Apartment 3B

28. Beginnings

Hayley

"Why are you here, go the fuck away. Stay away from him," I told our uninvited guest who came knocking.

Gabriel looked dejected, "I'm sorry, but Jess wasn't picking up or answering my texts."

"Why would he answer them since you sexted him with the wrong fucking name? Go away," I screamed.

Luna and Lainey rushed up to me, "What happened?"

Luna was the first to say, "Oh him, leave, Gabriel. We don't want anything to do with you."

He pleaded, "Is he here? Just tell me where he is. Please."

I couldn't bear his shit anymore, "Oh no honey, we're not telling you any of that. Just leave," and I closed the door on his face.

We did end up dialing Jess and he agreed we did the right thing, he didn't want anything to do with Gabriel.

It put all of us in a sour mood for the rest of the night and upcoming day. I went in to work with that same annoyed scowl plastered on my face when I walked straight into Derek.

"Oh shit, sorry I didn't see you there. It's been a while, I haven't seen you too often. Is your house ready?" I apologized then asked.

"Yeah, it's completely finished. It has been ready for the last 4 months but I was on a tournament. Of course, you wouldn't know," he laughed when he saw me looking clueless.

"So, does the architect get to see the house now?" I nudged. He managed to make my mood less sour by just existing.

I told my boss I'm going in to see how well my drawings on paper have turned out in reality.

He drove us to the posh area where he was located and parked smoothly into an automatic garage. This boy was the definition of fancy.

As we walked inside his enormous mansion, I couldn't help but squeal. The living room was littered with pictures hanging on smooth cream coloured walls. A few of the pictures were also from school, I was on that wall too.

"Hey, look at you in this. You look like an adorable dork." I pointed to a picture of him cross-eyed with his tongue out, his hands painted in several different colors.

"This was a painting competition that my mom forced me to participate in. I didn't want to, hell, I even cried before we reached there. But once I had colors and a canvas, I forgot all about the anxiety and painted my heart out. It was a good day."

My earlier scowl was now turned into an ear-to-ear grin. Walking around the living room, he told me more stories about his life. I felt intimately connected to his being.

He dramatically gave me a grand tour of the rest of the house in a terrible British accent. We were perched up on the roof with two beers when I decided to go for it, "So, is there anything between us or am I hallucinating?"

He lifted the two beers, "This is between us," he laughed as I punched him. "It's not funny, Derek. Tell me seriously."

"I don't know, Hayles. I love that we can comfortable and you're my friend before anything else, perhaps, that's enough? I don't want to be another asshole in your notebook who made you insecure or unhappy."

"First of all, you don't make me unhappy-"

"-you mean, I make you happy."

"Po-tay-to, pa-tah-to. You're not one of those jerks is what I mean. Just one of them jocks," I beamed at him.

"So, what are you saying?"

"I don't know, really. Just, uhm. Do you feel it too?"

"Yes, I do."