Summer Lovin'

Chapter Five

(October 2003)

I hated that Halloween always seemed to fall on a weeknight. My dad this year was out of town coaching and so he had said I could stay at Josie's place. Her mom hadn't been feeling well, so Josie was excited for the company.

We had arranged to go with the Sawyer boys and I was extra excited because ever since the start of school there had been a weird distance between me and Gabriel.

He didn't completely ignore me, but when he did talk to me, he did so with very little eye contact and was super short.

It was all extra odd cause normally it was tough to get Gabriel to shut up, now getting him to talk to me was like pulling teeth. He also bailed on most of our plans together and had been spending way more time with his other friends.

I tried not to let it get to me and spent time with my other friends too. Lately Josie, Declan and I had been hanging out a bunch. That was how we ended up making a plan to go Trick or Treating with the boys. I planned on using the time to try to figure out what was up with Gabriel.

Josie and I had done themed Halloween costumes the last few years and this year, Declan was in too so we had decided to be superheroes.

I had gone with Wonderwoman because of my dark hair, Josie was Super Girl because she was blonde and Declan had decided to go as Robin because according to him, he didn't feel he could pull off Batman.

We had decided that the three of us would still dress up for school. We knew that the bulk of our classmates were too cool to dress up for Halloween now but I had told Josie that we weren't ever going to be too cool for that and she had laughingly agreed.

We were standing at our lockers getting our things when Gabriel and his friend Liam came by.

Neither of them had dressed up and I couldn't help but feel a little sad for both of them. Last year for our first year of grade 9, they had joined us in our themed costume. We had gone as the cast of "Scooby Doo" with a couple of other friends being monsters and it had been pretty awesome. We had even walked Josie's dog as our Scooby at night time.

I watched Gabriel take in my costume and annoyance flashed in his eyes, taking me aback for a moment.

What was his problem? It was Liam that talked though, "Ladies, love the costumes!" Then he laughed and gave us a wink, without waiting for a response he walked away. I looked at Gabriel who looked super uncomfortable and was starting to leave too.

I put a hand on his arm, and he jumped a little, surprising me, "you're still coming tonight right?"

He nodded, cleared his voice and said, "I think so!" Then he was gone and I looked over at Josie, she gave me a sad look and rolled her eyes.

She had been trying to tell me that we needed to just let him go, it was becoming increasingly obvious that he didn't really want to hang out with us. Every time we made plans, he would bail or just be a no show.

It was getting ridiculous!

I shook my head to clear it and grabbed my things.All of our interactions lately left me feeling confused, I still felt those old Gabriel butterflies but now I felt more like a pest than anything else.

I closed my locker with a snap, forcing my mind to close down all of its negative thoughts. I was just going to be glad that we would at least get to hang out tonight. I missed my friend.

(Gabriel's POV)

I was laying on my bed reading when I felt someone's eyes on me. It was Declan and he was giving me a dirty look that somehow lost some of its impact because he was wearing his Boy Wonder costume.

I laughed and said, "it's hard to give a good stink eye in a Robin costume, man."

He gave a little laugh but then looked at me seriously before he responded, "you're not ready?"

I looked down at myself knowing he was going to be annoyed at me and truthfully, I was more than a little annoyed at myself. "Yah, I'm going to go hang out at Liam's tonight with some people instead."

Declan groaned loudly. "She's going to be upset that you're not coming."

I thought about how I had felt at school when I had seen her in her costume, it had made her legs look impossibly long and her curves stand out. I hadn't been able to take my eyes off her all day and every time I thought about it, I got a semi. It was becoming a problem more and more when I was in her presence and I didn't know how to handle it.

I felt bad as I snapped back, "she'll get over it!"

I didn't really know if she would, I didn't know if I wanted her to.

I knew she didn't really understand why I was avoiding spending time with her. I didn't really get it either, I missed hanging out with my friend but I didn't know how to hang around with her and handle all these hormones.

Declan looked at me with annoyance, we hadn't talked about what was going on but I knew that he thought I was being a shitty friend.

He's not wrong.

He cursed quietly, making sure to maintain eye contact as he said, "for the record, I think you are an idiot!"

I knew he was right about that too, but instead of trying to explain myself, I growled and pointed at the door.

A/N- Okay so their relationship is changing!
Thoughts? Does it feel authentic?

Is it enough to give the story through the time jumps or do we need more?

Be patient with them, I would imagine meeting "the one" at eight years old would be tough to navigate!