Nightmare on Broadway (California Dreaming Sequel)

Chapter Nineteen

This chapter has to be dedicated to someone who has persisted and persisted with me about uploading, so, now, here it is. I know it's bad that I haven't been uploading often, but you, my readers, should know that this isn't a job of mine. I go to school and I have to study and I'm currently doing exams which are reeeallly important, so I don't always have time to write! However, I will finish this story eventually, you can trust that sooner or later, I will upload another chapter. You never know, there might even be another new one up later on, we'll see :) Thank you, Lily xx

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   “You’re beautiful when you lie like that, with your eyes closed, as if you’re asleep,” Gabriel whispered. 

   “Maybe I am asleep,” I replied, opening one eye a crack and making him laugh. 

   “That would be an awfully good party trick.” 

   He lay on his back and I turned over onto my side, holding the duvet covers to my bare chest, biting on my bottom lip as my eyes ran over his profile. He glanced sideways to me and began to grin, that perfect, Hollywood, grin. His hair was a mess, sticking up at awkward angles around his crown, making it look as though he had just woken up, from a deep sleep. His cheeks were flushed and I wrapped my legs around him, leaning my head against his shoulder and sighing. 

   “Why can’t we stay like this forever?” I said, my dark hair billowing across the pillow. 

   “Because that isn’t real life,” he uttered, leaning down and kissing me tenderly, making my head spin. “I wish it were, but it isn’t like that.” He stroked back my fringe from my eyes and I lay a hand against his chest, feeling the beat of his racing heart. 

   “I’m scared, you know,” I mentioned, trying to sound calm, nonchalant. 

   “Of what?” Gabes frowned, and although I had closed my eyes again, I could feel him watching me with caution. 

   “Of those people,” I confessed, “on that website, of how easy it is for them to find me. I’m scared that I’ve become complacent since Harry died, I’m no longer as guarded or as nervy around people, it makes me vulnerable, I think.” 

   “Oh Jia,” he sighed, “please don’t feel that way. I understand that you are scared, completely, but you have people in this city to look out for you. Henry would do anything for you, you know that, right?” 

   “And I him,” I agreed. 

   “And, as much as I hate to admit this, that Edward guy seems pretty genuine, and the other band members. You’ve made such great friends in this city, you should be able to feel complacent.” 

   “Not after everything I’ve been through, I’ve learnt that you cannot trust the people you care about, not always.” 

   “No, not always,” Gabriel accepted, “but sometimes. It’s hard to learn to let your guard down after someone you loved tried to kill you.” 

   “Twice,” I added, making him chuckle, a little wearily. 

   “Yes, twice,” he replied, pausing and exhaling deeply again. “I’d hate to think of you becoming nervous again, around new people you meet, a little like when you came back to California. I have fallen in love with this Jia, the real Jia, not someone scared of getting hurt again.” 

   “I guess, I think you’re right.” 

   “That website is disgusting,” Gabriel stated, “it is, and if it gets taken down, it will only come up again under a different server name.”