Page 69 of I Dreamt That You Loved Me
“Hey, dude, I wouldn’t be complaining if I were you. This is some good press. ‘Striking good looks, those cheekbones, those pouty lips,’” Devin quoted. “All the chicks will be showing up to check you out—” He cut himself off and grimaced when he caught me glaring at him. “Sorry, Cleo.”
“Like he needs more chicks showing up,” I muttered. “He’s already got more than enough fans. One too many, if you ask me.” Gabriel chuckled and I gave him the evil eye. I knew exactly what he was thinking.
“Poor Nose Ring Girl,” he said. “She’ll probably be too scared to come back to Monks.”
One could only hope.
“I tried to be nice but every week she practically throws herself at him,” I told Devin. “Last week she tried to rip his shirt off.”
Gabriel snorted. “She tripped over a cable and grabbed my shirt to stop herself from falling.”
If he honestly believed that, he was more naïve than I thought.
Two buttons had popped off, that's how aggressively she’d grabbed him. To add insult to injury, it was the shirt I’d made for him which had incensed me even more.
“That’s what she gets for shaking her stuff right in front of you,” I said. “Karma is a bitch. If we’re still together when you get rich and famous, you’d better not cheat on me with any ofyour groupies. I can’t be held responsible for what I’d do to you if you fucked around on me.”
I held up an imaginary knife and made stabbing motions.
Gabriel threw his head back and laughed. “Wow. You mustreallylike me. You’re such a jealous lover.”
That was a lot nicer than calling me a total psycho. Not that I’d physically assaulted Nose Ring Girl. I would never.
I’d just told her in no uncertain terms to keep her eyes and her hands to herself and to back off from my man.
Thankfully, Gabriel had backed me up and made it clear that he was with me and only me. As soon as we got home that night, we were all over each other, and fucked like rock stars. Take that, Nose Ring Girl.
“That’s the dream, man,” Devin said wistfully. “Find yourself a girl who’s willing to commit homicide for you.”
“That reminds me,” Gabriel said. “Can we borrow your car this weekend?”
I’m not sure why the word homicide reminded Gabriel that he wanted to borrow Devin’s car, but this weekend was my mother’s annual summer party.
Unfortunately, when she called to remind me, Gabriel answered the phone and assured her that we’d be there so now I was roped in.
We stayed at Monks to watch an Irish folk singer that Gabriel and I both loved.
He scooted his chair over, so he was sitting right next to me and jerked his chin at Sharon. “This is how I imagine you would sound if you sang,” he said, taking a sip of his wine. “Like a rock chanteuse. There’s so much power and purity and soul in hervoice. She just grabs the audience by the throat and doesn’t let go.”
“Are you saying that I’m too tenacious?”
He wrapped his arm around me and moved his mouth close to the shell of my ear. “I’m saying that you’re a force of nature and I want you to hold on tight and never let me go.”
I was so crazy about him that I never wanted to let him go but I pulled back to look at his face. “Even when I argue with you and drive you nuts?”
“Never stop and I promise I won’t either,” he said. “We make each other better.”
It was true. We called each other out on our bullshit and pushed each other to be better, to do better, to create without boundaries.
We supported each other in all our endeavors and were each other’s biggest fans. I believed there was nothing Gabriel couldn’t do, and he felt the same about me.
When I launched my capsule collection at House of Simone and two other boutiques a couple of weeks ago, Gabriel told all his devoted groupies to get on over to House of Simone and buy a Cleo Babington original design.
He was so proud of me that he told anyone who would listen, and I, in turn, was so proud of him that I was constantly singing his praises. Which was why I’d been so excited about that positive review.
The more I thought about it though, the more I understood where he was coming from. It wasn’t from a place of arrogance or conceit but like he’d said, he was trying to protect his headspace.
Gabriel was an artist with a vision, and he didn’t want to be swayed by outside opinions.
