Through the Fire (a Les Twins fanfic)

Chapter 29: Come Away

After Laurent found out about the latest Cinnamon drama online he didn't bother attempting to call Gabby.  He immediately checked his schedule and began booking a flight.  They needed to talk face-to-face.

The dancers had two days off after the Toronto show.  That was exactly enough time for him to go to Atlanta and be back before the tour left for Europe.

Twelve hours later the tension in the bedroom was thick enough to cut with a knife as they argued.

"What was she even doing in your room?"  Gabby paced back and forth.  The idea of Laurent possibly spending night after night with a thot named after a cooking spice burned her up.

Laurent caught her arms and turned her to face him.  "She was my friend.  We hung out sometimes.  That's all."

"In your room?"

"It's not like that.  On the road my room is where I live.  It's like my house."

She snatched away from him.  "Uh-huh.  Well, the next time you're gone maybe I can call Tarik and me and him can hang out sometimes.  Overnight.  In my house.  Half naked.  Because I guess that's what we're doing now."

His eyes turned dark at the thought.  "See, now you're clowning."

"No, Lau. You're clowning!  I didn't just fall off the back of a turnip truck yesterday."

Laurent raised his voice to match hers.  He felt like his head was about to explode.  "Who fell off a truck, Gabby?!  What the hell does that even mean?  Is this some more of your country Atlanta talk?  SPEAK. ENGLISH."

"Here's some English for you, Lau.  GET.  OUT."

"Really?  You really want me to go?"  The expression on his face dared her to say it again.

Gabby backed away, trying to calm down and think about what she was saying.  She sat down on the edge of the bed trembling.

"And why are you talking about this guy anyway?   Tarik?"  Laurent spat his name out in disgust glaring at her.   "Did you do something with him?"

"What?"  She hesitated as a flashback of that one mistaken kiss with Tarik brought a lump of guilt to her throat, before going on the defensive.  "No! Of course not.  Stop trying to change the subject."

"I'm not.  I'm trying to talk to you about us and why you keep saying that bich's name."

Gabby shut down.  "Just...just leave me alone.  I can't even look at you right now."

Laurent stormed out of the room slamming the door hard enough to make her jump.  She burst into tears.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be.

****

After thirty minutes Gabby came out of the bedroom thinking Laurent was gone, but he was right there in the living room.  He never left the house.  He'd been out there the whole time trying to calm his temper.

He looked at Gabby.  Her eyes were red and puffy, and he felt like the worst person in the world for making her cry.  They were both torn up on the inside, but it seemed like they had run out of words.

Laurent moved to the entertainment center and fiddled with the CD player then turned to her.

"Dance with me."

She sniffed and wiped her eyes.   "You know I can't dance."

"It's okay.  It's a slow one."

Fresh tears welled up anew in Gabby's eyes as the song started playing.  It was her favorite song. The one on the Nora Jones CD she hid behind all the other ones in the rack so Laurent wouldn't think she was corny.

Come away with me in the night.

Come away with me...and I...will write...you a song.

"How did you know?"  She rested her head on his chest and rocked with him, barely moving.

He whispered to the top of her head.   "I know everything about you.  Because I love you."

Come away with me on a bus.

Come away where they can't tempt...us....with their lies.

"I wish you could've just told me.  I shouldn't have had to hear it from Shauna...and the Internet."

"Were you gonna believe me?  Be honest."

Gabby brought her hand to her mouth as the reality sunk in that...no...she probably wouldn't have believed him.  "I'm sorry, Lau. I need to trust you more.  I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Nooooo, baby, there's nothing wrong with you.  It's not your fault.  It's mine."

A poignant shared pain rippled through them.  Laurent's heart shattered into pieces hearing her blame herself.  This is what always happened.  Everyone he had ever loved, he hurt.

He had hoped that it could be different this time with Gabby.  That with their love the curse had magically been lifted.  But clearly that wasn't the case.   They lived in two very different worlds. The life of an entertainer—his life—was lived under a cruel microscope.  Every single, solitary detail of everything he said and did, every mistake he made, was distorted, stretched, and magnified out of proportion.

Or maybe he simply didn't deserve to have a love as pure as hers.  He was a perpetual flirt who adored women and he'd definitely had his share.  Maybe this was karma coming back to bite him for the many he did wrong in the past.

Either way he couldn't stand being the cause of her pain.  It was totally unacceptable.

****

The next morning Gabby woke up with an empty feeling.  Something was off.  She sat straight up in bed.  It was barely 7AM and still dark outside, but Lau was not in bed beside her.  Groggily, she walked out to the living room expecting to find him on the couch or in the kitchen.  But he wasn't there either.

Retracing her steps back to the bedroom Gabby's heart began to speed up.  She hadn't noticed it before but Laurent's luggage was no longer propped up next to the closet door.  It was gone.  A sense of dread filled her as she froze in place for a moment.  Then she rushed to flip on the bathroom light and check inside.  Next she checked the closet.  All his things were gone.  He was gone.

In a panic, she turned on every light in the room.   That's when her eyes fell upon something white sitting on top of Laurent's pillow...a sheet of paper carefully folded with her name printed on the outside in his scrawling handwriting.

Gabby stared at the paper for a long time before she opened it.  She picked it up, turned it over in her hands, put it down, and picked it up again.  Finally, she sat down on the bed and reluctantly unfolded it.

Inside, there were thousands of dollars in big bills and a brief message:

I don't want to be the one who keeps hurting you. You deserve better.

Love,

L.

And just like that, her world broke.