Gabriel

9. The Therapy

After the embarrassing occurrence in the kitchen I quickly got dressed and we made our way downstair to the awaiting car. I pulled my sleeves past my writs and held them self-consciously close. I had completely forgot about the food, so as we sat silently in the car ride to my therapy appointment, yet to address the kitchen issue, my empty stomach made itself known. Gabriel looked down at his watch.

"We have an extra 15 minutes and we're really close. Do you want to grab something at Starbucks?"

"Sure", I nod my head. He tells the driver to pull over there and we jump out only 5 blocks from the office. We make our way through the crowd, him guiding me with a hand on my lower back. It invites fire in my entire body, and brings a smile to my face. I get a glance in his direction, and he also has a smile. I don't know what's going on between us, but I like him. Yet, where could this go? I'm underaged, he's my legal guardian, he's sexy and the list goes on of why he will never feel the same. This deflates my schoolgirlish excitement. We walk into the Starbucks, with a surprisingly short line.

"So, are you nervous?" He asks as we wait. I shrug.

"Do you think you'll like it?" Gabriel asks, more determinedly. I shrug again.

"Are you going to shrug to everything I ask?" A smile appears on my face and I give him a mischievous stare.

Then I shrug. He scoffs, but I can tell he's also trying to hide a smile. By then, we're at the front of the line.

"Hello, what can I get for you today?" The cashier asks. Female cashier, might I add, who is staring at him very sexually and I suddenly feel very possessive, wanting to wrap my body around his and say "he's mine, b•tch". But, of course I would never do such thing so while he orders a coffee, I glance quickly at the menu.

"And for you?"

"I'll take a grande iced latte and a cream cheese bagel, please." She then tells the total, and before I can pull cash from my dwindling wallet's supply, he has whipped out his credit card and swiped.

"You don't have to take care of everything, you know. Sometimes I would like to feel semi-independent", he just shrugs, turning my own game back on me. While Gabriel and I wait for our order to be called, a very beautiful brunette in f•ck me pumps and a tight dress comes up to us and shouts his name. She looks so fake, almost like one of my dad's bimbos. Just younger, and way prettier. My heart breaks a little as she wraps her arms around Gabriel in a seductive manner. I could never compete with that. But it's not like I was in the running, in the first place. I mean, look at her. She's probably a model. So he's probably a playboy billionaire man-whore, and I'm his little side project so he feels better about himself at the end of the day.

Then I get a glimmer of hope when I see him stiffen and try to politely remove her from him. She's having none of it though, as she clings on like a sloth. He looks to me for help but I just give him a look that says your problem, not mine. He urges further and I sigh. I tap her shoulder, and she immediately detaches, giving me an evil glare.

"Hi, I'm Maeve", I say, ignoring her death-stare. She flips a hair over her shoulder.

"I'm Gabriella. Gabriel and Gabriella. Isn't that such a sweet couple's names?" She says in a back off, b*tch manner. But Gabriel looks like he doesn't agree about the whole "couple" thing. Which makes me happy, but also angry because women will most likely only assume that they're an item if they've banged. Damn.

"Cool, but can you guys hold off on the sex, because we've got somewhere to be", I say bluntly. And very, very angrily. They both stand there shocks as I go up and grab our food that was just called. He follows in tow, not saying anything as she yells "call me!" I hustle out of the Starbucks and into the street.