Page 2 of Gabriel's Album

The instant our hands touch, I am completely and utterly overwhelmed with the desire to take her somewhere private. The longing for her that I’ve been feeling all evening has suddenly intensified.

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Ariana.” I smile at her as charmingly as I can.

“What a gorgeous piece of ass,” Sebastian slurs at her.

“Excuse me?” she exclaims, and my alcohol-soaked brain doesn’t properly register the warning in her tone or the way she’s glaring at Sebastian.

“She certainly isn’t bad to look at,” I say stupidly and wink at her.

I’m disappointed when Ariana frowns back at me.

“I wouldn’t mind doing more than looking,” Sebastian says, leaning toward her and stroking her arm.

I’m absolutely horrified by this. Don’t get me wrong, I love Sebastian, but I hate the way he treats women. More importantly, I loathe seeing Sebastian touch her at all.

“I can actually hear you, you know!” she says in a disgusted tone.

“Cheer up. We’re just joking.” Sebastian shrugs his shoulder as he lets his arm drop to his side.

Good. Stop touching her, douchebag.

“Are you? Well, I’m not laughing.”

She’s glaring at both of us now, and I’m shocked by how disappointed I am by this.

“If you’ll just excuse me, I see someone I need to speak to.”

With that, she walks away from us, toward the exit.

“Fuck, Seb, why do you have to be such a dick?” I snap at my friend.

“Forget her; what an uptight bitch.”

Sebastian turns back to the ladies we had been talking to, who seem pretty much unfazed by the interaction we just had with Ariana, and continues the previous conversation.

I seethe internally as I walk toward the bar again. I had my opportunity with that beautiful creature, and I’d blown it…or Sebastian had blown it for me. I don’t really know; my head isn’t clear.

Instead of getting another drink as I’d planned, I get myself a water. Looking around the room, I see Hayden nearby, scrolling through his phone.

“Hey, dude,” I say as I approach him.

“What’s up, Gabriel?” Hayden smiles at me.

“Not much. Seb’s fucking drunk as fuck and being a dick,” I growl, still annoyed at our friend.

“Okay, there’s a lot to unpack here. You are aware that you’re drunk too, right?”

Hayden makes a point of never drinking when we’re at a gig. I’m thinking that’s probably a solid life choice right now.

“Well, yeah. I know I’m drunk too, but I’m not being an asshole to people, am I?”

“I see, so who was Seb being a ‘dick’ and an ‘asshole’ to?” Hayden queries.

“Just some chick that we were introduced to.”

I cringe internally as I refer to her as, ‘some chick.’ I don’t know what it is about her, but it feels like she deserves a label better than that.

“That’s nothing new. Any particular reason you’re so heated about it?” Hayden raises an eyebrow at me, looking curious at my reaction.

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