↔IMPULSE↔

↔Santa Cruz↔

Doria was already passed out in Gabe's bed, drooling on his pillow in his boxers.

Gabe looked at the view and crouched down with a sigh. Why did life hate him so much? It was like putting a treat in front of a dog and not letting him eat it. Yes, he just compared himself to a slobbering dog. The description seemed to fit. 

It was nine at night, Sandy was in her room with friends, hoarding the phone like usual even though she wasn't using it. Their giggles and twittering could be heard in his room down the hall. Gabe reached out and brushed a dark strand of hair from Dory's face, he twitched his nose and snorted in his sleep, how cute.

His bedroom door opened and his hand jerked away rapidly as he feigned reading a comic on the floor next to his bed. Sandy walked in holding the phone, "Gabe, your friend's on the phone, the hot one."

He snatched the phone from Sandy, "Archie?"

"Gabriel," his voice purred on the other end. "What are you doing right now?"

He tossed the comic aside as Sandy left, "sitting here bored."

"I'll come pick you up, I'm bored too."

Gabe looked over at his sleeping friend, "I can't. Dory's spending the night."

"Then why are you bored if he's there?"

"He's sleeping."

Archie let out a puff of breath, "then leave him and come have some fun with me." Jeez, that sounded so wrong. Gabe mentally smacked himself, get your mind out of the gutter. "I'll be there in five minutes, wear your shirt."

Before Gabe could protest, he hung up. That pushy moron. He laughed a little and got to his feet and began to get dressed, taking off his pyjamas and tugging on slim black pants and looking at the shirt Archie gave him for a moment before putting it on.

He felt naked with the shirt on, the drafty back and sides made him shiver a little. He looked in his mirror on his closet door and felt even more antsy about the shirt, his back was nearly entirely exposed and the sides showed to the bottom of his rib cage that, as Archie pointed out, pretty scrawny. 

After combing his hair and styling it a little, he self-consciously checked himself out again. He made sure to stop by his sister's room, "I'm going out, don't be too loud and don't wreck the house."

One of her friends giggled, "looking good, Gabe."

Sandy smirked, "what are you wearing?"

"Shut up." There was a honk outside, "I'm leaving, if Dory wakes up tell him I went out, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, now get out of here. Don't want to keep your girlfriend waiting too long."

Gabe didn't justify the comment with a response, he went downstairs and opened the door, locking it behind him. Archie was waiting for him in his truck with that eternal smirk that widened when he saw the shirt. Gabe smiled at him and jogged to the passenger side and hopped in. 

Archie reached over and touched a bare shoulder, his fingers were warm and calloused. "Look at you, very nice." 

Gabe had a smirk of his own, "where are you taking me tonight?"

"It's National Beer Day, where do you think we're going?"

"Another bar?"

"Of course not, a brewery!" Archie said cheerfully as he began to drive. 

Giggling, "there's breweries in San Francisco?"

"...of course!" Gabe was spending a Friday night with Archie, he didn't feel the slightest bit bad about leaving Dory to sleep, he was a heavy sleeper and wouldn't notice if Gabe slipped out for a couple hours.

They played music as they continued driving, Gabe read a sign,  they were leaving San Francisco. "Archie, where are we going?" He pretended to not hear the question, Gabe turned down the music, "Archie!"

A sheepish grin, "...Santa Cruz..."

"What?! That's like a two hour drive!" Gabe turned in his seat to face Archie. It was already nine thirty, he wouldn't begetting home for a while. 

He looked over with a relaxed smile that almost made Gabe forget he was pissed off at him. "Gabriel, it's the weekend. I wouldn't drag you out if you had school."

"When am I going to get home?"

"Sometime tomorrow. After the show we're staying at a hotel—"

"What?!" Archie gave him a simpering look, "don't you give me that face?"

Innocently, "what face?"

"You know what face! The look that says 'don't be angry at me, I'm hot'."

Tossing his head back with a laugh, he looked at Gabe with a teasing grin, "you think I'm hot, Gabriel?"

"I think you're insufferable!"

"Aw, Gabriel, you don't mean that. That hurts my feelings," he faked sadness and stuck out his lower lip, God, he was to attractive for his own good. "If I turn around now, I'll be late for the show."

Gabe crossed his arms and huffed, looking at the streetlight lit freeway blurring outside the window."If you ever do this again, I will break your nose."

"So you'll stay?" His face lit up.

Grumbling, "...I'll stay."

"I knew my cute groupie wouldn't let me down!" Gabe sulked, I'm not cute! He ignored Archie's happy humming and soon fell asleep with his head resting against the cool window. Stupid Archie with his stupid handsome face and that stupid smile.

In his sleep, Gabe thought he could feel someone touching his neck but when he woke up, Archie had both hands on the steering wheel and his eyes focused on the road as he ticked his head to the music. Gabe ignored it and fell back asleep, it must've been his imagination.

The next time he woke up, they were parked behind a building. Archie was putting eyeliner on in the rear view mirror. "How'd you sleep?"

Stretching and feeling his back and neck pop he groaned, "uncomfortably. Are we here?"

"Uh-huh. About to head in, let me put some eyeliner on you too, you'll look like a band member."

Gabe scoffed, "pass. Is the rest of the band already here?"

"Yep." Ian knocked on the window and Gabe rolled it down.

Ian looked at Gabe then sighed, "did you kidnap him?"

"No."

"Yes." They spoke in unison then Gabe added, "...kinda."

Running his hand through his red hair, Ian looked confused, "how do you 'kinda' kidnap someone?"

Archie laughed and scratched his neck and Gabe glared at him, Archie gave that damn simpering smile, "I, um, didn't tell him that we were coming to Santa Cruz for the night..."

Ian slapped the roof of the truck, "how do just 'not' tell someone that? Archie, go get your dumbass ready."

They got out of the car and Gabe felt a cool breeze on his back forgetting just how little his shirt covered, it hadn't bothered him with Archie, but standing in front of someone he barely knew made him crossed his arms defensively.

Archie put his hand on Gabe's back as they walked, leaning in and saying softly, "stay close to me tonight, Gabriel."

His palm was hot against Gabe's skin, Gabe coughed and looked away to hide a light blush, "y-yeah." Why am I blushing over this idiot's words? Ugh, handsome guys are going to be the death of me. Gabe sighed and shook his head a little as they walked in to get ready for the show, at least he wasn't bored anymore.