The Same Mistakes Club

Chapter Twenty-Seven

"You can't be serious!"

Gabriel rolled his eyes at me. "Just drop it already."

He handed me my ticket as we went through the entrance of the arena. I noticed that the envelope from the ticket agent was addressed to Gabriel, not his mum or stepdad, although they were supposedly the ones who'd gotten the tickets.

A shiver rippled though me as Gabriel put his hand on the small of my back to guide us to our seats.

"Okay, then, be difficult." I sat down and crossed my arms.

Gabriel laughed. "Oh, I'm the one being difficult, huh? Seriously, Alissa, I didn't know you were the stubborn type."

"Oh, yeah, I totally am." I tried to keep my face straight. "Besides, I'm not the one being completely unreasonable."

Gabriel put his arm around the back of my chair and leaned in. "Oh, really?" His voice was filled with amusement. "I don't there's a single person here who'd take your side in this argument."

I slouched down in my seat and sighed exaggeratedly.

"Okay, don't believe me." He smirked at me. He started surveying the crowd of girls. "Excuse me, miss?" Gabriel tapped a mother in front of us on her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I asked in shock.

He turned back to me. "I'm proving a point."

A woman in her thirties - with two preteen girls, also wearing a One Direction shirt, no less - turned around and looked surprised to see someone like Gabriel here among all the teenage girls.

"Sorry to bother you, ma'am." Gabriel flahsed his best smile to the woman, who didn't seem bothered by him one bit. "I'm hoping you could help me with a small disagreement I'm having with my date."

Did he just say date?

He continued, "You see, I like to think that chivalry is indeed not dead, so I'm trying to do the gentlemanly thing this evening." The woman nodded excitedly at Gabriel. I could already tell that he was going to win this one. "Now, I've seemed to upset this beautiful woman that I'm seated next to, who just happens to be a very big One Direction fan." Gabriel motioned toward me, and I did my best to smile and wave at the nice woman instead of hit my gentleman companion. "To be honest, I think she is being unfair. I invited her out this night, so it's only fair that I pay, but she isn't cooperating."

Gabriel looked back at me and winked. I moved my foot over so my heel could dig into his left foot.

"Ow!" He moved his foot over and cleared his throat. "In your opinion, don't you think she should just say thank you instead of trying to throw money at me?"

The woman patted Gabriel's knee. "Of course, it's very sweet of you. I can tell that you're an excellent boyfriend."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Gabriel looked up, beaming at the woman. "Why, thank you, miss!"

The woman blushed slightly, enjoying the attention from Gabriel. She leaned in. "First concert date?"

I held my breath.

He smiled.  "Yes, and what chance do you think I'd have with a second date if I made her pay?"

Blackness swallowed me.  For a quick moment I hoped that I was having some sort of seizure.  I kept blinking, but the darkness wouldn't go away.  Then my ears were filled with screams and my pulse was quickening.  A fitting punishment for going on a date.

Light burst a few hundred feet away as One Direction took the stage.

The concert.  I shook my head as I got back to the present.  Gabriel stood up with the rest of the crowd as the Fab Five began with "Loved You First."  I needed to use the support of the armrest to stand up - there was too much confusion swirling around in my head.

I looked over at Gabriel, who smiled at me and put his arms gently around my waist.

I am on a date with Gabriel Smithers.

My stomach did a somersault and I tried to catch my breath.  Crap, I'm on a date with Gabriel Smithers.  I'm not supposed to be on a date!  Not only that, I'd declared in front of the entire Same Mistakes Club that I wasn't going on a date.

I focused on the music.  I jumped up and down as the words to every song flowed through me like memories - good and bad - as the concert continued.

Okay, Alissa - you can handle this.

The lights dimmed as Niall's guitar started to play, and my heart dropped.  I could feel the tears begin to well up in my eyes, and I fought them back with every ounce of strength I had.  I tried to block the words out of my head, but I couldn't.  I wasn't going to be okay; this whole situation was wrong.  And of course, leave it up to Zayn, Liam, Louis, Harry, and Niall to put things in perspective.

I started swaying to the music and closed my eyes.  I sang along to the lyrics about hopelessness, yearning, and being foolish about love.  Basically, everything I was feeling at that moment.

I was a complete hyprocrite.  Even though I had kept telling everybody that this wasn't a date, a big part of me had wanted it to be.  I realised that now.

This felt right.  Gabriel had never been anything but kind to me.  He was a good person.

But I'd thought the same thing about Kevin.  Kevin was nice to me, he was a good person.  And then he lied and broke my heart.

I'd made a promise to myself to never let that happen again.

Big Dumb Idiot.

That's what Kevin had called himself.

I didn't want to be a Big Dumb Idiot, too.

As much as I wanted to fool myself into thinking that things would be different with Gabriel, they wouldn't.  I wasn't going to fall for it.  I knew better.

As the song ended, as the girls screamed their lungs, I knew what I had to do.  It had to end - the flirting, the longing, everything.  It wasn't just about what I wanted, it was about what was best for the group, my friends.

Face the music, Alissa.  You've got to hide your love away.  You can't just hide your feelings.  You have to destroy them.  Kill them before they kill you.

"We hope you all had a great time tonight!"

I'm not so sure... I was thinking about my problems these whole two hours.

The lights went up and Gabriel looked at me excitedly.  "That was awesome... although don't tell your friends I said that, okay?"

I gave him a quick smile then started to exit the aisle.  I remained quiet for most of our way home, only answering Gabriel's One Direction questions.  As he turned the corner to my house, I knew I needed a quick exit strategy, one that would guarantee that there wouldn't be a second date.  And knowing me, it wasn't going to be graceful.

He pulled into the driveway.  "I'm really glad you came out with me today, Alissa.  I had a great time."

I jumped out of the car before he had a chance to shut off the engine.  I turned around with the door open and saw a stunned Gabriel.  "Yeah, thanks.  'Bye,"  I said.  I slammed the door and ran up to the front door, trying desperately to get in before I burst into tears.

I am doing the right thing.

That's what I was going to keep telling myself.