Hiding in the Dark

Chapter 7

On Wednesday, the morning went as normal. Andrea and I continued to play our parts and no one suspected anything as far as I was concerned. Mason was confused at first and I really wanted to tell him the truth but instead, I fabricated a random story about how my family went out to dinner with hers. We met at the gathering and decided to hang out on our own, leading to us dating.

Sometimes, Andrea would get too close and try to push for more, but I push back, constantly explaining that I have no interest. Hopefully, she will get the hint and stop.

Once I got home from school that day, I did my homework and got showered. Looking at the clock, I saw that it was already 4 o'clock by the time I got done in shower, so I quickly put on jeans and a short sleeved buttoned-down shirt. I looked in the mirror and adjusted my collar slightly before smiling at my reflection. I was so happy that I get to see Gabriel again.

Picking up my car keys from my dresser, I slip my shoes on and leave my bedroom. I almost made it out of the house without being noticed until Savio, Lorenzo, and my father walked in from the garage. 

"Where are you going?" My father asks.

"I'm going to go hang out with Mason." I lied.

"It's a school night. Don't you have things to do?" Father presses.

I shook my head. "I already did my school work. Mason needs help with one of his assignments, so I offered to help him. It's due tomorrow."

"Fine. Don't come home too late." Father walks away. I wait for Savio and Lorenzo to leave, but they stay.

"What do you want? I need to get going." I say.

"We need to discuss something with you tonight. Try to get home by 9." Savio states.

"Can't it wait until tomorrow?"

Both Savio and Lorenzo shook their head. "Fine. Now, can you move? You are blocking the door."

They step out of the way and I leave the house and get into my car. I input the address that Gabriel sent me this morning into the GPS and make my way to his apartment. Once I arrived, I texted him to let him know that I was there and he met me at the front of the building. 

"Hey Nico. Let's go up to my place." Gabriel says before steering me to his place.

When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was how clean the place was. The first time I came here, there were a variety of shoes by the front door and dishes piled in the sink.

"You didn't have to clean up for me." I teased.

He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "I know. It's our first date though. I wanted everything to be presentable."

"That's sweet. Why don't we talk for a little bit?" I suggest.

"Sure. Dinner will be ready in an hour so we got time.  Anything interesting happen since the first time we met?" He says as we move to sit on the couch.

I tell him about everything except for what my family business is. I decided that I wanted to see where this goes before mentioning the mafia. However, I did tell him about the whole girlfriend situation since I didn't want that to be a major obstacle in the future. As I expected, he was confused and a little upset about it.

"Wait. You have a fake girlfriend? Do you have to like go on dates with her or kiss her?" Gabriel says, his eyes showing a little bit of hurt.

"My father wants me to but I'm not going to. He has it in his mine that Andrea, the fake girlfriend, will get me to start liking girls. I promise that I won't do anything with her though." I say, trying to reassure him.