Yesterday's You |18+|

Chapter 34

I took a seat in front of Gabriel as soon as I saw him at the Burger King restaurant to have some meals for lunch because I was too lazy to cook. Furthermore, Burger King is near to my house so, it easier for me to just go there to have meals with Gabriel. After receiving our orders, I scrolled through my phone and I saw a piece of news entitled 'Barbara Hudson first runaway of Juliet's Model Runaway 2019.'

"Gosh!" I was exasperated to see the news.

"What's that?" He asked after taking a bite of the burger.

I showed him the news that was going trending on Twitter and he was really surprised. "You don't know about it yet?" I asked.

He shook his head. "She wasn't joking when she said that she wants to do modelling," he whispered to himself.

"Lucky enough for her. It just a few weeks after we finished school, she already got the job," I sighed.

He nodded as a sign that he agreed with me. "Do you want to go to prom with me?" Gabriel asked out of sudden.

"What?" I was so shocked.

"Prom? With me? Initially, I asked Barbara but since both of us didn't work out bla bla bla and you didn't seem to have a partner to go with, so I guess I could ask you," Gabriel explained.

"I didn't want to go to prom," I said. "I'm sorry," I bit my lower lip.

"It's okay. I will not force you. I can ask El," he shrugged.

"Right, she doesn't have a partner to go with so you can ask her," I agreed with him. Lucas did not do the prom thing. In addition, he was 5 years older than us so it didn't seem nice for him to go with Eleanor.

"Great," Gabriel exclaimed. "What's with your diet nowadays, actually? Is there something wrong?" He asked and smiled widely.

"Just craving," I replied and laughed. He looked at me weirdly. "What?" I asked.

"You know what, you should come to the prom. It's our freaking last year. Come on," he adjured.

I laughed. "No, I don't want to," I insisted.

"Why? Is anyone obligated to have a partner to go to the prom?" He shrugged.

"Most likely," I answered.

"Come on, I will bring El but you have to come," he suggested.

"No freaking way," I refused to accept his invitation because after all the jeers and insults I received from the last weeks of school, it really ruined me mentally.

"If it's because all those jerks who hurt you for doing that job, I will kick them at their ass," he mimicked the action of Bruce Lee.

I laughed again. "You won't do that, they're your friends," I chuckled softly before I took a sip of orange juice.

"Believe it or not, you're my friend, Katie. Even till the day, I've got married even the person wasn't you," I laughed a little. "...you're still the same Katie that I used to know, that always I can count on," his words teared me up a little.

"You know what," I said.

"What?" He took a fries to his mouth.

"I really want to tell you this. Um... it's about Barb," I initiated and he nodded to allow me to continue. "Barb always said that I always off the limit whenever I was with you. She always got the idea that I hooked up with you, betraying her. I wondered, how did she even think that way? She was well-informed that you and I were technically had been together before but we already explained to her that we keep in touch for the sake of study. That's what I always think actually, how can she say nasty things about me although we are friends. No hard feelings anyway," I put my lip in a thin line.

He laughed a bit. "She's nice, Katie. She cares about me, she prioritises me, she is incredibly thoughtful, good at sex," he raised his eyebrows a few times.

"That's disgusting," I chuckled.

"No, no," he chuckled. "Um... she's apparently out of my league, Katie," the atmosphere went silent. "I'm nothing to her," he showed me a gloomy face.

I started to feel anxious. "What do you mean? You two were good together," I exclaimed.

"Good that people thought like that," he chuckled again, didn't know how to start. "She's... um... I knew she was cheating on me," he stammered. The look on his face was like the face that still couldn't believe it. He looked down in disappointment. His eyes had gone bloodshot.

"Since when?" I asked.

"Since the first time, we went out together. Um... she brought her car on our first date and we went to buy something for our first date. Cliche, is it?" Both of us chuckled. "I found a condom, at the pocket of the passenger side. Clearly, it wasn't mine but I didn't suspect anything. Like, I guess she wanted to make out on our first date. Turned out, nothing happened. Just a simple kiss and then, it ended just like that," he sighed heavily.

"Then?" I demanded him to continue.

"The next few weeks, I realized that something was off with Taylor, I guessed you know him considering that you and Chris used to be together," I nodded. "He always either came to practice late or he dismissed earlier which irritate the heck out of Peter," he shrugged again. "And then, one day, I went out with my mom only to find out that Taylor and Barb kissing at a mall. On our next date, I found a polaroid of her and Taylor at the same spot I found the condom. That's the beginning," he continued.

"How did you even stay? Gosh, that's terrible," I exclaimed.

"I stay because I believe we could make it work. I put up with a lot of unnecessary craps. There was no conversation whatsoever when it came down to a future," he looked at me deeply in my eyes. "Of course there was the intention, but she would always deflect the topic. Truth to be told, I was always being accused of cheating because she said I had potential," he said sorrowfully.

"Do you regret choosing to end it?" I ask.

"No, not at all. It's finally felt like I could live this world like me. Not a person I was, controlled, bullied," he smiled at me.

-

I took off my cardigan as I entered my home and then, at the corner of my eyes, Diane was busy clicking the keyboard of her laptop while sipping a cup of coffee.

"Hi," Diane said as soon as she saw me hanging the cardigan at the back of the door.

"Hey," I approached her and took a seat beside her. "What are you doing?" I took a glance at her laptop screen.

"Oh, I'm preparing the documents for me to be transferred to the new branch at Florida," she explained. "As soon as you enter college, we will leave this town for good."

Silently, I looked at her and smile insincerely. "Do you think this is the best way of escapism?" I asked.

"Honestly... I don't know, Kate. I've been blackmailed last week and fortunately, Robert, my boss, didn't believe in that trash," she told me.

"Did the officer say anything about this?" I asked.

"No, Kate!" She said sharply. "They have goddamn abundant cases awaited to be resolved and the weight of our case is not satisfying enough or fulfilling the requirements to be investigated. That's why, we should move out of here," she continued.

"Is that it? Just because we didn't provide pieces of evidence or he didn't threaten us with death, it means that he could be liberated just like that?" I argued. She shrugged and stared blankly on her laptop. "That's sick!" I expressed the exasperation that I had on my chest.