Chapter Thirteen ~ Closer than Friends
Waking up, the pungent smell of burning coffee filled my nostrils.
"Coffee?" I asked as I tried to rise up from whatever I was laying on. As soon as I did I felt my back and legs ache in agonizing pain. I cussed under my breath, not caring if anyone else was around.
I kicked off a blanket from on top of my legs and looked about the room. I was in the living room. My living room... How did I get home?
I went to the beach and- and- I can't remember anything... Why can't I remember anything?
Staring around, I looked out the windows. The sun was gleaming into the room, casting long shadows across the floor. The window was open a crack. Cool air blew in whipping the lace curtains like balloons lost in the wind. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed someone sitting on the armchair, watching me.
It was Gabriel.
"Hey." I greeted awkwardly.
"Hey," He paused. "You hungry?" My stomach rumbled softly making me blush. I nodded and watched as he stood up, walked around the couch, and headed to the kitchen. Mom's voice echoed from inside. They spoke for a few seconds before I heard the clatter of silverware.
When he entered the room he placed a tray of food on the table. Crispy, delicious bacon, fluffy scrambled eggs, and two petite pancakes rested on a plate, a fork and knife crossed the plate. The only thing missing was a cup of coffee, but I wasn't going to ask for any. Gabriel sat back down in his seat and watched me devour the food curiously. Feeling selfish, I decided to offer him a slice of bacon.
"Bacon?" Politely, he nodded, grabbing the bacon from me. He examined it, like it was something completely foreign to him, before ate a bite. It took a few seconds to get a reaction from him.
He smiled and ate the rest of the slice quickly, breaking it into bits and popping them into his mouth.
"How'd you know where I lived?" I asked. He finished the bacon and looked straight at me, our gazes connected.
"Karma led me here," He answered honestly. He placed his hands on his lap and leaned forward. "You feel good?"
Karma and him know each other... Wait, didn't she mention something about him? About being a guardian? Mason's guardian.
"My back's sore," I answered. He was about to get up, but I waved for him to sit down. "Other than that, I'm fine."
"Oh... Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Are you friends with Death?" He asked as he looked away from me and over my shoulder for a split second.
"Yeah, but it's complicated." I answered back. He looked down at his hands on his lap and sighed. There was this lost look in his eyes that made him look so much older. When he looked back at me the look vanished.
"Are you really an angel?"
"No," Casually, he stood up and walked over to the window, moving the lace curtains away, and looked outside. "I'm a guardian angel."
"So you're not angel?" I asked again, confused. He looked back at me and smirked.
"No. See, angels can't be touch or be seen by humans. Guardians can." He explained. Remembering my food, I stabbed a cluster of eggs and ate it, slowly chewing. I'm curious now.
"Oh... Do you have wings?" I asked. He smiled and nodded. Just as I was about to ask him more my mom entered the room. She was carrying a cup of coffee.
"Hi mom." I greeted her, my cheeks flushed a bit. She smiled and handed me the cup of coffee before kissing me on the forehead and stealing the last slice of bacon. She looked from Gabriel to me, her face glowing.
"Figured you'd be thirsty... I'm going to the store soon. Need anything?" I nodded no. Gabriel just watched silently. "Okay... I'll get going then. Be good." She said before walking out of the room and heading towards the front door. When I heard the open and lock my body tensed.
"That was awkward," I commented aloud. Gabriel stared at me, confused. I blushed even more. "So, you're Mason's guardian?" Mason... I wonder how he's doing.
"Yes."
"Shouldn't you be with him right now?"
"He doesn't want me there," He said softly. He looked at the floor and shook his head. "He's depressed... He's in so much pain, too. No child should have to suffer like that."
"I doubt he doesn't want you there," I softly said. He looked up at me and stared at me, his eyes showed his pain. "He's scared. He needs you."
"You understand him so much better than me," He said, his hazel eyes glossy. "How?"
My breath caught in my throat. I stared at my hand, eyeing my nails to escape looking at him. Because, I wanted to say, I just do. Because we all have our problems. We all suffer in some way or another.
Like dad... He made us suffer. He didn't care, though. He knew exactly what he was doing to mom and I. He hurt us. Now he's gone.
A tear rolled down my cheek and was about to fall when I wiped it away. It stung my skin as it rolled. I immediately shook it off and smiled back at Gabriel. The look on his face showed that he'd seen.
"You can't just abandon him. He needs you there with him more than ever." There was long pause.
"You know you almost died, right?" He asked, ignoring what I said. My blood ran cold.
Almost died?
"Do you remember what happened?" He asked. I shook my head and stood up, trembling.
I almost died?
"No," I quickly said looking down at the floor. "All I remember is blacking out."
"I figured that was the case," Gabriel stood up from his seat and walked over to the couch and looked down at me. "You want to see my wings?" I stopped thinking about blacking out and stared at Gabriel.
I nodded and watched as he pulled off his shirt, revealing the most toned body I'd ever seen.
Don't blush, just look away and calm down. I told myself. They're just abs. Crap, I'm blushing.
He turned around before he had the chance to notice my cherry cheeks. A pair of large, wide, grey and black wings spread open, stretching about, I don't know, twelve feet or so. There were layers of long, fluffy feathers resting one on top of another. Bits of feather fluff filled the air, floating around the living room like snow.
They’re magnificent.
"Does it hurt when you spread them out?" I asked, rising from the couch and placing my coffee beneath the lamp on the coffee table next to the couch. He looked over his shoulder at me and nodded no.
"No. I'm used to them... You can touch them if you like."
"Really?" I asked excitedly, my attempt at not embarrassing myself failed miserably. He nodded again. Slowly, I touched a grey feather gently. I looked up at Gabriel to see if he was okay. He seemed a little tense, but fine.
Feeling a bit more courageous, I ran my right hand over the feather on his left wing. My hand traveled up towards the bridge bone of the wing. I could feel him tremble under my touch. Instinctively, I pulled my hand away and let it fall to my side. He flapped his wings gently again making more feather flakes fly about.
"Sorry," He apologized before carefully turning around. His wings seemed to curl a bit, shrinking in length. "That tickles. Those bones are very sensitive."
"Oh," I paused, crossing my arms and standing patiently, not knowing what more to say. Honestly, my stomach was full of fluttering butterflies, no, bees, stinging to get out. I was so nervous and excited and flustered- God, my emotions were out of control. I commented with a smile, "They're beautiful."
For a minute or so we stood staring at one another, our gazes latched onto each other’s. I couldn't look away from him. I definitely am not myself when I'm around him.
Then he took a step towards me, getting really close to me. His gaze didn't leave mine. His hand touched my face. His fingers were cool and caressed my skin softly. As if in slow motion, Gabriel leaned towards me, his face, his lips, not even an inch away.
He leaned in even more.
And more.
More.
Closer and closer.
When his lips were about to press against mine I turned my head away, freaking out a bit, making them land on my cheek. Looking back at him, I smiled at how wide his eyes were, shocked by me turning away. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. A kiss on the cheek would suffice.
That’s when I heard a loud knock at the front door.
"Cara? Cara, you up?" Marisa shouted, her voice and knocks were getting louder.
Crap.
Looking up at Gabriel, I realized how calm and collected he was. As if it was nothing, he stared at me curiously.
"Shouldn't we answer the door?" He asked.
"Can she see your wings?" I asked him, keeping my voice low to a whisper. His eyes widened.
"Yes." He said, making his wings fold and disappear into his back. Just as Gabriel put on his shirt I saw Marisa climbing through the front window. She used to break into my house in middle school so she wouldn't have to ring the door and disturb my mom. I always told her not to, but she did anyways.
As soon as her head popped in, her eyes widened and she muttered. "Cara?" Like a klutz, she hit the top of her head on the window's edge, making her fall down. I heard a loud thump from outside.
"Marisa? Marisa, are you okay?" I asked, rushing over to the window and peering out.
She was lying on the floor.
"Gabriel," I peered back at him and he rushed over to my side, looking from the window to me before opening the window more and jumping out. "We’re going to the hospital."
~*~*~*~*~*
Three hours later, I'm sitting beside Marisa who was lying (conscious thankfully) on a hospital bed. We were able to get some x-rays done on her body to see if she'd broken anything. The doctor we had told us she suffered a minor concussion and would need to stay overnight. She kept giving me dirty looks every time he mentioned anything about windows and her having to stay overnight.
She fell asleep within the next hour. For a while, I sat by her bed, watching her. I kept on thinking about everything that happened that morning. As soon as Mason popped into my mind, I stood up and went searching for Gabriel.
I found him in the food court.
"Is your friend okay?" Gabriel asked as soon as I stopped walking towards him. I answered with a nod, too worried about Mason to speak.
"Have you gone to see Mason yet?"
"Yes," He answered with a weak smile as he ran his right hand through his gorgeous locks of dirty blond hair. "He's resting right now."
"Oh... He's going to get better, right?" I asked, hopeful, with a smile. He shut his eyes and sighed in defeat.
That's never a good thing.
"Let's pray so." He answered, his eyes glossed. After a second he noticed me watching and motioned for me to sit down at a table for two. I nodded no and turned to leave.
As soon as my eyes landed on the exit I froze. Standing patiently, pale and uncertain, Death was leaning against the wall, watching me. Other than glance briefly at him I didn't pay him any attention. I just walked right past him and out of the room.
"Cara-" Death called from behind me, his steps echoing softly behind.
"Don't," I yelled as I began to run down the hallway. When I reached the end of the hall I looked back. He was halfway down the hall, floating. His black eyes and hair were consumed by flames, his skin so white it was glowing; an unknown look crossed his face. "Just stay away from me."
He looked down at the ground, hurt, and nodded once before I turned back around and ran back to Marisa's room. I found her awake, watching some show that was playing on the old, dingy television in the right corner of her hospital room. Her smile was infectious.
Thank God she's okay.
"You should have locked it shut if you didn't want me to see you with your gorgeous boy toy." She said unexpectedly, her voice light and playful. Immediately, I blushed and walked over to the chair besides her bed.
I poked her arm, making her wince, as I sat down. "He's not my boy toy."
"He so is," She laughed and smiled. "You owe me big time."
"I don't owe you crap."
"Yes, you do. Don't think I forgot about what happened yesterday. Leaving me to wait for hours without even calling. Talk about rude."
"I'm so sorry," I stuttered, confused. Thinking about it I did remember something about meeting Marisa. "I honestly forgot... Where were we supposed to meet?"
"Near the swings in the park?" She said.
"Oh, right," I remembered then calling her and wanting to tell her about Gabriel. I wanted to tell her about our encounter at the supermarket. About the pineapple he gave me. "I must have forgotten about the time."
"Obviously," Marisa touched my shoulder. "I was so worried something happened to you. I called your phone like fifty times and you never answered. That's so unlike you."
My phone? I patted my pants pockets and realized that I didn't have my phone on me. I always have my phone with me. Where the heck could it be?
"Yeah, that's so unlike me... I must have left it lying somewhere." I lied, a bit worried.
"Probably. You know, I met your mom on the corner of your block heading to the store before I popped by earlier. She said you were hanging out with some guy from school."
"What? No," I admitted, forgetting all about Gabriel. That's when I realized he'd probably told my mom that we go to school together. My mom would never just let some guy enter our home, even a hot guy like Gabriel. "See, Gabriel is thinking of transferring over for his senior year. She must have heard differently."
"So that's boy toy's name?" Marisa perked up, smiling wider. "Gabriel. So sexy. It fits."
"It does," I laughed softly, looking up at the clock. 5:47 PM. Shit, I have to get going. I rose from my seat and looked at Marisa. "I've gotta go. You don't mind if I drop by later with my mom?"
"You know I love visitors. Can you bring Tyler along, too?" She asked excitedly. I nodded and said goodbye before walking out of the room to leave.
I walked home in silence, content and free. My mind was blank. No thoughts were bouncing around in my head. It was as though I'd warped back in time; back to before I'd seen Death, before that dreaded evening. I was heading home to my happy past.
Would any of this have happened if I hadn't signed that contract? If I hadn't seen that woman get killed? If I'd left work a minute or two later? Would Mason and Marisa both have ended up the hospital?
I don't know... I'll never know.
***
Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know about the video attached. I attachec it because one, it sort of goes with Cara's dad, two, it fits for Gabriel and Cara's relationship, and three, it's a beautiful song. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Will update soon,
Dani/ Wowwy10