California Dreaming

Chapter Eight

   I could hear my laughter, light and carefree in the summer heat. The sun was beating down on my dark hair, through the finger-like branches that stretched out above us. My floral dress was blowing up around me, knotting around my waist as my hair lifted from my shoulders, running around his garden. My skin seemed paler then, more innocent, so young. 

   “Gabriel!” I exclaimed, giggling wildly. 

   “Come here!” He laughed back, grabbing hold of my dress and causing me to wriggle away from him. 

   I went over to the rosebush and sat down in the grass, lying back so I was staring at the cloudless, blue sky. Gabes collapsed besides me we we both turned onto our sides, so that we were staring into each other’s eyes. Then, Gabriel puled his hand from behind his back, holding something out to me. It was a pink rose, it’s petals open wide, it’s sweet scent captivating me completely. He tucked it into my hair, being careful to avoid the thrones, and my cheeks flushed a little pink. He smiled and began to laugh, rolling onto his back and staring up at the sky. I continued to watch him, his perfect profile, counting the overly familiar freckles that were scattered across his complexion. Everything about him seemed perfect, it always had been, it always wood be. 

   Thinking back to when we were kids, it was no surprise really that one of us had fallen for the other. I think it was inevitable, one of those things you try to resist despite the fact it is impossible, because you are perfect together. Once you admit it, you start wondering why it wasn’t always this way, because the change is incredible. 

   After our detention with Mrs Harvey, we were sent home. Gabes had told me to meet him at his house at exactly eight o’clock, and believe me, I was just as intrigued as you are now. It had never bothered me before, deciding what to wear to go and meet him, but it was different now, wasn’t it? I wasn’t sure if the usual skinny jeans and t-shirt would suffice, or if he was expecting me to appear a completely different person, someone more girly and feminine, dressed in pink and pearls. On the other hand, Gabriel had fallen for me, just the way I was, so why should I change? 

   I left the house and strolled through the suburban streets, until I reached Gabriel’s road, turning onto it. I could see him, sitting on the front lawn, picking at something which he was holding in his lap. I jogged up to him silently, hugging him from behind and hearing him gasp with surprise. 

   “Why hello there,” he laughed, swiveling around and pulling me down to sit on his lap. 

   “Hi,” I grinned, falling off his lap and collapsing besides him. I lay on my back and closed my eyes, letting the cool breeze caress my body. 

   “Jia,” he said my name, and that alone made me smile. “Jia, look at me,” I opened my eyes and looked up at him blankly, at his usual, cunning grin, which was plastered across his face. 

   “What?” I smiled bashfully. 

   “You’re so beautiful,” he brushed his fingers down the side of my face and I grinned as he kissed me. So, it wasn’t our first kiss, but it was sweeter, and private, and wholly perfect. Our lips moved apart and Gabes was holding himself up over me, his hair falling down and clouding his vision. 

   “You could have any girl in the school,” I whispered, “you wouldn’t want me,” he kissed me again, more urgent this time. 

   “Au contraire, ma chère,” he said under his breath. “I think you’re incredible.” He pulled something from behind his back then, a pink rose, and I couldn’t help but giggle gleefully as he tucked it behind my ear. “You’re blushing,” he whispered and I rolled my eyes, hearing his familiar laugh as he lay down besides me.