The Academy: Discovery

Almost Excited to Sleep

"Don't run!", "Oy Fucking wait for me", "She's like me when the desert timers go off", and other things are shouted but I'm too excited to wait. I've been banned from my room since the first time I saw it. Gabriel has been randomly coming to me, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning, and asking for my opinions on different things. Once he needed my opinion on a rug at 3am and didn't have pictures or anyway of showing me what they looked like, so he went into extreme detail describing each one. When my alarm went off two hours later he was still there listing pros and cons of each one. Nate barely managed to pull me away from Gabriel for my first self defense lesson.

Even with the few hints I've received I never expect what I find in my room. It's completely transformed and full of too many things to count. I don't even know where to start looking. I can only stand in the doorway and try to let it all sink in. I want to go around and touch each and every thing but again I have no idea where to start. "Meanie" I whisper his name in awe.

I feel his hand on my lower back and spin to hug him tightly. "Tell me how you really feel." he teases.

"Oh Meanie." I sob into his shoulder.

"What the hell? No crying. No crying. Holy hell I was kidding don't tell me how you feel. I don't wanna know you fucking hate it." He shakes me like that will help my tears from flowing. It makes me laugh but I continue to cry.

"We broke her again" Nate jokes.

"Take it easy on Gabe Princess. He's freaking out." I look at Gabriel and see Victor is right. Gabriel looks panicked and behind that he looks hurt.

I force my tears away and swallow the lump in my throat. "Meanie I love it. It's so pretty and homey. I could stay in here forever and be happy."

Luke leans toward Gabriel and fake whispers "Is homey good?"

Gabriel rolls his eyes but smiles "For her it is."

"Will you show me everything?" I ask him hoping this will give me somewhere to start.

"What's the very first thing you noticed?"

I blush not looking at them but the bed instead. It's a full size I think but looks much larger with layers upon layers of shear lace canopy and clear lights above and around it. "The bed." I point. Then noticing half the bed taken up by pillows of different shapes, sizes, and colors I ask "Do I need that many pillows?"

I swear he growls. "Jeez now you sound like these Neanderthals. They can go into the trunk at the end of the bed when you don't fucking need them. Or anyone who wants to stay with you can use them." I look at North unable to stop the image of him sleeping with so much lace out of my head. It makes me giggle into my hand. "This isn't for him. It's for you." Gabriel reminds me. Still it's a funny thought.

"It really is pretty Meanie. I'm almost excited to go to sleep." Almost. I really want to spend time admiring all the little details first. Mainly the wall behind the bed. "How did you do that?"

He gets excited and pulls me closer to the wall. "It's a pallet wall. Each board with script is either a romantic book quote book quote or a message for you from each of us." I practically bounce with excitement. I can't wait to read through and see what they've chosen for me. But for now I focus on the boards without script. In a seemingly random pattern there are boards with what looks like hand painted art. They're small and all black in color to match the script looking like shadows. Birds on branches and flowers of different shapes and sizes. Somehow I don't need to ask him who the artist is. I just know its him. I don't have words for how touched I am to have a piece of his art in my room. I can only hope me staring at it in awe as I run my fingers delicately over one of the pieces shows him what I can't say.

I spend the next hour looking in every nook and cranny of the room. Touching most things to make sure I'm not imagining them. Throughout the room I find little pops of purples mixed in with the creams and burlap tones. The lamps and the doorknobs are now purple glass to match the outside doors. Oh and my furniture pulls too. A dress form meant to hold jewelry and so much more.

Gabriel shooed the others away while he explained each and every detail I asked for. Turns out he got a lot of the rooms decor and furniture from an abandoned antique store. That explained the unique carvings in the dresser, chest of drawers, and vanity. I'm shocked at the things he came up with that I would've never imagined. There were glass vases full of pearls and feathers for instance. Not something I would've thought of but they go perfectly with the vintage feel of the room.

Finally after I notice its gotten dark I call my exploration quits. I promised North a bike ride possibly a date tonight and I've been selfish enough for one day. I'll have to come back and explore my room later. And I'll have to be sure to thank the others for their help with my room. I again thank Gabriel with tears in my eyes. "You're welcome Beautiful." He pauses seemingly choosing his words. "Do you plan to sleep alone now that you've got your own room?"

I bite my lip and admit "I'm a bit scared to actually. I took a nap at the apartment and had one of my nightmares."

"You have fucking nightmares and didn't tell us?"

I shake my head. "No! At least I haven't had since I've been here. I guess it's only when I'm at the apartment."

That doesn't seem to make him any less agitated. "Well that settles it at least one person sleeps in here with you every night. It just so happens I'm not working tonight and was planning to ask if I could stay with you anyway. What do you say?"

I nod enthusiastically. "I'd love that. I'm not sure when I'll be back from riding with North though."

He shrugs. "I'll be here when you get back."

"Are you sure?" I can't help but feel I need to double check.

He winks giving me his sexy smile "It's a date."

Oh boy!