Page 13 of Gabriel's Salvation

“I don't actually know,'' she laughs.

She reaches into her bag and pulls out a pair of those stretchy black tight pants, you know the ones that give girls the tight, perky, I’ve just come from the gym, ass.

Kicking off her shoes she shimmies her curves into them, which just accentuates them more somehow.

“Let's go for a walk,” she suggests with her head down as she starts walking away from me.

She finds a big rock to sit on and motions for me to join her. I park my ass next to her and throw a joint in my mouth. Instead of waiting for her to ask for a drag, I grab hold of her cheeks causing her mouth to pop into a shocked O shape, put my mouth just centimeters from hers, and blow the smoke directly into her mouth.

“Next time you want to share my smoke, this is how you do it,” I growl, before putting my lips on hers before she has time to blow the smoke back out. Naturally, she begins coughing and choking and pulls away.

“That's what you get for being such a brat,” I tease.

“Dick,” she coughs.

“What, right here? Whatever you want baby,"I joke, pretending to unzip my jeans.

Catching me by surprise, instead of backing away or becoming flustered she slaps me. Right in the balls. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to show me who's in charge. If any other girl dared try that they’d be in serious shit. But with her, I kind of like it. I like the fact she's fiery and not in the least bit afraid of me; won't take shit from me. And doesn’t cower to me. No, this bitch wants to challenge me.

“Be lucky I didn't mean it.” she winks. Fuck this girl is driving me crazy.

The minutes turn into hours and before I know it, it is starting to get dark. Looking at my watch I realize it's almost 7p.m. We've been together almost five hours and somehow I'm not bored. Usually, just a few minutes of small talk outside the bedroom with girls is excruciating, yet here with Stacey, I feel at peace. My mind isn’t racing, I'm not jonesing for my next drink and I am just… present. As much as I’d love nothing more than to strip her naked and fuck her senseless, that's actually not all I want to do. Who would’ve thought this could happen to me. Am I catching feelings for this girl? No, I'm not capable. I just feel bad for her. Yep, that’s it. I just feel sorry for Stacey, plus I figure she’ll be a good lay.

“I best get home. My sister will be wondering where I got to,” Stacey says looking at her watch.

“Yeah, well I have to go anyway. I wasted my whole day here so I've got shit to catch up with.” Why the fuck did I say that? I'm such a dick. See? I can’t do anything right. I always step in shit. Well, better she knows this now.

I don't miss the hurt that flashes across her face. I look away so she can’t see that she’s affected me or that I care about the fact I clearly hurt her.

We walk silently to the bike and she doesn't even look at me as she climbs on. Barely holds me as we ride back into town. The whole ride back I'm arguing with my own mind. Part of me wants to pull up on the side of the road, throw myself to my knees and apologize but the other part of me is far too stubborn. Far too scared of being raw and opening myself up to pain. No, this is the only way I survive. By refusing to allow anyone to see the real me.

“Take the next left.” Stacey finally breaks the silence by saying.

I do as I'm told and again we go back to silence. Every now and then she will shout a word, never a proper sentence, just a ‘turn left’, ‘take the next right’ kind of thing until finally “stop here.” I pull up to a familiar-looking road and without a word she climbs off and walks into the house. Not looking back once. Shit! I really screwed up this time.

I wait a few minutes until I'm sure she's not gonna turn around and say goodbye. Then I drive away.

I’m driving when I feel the vibration of my phone on my thigh so I pull over and answer it. I look at my phone and it’s not vibrating and there’s no notifications of any missed calls or messages. Then I feel the sensation again and reach in my pocket and realize that it's not my phone vibrating.

three missed calls from Twinnie.

Shit! I didn't realize I had her phone. She must have left it in my jacket pocket.

Turning the bike around, I head back to give it to her. But first, I find an old receipt and write my number on it before placing it inside the phone case.

I pull up outside her house and walk down the driveway. As soon as I knock on the door I'm greeted by what sounds like a pack of vicious dogs.

Shit! I dump the phone on the doorstep and run away. Fast. I have never been a fan of dogs. Not since Dad used to force me to accompany him to those parties. Often I sat in the car with Carl and his two snarling dobermans while dad was inside fucking god knows who or selling god knows what illegal drug. Terrified to even breathe in case they decided to rip my fucking face off.

I arrive home and check my phone desperately praying Stacey has got her phone, and my number. To my shock when I take my phone out there's 1 message from an unknown number. I scramble to unlock my phone to read it. My excitement is short lived when all the message says is a simple thanks and a thumbs up.

Stacey

Rushing downstairs to our basement conversion bedroom, I throw myself onto my bed. Knowing I'm alone, I finally let the weight of today settle over me. As I do, my body begins to shake as the sobs come heavy and hard. I curl myself into a tight ball as I sob and sob. I sob for the boy who broke my heart. Sob for the friend who betrayed me. Sob for the boy I spent the day with, who also rejected me. And sob for the future I had in my mind that's vanishing before my very eyes. My dog jumps on the bed, licking my face. “Honey,” I whine as I gently push her away. She curls up beside me and lets me snuggle into her for support. That is until she hears a noise upstairs and runs off to investigate. I don’t even have the energy to move, it's probably just an Amazon driver or car passing by anyway. Instead, I stay where I am until I am so dehydrated my body can’t even make more tears. Physically holding myself together, but the next thing I know I feel someone crawl in beside me silently. I don't even need to look to know it's my sister, my twin flame beside me. Even before we were born she's always been the other half of me.

“What happened?” she whispers beside my ear as she continues to hold me.

“Justin is fucking Jessica. I walked in on them at it.” I sob. Maybe I wasn’t as dehydrated as I thought?

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