Gabriel: Prequel

eight

"Isn't it pretty?" Amancia ask, her eyes glazing over with awe. Nicholas quietly shuffles next to her, smiling down at her. I hate how much I admire them both - they have something secluded and special. Gabe and I, still in the midst of not knowing what we are, still feel a certain bliss. But, of course, it's not quite the same.

"Nicholas thinks so, judging by the hard on," Rehan sniggers, discreetly eyeing Gabe up.

"You are so fucking annoying," I counter.

Nicholas shoots a passive look at me, which I guess means he's solid with me. It's the first time his strong features weren't angry, so I take it as a win.

"Is it always in your nature to act like a rabid dog?" The quirk of Rehan's eyebrow makes my own brows furrow.

"She does have a tendency to bite like a dog," Gabe intercepts, a secret smirk wavering on his lips.

"Details I didn't ask for," Rehan says wryly, collapsing on the floor.

Amancia, as she said, led us past our caravan to some grassy area, where shrubs and trees corner us from all angles, enveloping us in a closed space. Little light was available and the the boys bickered on who should light the fire, but after a silent glare from Nicholas, Rehan let him do it with no intention to argue again.

Against the warm fire, Amancia rests her head full of dark curls on her boyfriend's lap as Rehan sits with his knees tucked beneath him. Gabe made the wise choice of sitting with his legs splayed out: an invitation for me to seat in between him.

"I don't like being a third wheel," Rehan mutters, finding a stray leaf and playing with it.

"You can," Amancia smiles, "be more open and warm to people. You're always cold."

A scoff finds its way out of him. "Me? Cold? Do you know who you're dating?"

"Shots fired," Gabe grins.

"The problem isn't that you're cold, it's that you're an ass. Maybe it's the glasses," I offer.

"Without my glasses, I could be handsome?"

All of them look at me daringly; I force a smile as I tighten my fists, nodding eagerly. "Sure." As much as I feel some odd dislike towards him, I'm not entirely prepared to lie to him or make him an enemy. Okay, well, not lie, per se, but out of the three guys, he is the most passable looking. Whilst Gabe has a boyish charm, and Nicholas has a strong presence, Rehan is the most normal: gangly, average height and reeks of sarcasm. However, I'm not stupid enough to rule out the possibility of someone dating him - he is still a catch. To someone. Just not any of us.

He smiles proudly to himself and carries on playing with the leaf. Very weird guy.

"Why did you two come here? This isn't a place people come to for holidays," Amancia asks, turning into a sitting position.

"An escape," Gabe smiles back, lightly tracing a finger across the nape of my neck, and a million shivers dance across my back. Bastard.

"Tell us more!"

"I play football, but home life is hard right now. She," he points to me, "is an elusive seductress that brought me here."

"You're the one that seduced me," I roll my eyes.

"He does football, but you?" Nicholas, for the first time since we met him, pipes up.

I suck my teeth, leaning against the impromptu man cushion behind me. "Just extracurricular stuff."

The three of them eye me suspiciously and I feel Gabe tense up behind me. If they find out about who I really am, it wouldn't just be bad for me, but for him, too. But, it's not something that's easy to suss out, so I'm probably worrying for no reason.

"Extracurricular how?"

"Trading and physical stuff."

Amancia and Rehan break out into a laugh, throwing their heads back in unison. Only Nicholas remains calm, his eyes no longer steely.

"You're part of a gang, aren't you?" Amancia asks, waggling her finger.

Gabe guffaws behind me, shrugging at my mortified face. "Who could've seen it?"

"How did you know?" I cross my arms across my chest, slowly wishing the ground would plunge me in. There's no shame to what I do or who I am, but I came here to escape it. Not to relive it.

"Because we're part of one, too," Rehan shrugs after collecting himself.

"Small world."

"Gabe, you're not part of a gang?"

He shakes his head, shrugging. "Nope. Just classic physical things like football."

"Makes sense," Rehan muses, "you don't seem the tough type. One day in a gang and you'll probably cry about it to Harper."

"Hey! He wouldn't ever be in a gang because he's more of a good fucking person than any of us would ever be," I rest my hand on his thigh protectively, silently challenging Rehan to probe any further.

"With the exception of Amancia, of course," he manages to say.

We all nod collectively - definitely a given.

"You can't expect to stay in a caravan forever," she almost whispers, her eyebrows knitting in concern.

I wave my hand about, shaking my head. "Nah, we're not. We are going back home... We just need space."

She nods, content with the answer I fed her. In some ways, I'm lying to them: I have a few loose ends to tie up. Perks of being in a gang is business everywhere and anyway. Meeting these three became lucky, though, as I can leave Gabe with them tomorrow and set off quickly.

"You can stay with us for a while. Until you leave, anyway."

I shrug in response, not quite committing myself to that plan. It definitely is an option.

"Hell yeah, why not?" Gabe beams. Maybe we aren't on the same wavelength but it'll still work for my benefit.

After an hour of sitting by the fire and telling stories, we had all become closer. The three of them were in the foster system and later ran away, coincidentally joining the same gang a year ago and staying close since. Apparently Nicholas saw Amancia's smile and became a different person for her; Rehan became part of their group easily with her smile, too.
We left after a while, Gabe and I deciding to follow them back to their base - which actually is just a normal house. Nothing too modern or sleek, but not too shabby either. Throw cushions scattered everywhere and streaks of yellow against the wall - definitely Amancia. It's a cosy, warm place for the three of them. They found a family and made a home for them all. Perhaps inviting us in was an offer to their family, too.

"There's no spare bedrooms right now because we have other members, but the sofas are available," Rehan directs, taking off his glasses to rub his eye.

"You're going to get a red eye, Ray, stop," Amancia warns, throwing him a concerned look. Initially, when I first heard about her meeting Gabe by seeing him naked, I thought she had ulterior motives. I stand corrected: she really is an angel.

He shrugs, walking up the stairs silently. Nicholas and her smile apologetically and follow him up until Gabe and I are left alone.

"I like them."

I raise my eyebrow, "You do?"

"They seem nice. Inviting. Like a family."

I nod in agreement, collapsing onto the sofa. Tiredness washes over me and I stare around bleary-eyed, letting my head flop. I feel my boots being taken off, followed by warm hands caressing my legs. "We are not going to have sex here."

"Who said anything about sex?" Gabe wiggles his eyebrows, leaning down to stroke an idle circle across the plane of my stomach.

I smirk knowingly, lifting my hand up to his face, pulling him into a heated kiss. Our lips meet instantly, moving in perfect sync. He lowers himself on top of me, nestling his head in my neck. Then he stops. His fingers stop moving and he stops burying his head next to me. I angle my head to the side to see what happened, but a gentle snore emits from him and I sigh. Of course this bastard fell asleep. I let the gentle noise lull me into sleep as I snuggle into his warmth.