Dancing with Danger

CHAPTER TEN: Warm Hands

Chapter Ten: Warm Hands

I wished we were back at the time I got in trouble with him, or those times he would ask me to eat before classes and we'd spend that time catching up in those hours we weren't together. I just missed being inseparable with him but with a relationship like this, friends or more than friends, I didn't even know how to define us, I couldn't ask us to be inseparable.

I waited for a few minutes before walking myself home that afternoon. It stuck to me. I thought I had Charlie, I thought I could take my time being comfortable around him, enough to want to be kissed. Maybe that was it, I thought to myself, maybe because I didn't want to be kissed therefore, he goes back to his ex. But then, a part of me argued, it shouldn't be that way. If he really liked me, he should wait or he should keep himself where he was. With that thought, I remembered myself telling him that I wasn't going anywhere and him telling me that he didn't want to ruin this. "This", what does that even mean? What was "this"?

I sat down on the same bench I sat on a few days ago. I ran my fingers across the steel that held the bench together. This must be my reflection bench, I thought to myself. Every time I contemplated about Charlie, I seem to be here.

"You're here again," I heard a familiar voice. I looked up and saw Gabe, standing a few feet away from me, with a smile on his face. The thing about Gabe was he looked like that type of person who wouldn't do anything bad. He looked like an angel, enough that if he said something bad, it would've sounded good.

"Hi," I greeted back, smiling.

"What brings you here again? School stuff?" he asked, walking towards me with his long legs.

I shrugged. To be honest, I was here alone and not with Megan because I didn't want company, at that moment. But I was both polite enough and conscious enough not to tell Gabe about that.

"You could say that," I told him as I swung my legs back and forth.

Gabe sat beside me, maintaining a certain distance between us like a gentleman. "Whatever you're going through," he said, looking straight ahead. "It's always good to talk about it."

Was it the first time I've seen him not smiling? Gabe looked at me then smiled.

"I'm always here," he said, patting his chest. "Vent away."

I chuckled. "It's nothing," I said. "I'm alright. How come you always seem to be around when I'm around here?"

Gabe smiled and shrugged. "Call it fate?"

I laughed and waved it off. "Fate shmate. You're kinda cheesy," I said as I held onto the bench seat while swinging my legs.

Gabe leaned over to me. "Why do you think girls like me?" he whispered to my ear, which caught me extremely off guard.

I felt the blood rush to my face as I leaned away from him. His beautiful face looking as innocent as possible after that rhetorical question he just asked. He looked at me as if wondering why I leaned away. It's that I felt uncomfortable, or maybe it was that, I didn't know. All I knew was that was a second when it was not the Angel Gabe I knew.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Is this how you get girls?" I asked.

Gabe laughed. "I was just kidding. Really though, fate," he said with a smile that made creases at the ends of his eyes. He looked young with that smile. "It just so happened that every time I walk home-well, evidently not every time but twice now-you're here."

I started to think about how he always stayed here. Whenever I look at Gabe, he's this tall, handsome guy who probably gets swooned over and he's here, sitting next to me, wasting his time with cheesy little lines. Am I that lucky to be paid attention to?

"Do you have a girlfriend?" I asked him suddenly.

He looked at me with a small smile then looked up at the sky. "I do, but she probably doesn't know," he said before whispering, "It's a one way kind of thing."

I laughed and pushed him slightly on his arm. "I'm serious!"

Gabe laughed too. "No. Do you have a boyfriend?"

I didn't even know why I took a second to answer that. "Nope!"

"Well, I guess this is fate!" Gabe said loudly.

I laughed. "You're too cheesy," I said.

Right then and there, I heard my stomach make this grumbling sound that wasn't only for me to hear. In the silence of the playground, Gabe must have heard it too, that he looked at me then to my stomach.

"I guess, someone's hungry," he said with a smile. "Ramen?"

"Instant ones?"

"Instant ones," he confirmed as he stood up.

Without thinking twice, because why would I? We both made our way towards the nearest convenient store that sold instant ramen. It was perfect for the cold weather. I had to keep myself warm by wrapping my hands around the cup.

"Is it cold?" Gabe asked me, looking from my hands to me.

"It is. I didn't realize it til now," I said.

Gabe, then, rubbed his palms together, placed them around the cup to keep himself warm and then wrapped it around mine. I felt the warmth of his hands and it sent a shiver down my spine. I didn't know whether it was the warmth that sent me shivers or whether it was the fact that he was holding my hands.

"Keeps you warmer," he said nonchalantly, as if it's something people normally do.

"Julia?" I heard a voice behind me.

Both Gabe and I looked up from where we were seated and saw Charlie. He stood a few feet away from us and he was alone. He looked at me with a surprised look on his face. Probably surprised seeing me here, with someone he's seen me with. He looked at me then to my hands, which had Gabe's wrapped around it. I quickly pulled my hands off, in which Gabe did too, slowly.

I never thought I'd be in this awkward situation.