Supernatural in Real Life 5

Chapter 42

"Dammit!" Gabriel yells as the basketball bounces off the backboard.
I run up to it and dribble it across the court, making it in the hoop easily. I grab the ball and bounce it to him. He takes it and throws it towards the hoop, but misses again. I grab the ball and return it to him.
"You can do it!" I urge him on as he tries — and misses — again.
"This is hard!" he wines. "It's so much easier with telekinesis."
"That's cheating," I scold him. "Here, try again."
Once again, he misses. I take the ball and throw it in from the side before bouncing it back to him.
"How did you do that?"
"Practice," I reply.
"Did you used to play sports?"
I nod. "Yeah. It was mostly joining the guys' practices, but I did my own sports sometimes."
"Why'd you do sports with guys?" Gabriel asks curiously. "I mean, I'm pretty sure you're not a guy, unless you've been lying to me for a while."
I laugh. "No, my ex boyfriend used to do sports, so I'd go hang out with him and his team."
"Ryan?" he guesses.
I nod. "Well, it's definitely not Lucifer, and Ryan's the only other boyfriend I've had, so yeah."
"Ah," Gabriel replies, looking up at the hoop, mentally sizing it up. "You know, I bet I'd be way better at sports than him."
I scoff. "Yeah, right. You can't even get the ball in the hoop."
"I'm not talking about basketball," Gabriel replies, then throws the ball and gets it in. "But I might beat him at that, too. I mean, I'm an angel. I'm better than him at just about everything."
"You've been holding out on me," I observe, returning the ball to him. "And yeah, you'd beat him, but that's just because you're an angel. That's cheating."
"Still," Gabriel says, pausing to shoot the ball in the hoop again, "I'm cooler than him. Just sayin'."
I raise an eyebrow as I toss the ball back. "And why does that matter to you?"
"See, you agree!" Gabriel says victoriously, running up to the hoop and attempting to dunk it in, but he's too short. Instead, he throws it in from in front of it before handing me the ball again.
"I never said that," I protest.
"But you didn't deny it," he reminds me. "You agree. I'm way cooler than your ex."
I sigh in defeat. "Yeah, you are."
Gabriel pumps his fists victoriously. "Knew it!"
"I still don't see why you care," I add.
"Because I'm an insecure wittle archangel who needs your constant reassurance."
I laugh at his tone. "Then I'll give it to you. Who's a good little archangel? Who's a good little archangel? You are! Yes you are!" I say as if talking to a puppy.
Gabriel pants like a dog, then barks. I look at him in surprise. It sounded completely real. Gabriel just grins.
"I'm secretly part dog," he whispers, then puts a finger to his lips. "Shh. Don't tell anyone."
I laugh. "Honestly, though, I sorta believe that. Like, that shouldn't be humanly — or angelically — possible."
Gabriel shrugs. "It is if you're awesome."
"Then I'm apparently not awesome," I reply, pretending to cry.
"No! Don't cry!" Gabriel shouts, throwing his arms around me in a big hug. "You're awesome! You're totally awesome! You're the awesomest! Except me, of course."
I smack him on the shoulder, which seriously hurts my hand. Gabriel laughs and takes a step away from me, taking my hand in his to heal it.
"Thanks," I say, then add, "but I'm not sure why I'm thanking you even though it's your fault."
"Because I'm awesome," Gabriel whispers in my ear.
"No you're not," I whisper back.
"I totally am. Don't deny it. You love me."
It's after the last sentence that I realize how close we are, and that he still has my hand in his. Gabriel seems to notice, too, because he drops my hand and takes a step back. It's a small movement, and he makes it so casual that I probably wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't been about to do it myself.
"Keep telling yourself that," I tease as if nothing happened.
"Damn straight I will. I just want to be loved!" Gabriel begins fake crying, crouching down in the grass. I crouch down next to him put a hand on his back in a comforting way.
"I love you," I say, then push him over. "Sorry, I meant I love annoying you."
Gabriel grabs my arm and pulls me down next to him. We both lie in the grass for a while, just laughing.
"Hey," Gabriel says, and I roll over to look at him, just as he does the same. We find our faces only an inch apart, maybe less. I roll away and sit up at a more respectable distance from him.
"Honestly, if this is destiny's attempt to get us together, it's not worth it," I observe.
"I know, right?" Gabriel agrees.
He crawls over next to me, then pressed his lips into mine. I make a startled noise, unsure what to do. Gabriel pulls away from me after a few moments, when it becomes clear I'm not going to do anything.
"What — what was that for?" I ask.
"It's gonna happen eventually," he replies with a shrug. "I figure, we're both single now. Might as well speed up the process."
"So you're not gonna try to fight it?"
"Why bother?" Gabriel asks. "I mean, you're hot, funny. I don't see a downside to it."
"How about the fact that I'm supposed to have a kid?" I remind him. "Remember last time I had a kid? Not fun."
"Well, it's gonna happen again eventually," he replies. "But it doesn't have to happen any time soon. No need to rush that part of it. And if you don't want to do any of it, I'll back off. I just thought I'd try."
I'm not really sure how to respond. I mean, a relationship this soon after ending my previous one? And the same thing for him, too. We both just got out of relationships. He wants another one this soon?
"Is this just a rebound thing?" I ask.
"No, it's an 'I think you're pretty cool and it's going to happen eventually so might as well speed it up" thing," he replies. "I wasn't really thinking about Jared and Lucifer when I said that. If you're thinking of getting back together with Lucifer — you know, after what you've heard — then I get it."
I shake my head. "No, I'm not getting back together with him," I tell him. "But I don't know about this. I mean... I just don't know."
"If you don't want to, I won't force it on you," he assures me.
"Thanks. But you know what? What the hell. I don't have a reason not to. Hey, Gabriel, wanna be my boyfriend?"
Gabriel grins. "Hells yeah."