eating. "Mack, I don't believe you've washed the dishes yet."
My traitorous sister shot me a smirk. "Rosie owes me, so she's washing them."
I groaned. "What?" Did she seriously remember that? Damn it!
"Rosie?" Mom asked, with her eyebrows raised. Then her mouth formed an 'o' shape. "Did you two make another bet?"
That was just how common our betting was, to the point where our parents could just tell like that.
"Yes," I muttered, stabbing at the rambutan left on my plate and popping it in my mouth. "I lost."
Beside me, I heard Gabriel snicker to himself quietly. Jerk. Why did I always end up sitting next to him, anyways? I jerked my foot to the right and received a harsh glare from him when my heel made contact with his shin. Serves him right.
Dad stood up and walked over to the sink with his dirty plate. "Well, a bet's a bet. Rosie, you're doing the dishes. Mack, you can do them next time."
Mack grinned happily before dumping her dirty things in the sink as well and bounding upstairs, probably to Skype Liam or something before bed. Despite my current irritation towards her, I couldn't help the tiny smile I let slip onto my lips at how cute they were.
When everyone scattered throughout the house to keep themselves busy before bed, I got up and sluggishly dragged myself towards the sink brimming with silverware and dirty dishes. I let out an audible groan and pulled on a pair of yellow rubber gloves as I ran water over all the plates.
I was in the middle of gingerly washing some rice off a bowl when Gabe sulked into the kitchen, a dark look on his face. Uh-oh.
I shot him a glance as he came and stood right next to me, reaching for the other sponge. "Uh...can I help you?"
"My mom's making me help you...so no," he grumped out. "Let's get this fucking over with."
So the rude demeanor was back.
The rest of the time, we stood there in an icy silence, scrubbing one plate after another. Truth be told, I was kind of glad that I had an extra pair of hands to help, but at the same time, having him do this was making me uncomfortable.
I was just turning around from facing the sink after washing my hands when I smacked into Gabe's chest. Good grief, this had to be like, the fifth time. "Ow," I mumbled. And it never failed to inflict pain upon my nose.
"It's nice to know that you think I'm irresistible, but could you please try to control yourself?"
I glared at him. "You suck. And you're not my type."
"So I heard," he replied. I froze. Did he hear me in the store? Dang, look who inherited his mother's hearing. "By the way, you're not very good at whispering."
"Shut up." I stalked out of the kitchen when I heard his answering chuckle. Smug, arrogant, pig-headed, son of a-
Mack had practically appeared in front of me with a quizzical expression. "Whoa, someone's in a bad mood," she commented upon me almost running into her.
In response, I grabbed her hand and hauled her upstairs into my room before slamming the door shut. "I can't stand him," I fumed. "We should've stayed at home for the summer," I lamented after a little while and rolled back onto the bed.
My sister punched my arm. "You know you don't mean that. Gabe seems pretty nice to me and if we stayed home, we would've been bored to death, and you know it."
I sighed. She was right. The summer before this one, we literally just sat at home on our electronics all day, or went to the pool, maybe the mall on occasion, but it was boring as hell. This summer seemed to be gearing up to be a pretty exciting one, but for all the wrong reasons.
"He's not nice," I chose to say instead of commenting on her latter point. "How can you say that?" Well, crap, he succeeded in brainwashing every single person in the house...except me.
Mack cocked her head at me. "Because he is. You know, today while you were cleaning out your stuff, he helped me build a sand castle on the beach."
Oh, cleaning all the sand from my belongings took a heck of a long time. I'd missed most of the day...and apparently all the interesting parts, too. "He what?"
"Gabe helped me make a sand castle," she repeated slowly. Then she frowned at me. "Why do you look like you don't believe me?"
"No, no, I do," I lied, walking to my closet. I glanced at here over my shoulder. "I think I'll just go to bed now, I'm kind of tired. 'Night, Mack."
"Okay, 'night, Rosie," she replied softly before slipping out the door and shutting it.
I sighed again as I slumped down in the closet, rubbing my temples. God.
I could tell that Mack wasn't lying. I'd lived with her long enough to be able to tell when she was. What troubled me was how easily everyone else was being duped by him. I was the one who got the brunt of his usually suggestive comments, crude language, even ruder manners and just all the unpleasantness in general. I was sick of it and I'd only been putting up with it for little over a week, God knows how I could possibly survive the summer.
Maybe I was being stupid.
I'd just told myself earlier today that it didn't matter what he did or thought. I was going to stick with that. I chanted the phrase over and over in my head like a mantra. This wasn't healthy. Gabriel was not my concern. I shouldn't really care because there wasn't a point in it anymore. To me, it kind of seemed like he went off the deep end.
Pushing myself off the ground, I went over to my bed, grabbed his shirt, and walked through the bathroom. He'd left the entrance to his room unlocked so I went in and my eyes were surprised by the darkness. He went to bed already?
I tiptoed to the lump on the bed that was slightly illuminated by the moonlight, clutching the shirt. My eyes widened when I caught sight of his face.
In sleep, he looked so much younger, as if the years that had hardened him were taken off instantly. His blonde locks were splayed messily on his forehead and I smiled a little, remembering how Mrs. Fayne had constantly pestered him when we were kids to cut his hair because it was too long, but he never agreed with anything more than a tiny trim.
The hard glint of his eyes was hidden now and the scowl that was always aimed at me was erased. Before I could think about what I was doing, my hand reached out to smooth away the little tangled mess of hair in the front for just a second before I yanked it back. What the hell was wrong with me?
I held up the shirt, frowning at it before starting to place it at the end of his bed.
"You can keep it," a deep voice mumbled and I nearly dropped it. I spun around to look at him and sure enough, his eyes were open and staring at me. "You don't have anything else to sleep in."
With my cheeks burning at the thought of him waking up at my foolish action, I gave a weak nod before walking out. "Thanks."
"'Night."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Gabriel's POV
Something soft brushed the skin on my forehead and I snapped awake, just like that. But something told me to keep my eyes closed. As quickly as the contact had come, it disappeared. I heard a very slight intake of breath and dared to open one eye.
The first thing I felt was a cold rush of shock that turned into a weird hopeful something that I quickly squashed. What was Rosie doing here? Even in the dim light, I could make out her profile. And she was frowning at a black piece of fabric that I recognized as my shirt.
She leaned over to put it on the bed, I assumed. Then the words just flew out of my mouth in a hasty mutter. "You can keep it."
Fuck, why did I do that? She jumped and turned around, eyes searching as I fixed my gaze on her face. Yep, I definitely scared her and it made an unwanted feeling of guilt settle in my stomach.
"You don't have anything else to sleep in," I added quietly. C'mon, Rosie, just take the damn shirt.
She nodded a little. "Thanks."
Before she could disappear from my view, I let out a hasty, "'Night." Oh my- did I really just do that? Why was I letting all this shit come out of my mouth, I never did that. Ever.
Goddamn, I'm an idiot.
~~~~~~~~~~~
A little bit of an insight into Gabe's head right up there haha what did you guys think?
The pic to the side is Nick Carter who will play Ross Lively, Mack and Rosie's dad.
What was your favorite part of this chapter?
Ahh a hundred votes on the' last chapter thank you guys so much! Your support is incredible!
Goal: 105 votes
Note: I will not be posting until January 2014, so sorry for the short notice. Stay safe for the holidays!
xoxo