Page 57 of Fragile

“I’m not. But if I don’t go and see it, I won’t hear the last of it. We’ll wait for you outside and then we can drop you by your old place.”

“Yes, and thank you, Gabriel. I seem to be saying that a lot lately,” I began with a shy smile. “You know I appreciate it right.”

His smile widened, “I know.”

I didn’t care if that was a loaded ‘I know’ I was just happy that we were getting on. I liked him, he was a grower.

As I lay in bed that night, I was full of excitement about Gabriel taking me out as his plus one. My eyes focused on the red dress which was hanging on the back of my bedroom door.

I would purposefully put plenty of effort into my appearance, just to show Gabriel Knight the extent of what he was missing.

*****

The next morning, I left for class before the house was awake, catching the Tube, something I didn’t usually do but the fact that it was a Sunday made it feel less intimidating.

The practice went well, I had worried about possible stomach issues having eaten more than my body weight in food over the last few days.

We were practising for the showcase and had to stop several times due to Samantha feeling ill. She looked pale and spent most of the lesson in the toilet.

Once I had finished for the day, I left class just after noon and my spirits lifted as I saw Gabriel’s Range Rover. It was parked illegally on the curb in front of our building. Asher was already in there with a sullen face.

Gabriel climbed out so I could slot myself in between the two boys in the middle as Marco was driving.

“He hated it,” Asher said, his lips turned down.

“I didn’t hate it. It’s just not my sort of thing,” Gabriel replied with a sigh.

Asher darted his brother a look. “I wasn’t talking about you, I meant Mark.”

“What didn’t he like about it?” I questioned, imagining ‘it’ to be Asher’s latest sculpture.

Gabriel snorted, whilst scrolling down his phone, totally distracted. I felt a twinge of disappointment, I wanted him to ask me about my day like a boyfriend for some silly reason. I shoved away the thought, obviously getting ahead of myself.

“He didn’t think it represented him well enough?”

“So, you did a sculpture of Mark?”

Asher grinned, “Not quite. I created the parts of him I love the most and merged them. It was an abstract piece.”

“Abstract my arse. It looked exactly like what it was supposed to Asher.”

“Oh, and what’s that Mr Fine Arts Degree,” Asher snarked, now annoyed.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow and tapped his phone against his thigh. “A giant cock and balls?”

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped my lips. “Really?” I said towards Asher.

“You don’t have to be crude.”

“I say it as I see, Ash. You know that.”

“Anyway, he hated it.”

The banter continued to flow, with me in the middle taking it all in. The atmosphere felt fun, the opposite of what was to come. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t dreading seeing Simon. I hadn’t even called the complex to say I was coming. Part of me hoped that one of the other managers was working so I wouldn’t need to see him.

As Marco pulled up in a no-parking zone in front of the apartment block, Gabriel climbed out of the car so I could get out.

“Thanks, you don’t have to wait, I can get the Tube back,” I suggested as Gabriel held the door open.

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