Chapter Three

 

And he did phone,too. Shortly after midnight while I was sitting at my kitchen table. Hunched over a pile of paperwork that I had forgotten to do earlier today. Elle had retired to bed about an hour before, insisting that she needed beauty sleep”. At this point I had figured that he had forgotten to phone.

“Hello?” I asked, not checking the number before answering.

“Hey, it’s Gabe.”

“Oh. Hey. I didn’t think that you’d be phoning tonight.”

“I told you I would.” He murmured, sounding fairly hurt.

“I just thought that you’d be too tired to call.” I had never been to a gig before. So I couldn’t know for sure. I heard a strange noise in the background, then it grew closer and I heard the unmistakable sound of someone retching. That sound was all too familiar with me, because Elle often came home completely wasted and throwing up on every surface imaginable.

“Jared’s staying overnight, he’s too drunk to take himself home.”

“That’s nice of you to let him stay there.”

“I didn’t have a choice. He stuffed the keys in my hand and demanded that I take him to my apartment… Oops, give me a second.”

Without waiting for my reply, he set the phone down and I heard him walk away. There was a brief bit of shuffling.

“Let’s go, Jared.” I could hear him say. There was a grumbled reply that was too slurred and quiet to make out. I waited patiently as he did something on the other line.

“Back,” he said softly into the phone after a few silent moments. I was going to question what had taken him so long, but refrained. He probably put his brother to bed, or at least guided him towards the bathroom.

“I hope I didn’t wake you up,” Gabe admitted gently, into the phone, probably just realizing how late it actually was.

“I was finishing some paperwork. You didn’t wake me.”

“Ahh. Sounds boring.”

“A bit, but I have to get it done anyways so it doesn’t matter.”

“Is Elle awake?”

“She went to bed a few hours ago.”

The small talk continued for a little while afterwards. We talked about the gig, hobbies, and other various little things. It was at least one in the morning before either of us yawned and actually realized the time.

“So. Going out. Should… we do that tomorrow? Or, I guess later today depending on how you want to look at it.”

I nodded pointlessly – he couldn’t see me – “I guess so. I don’t have classes on Tuesday, and I get off work at three.”

“Great! Be ready for seven. You… should wear something fancy.” Gabe exclaimed into the phone, as something clattered in the background. Jared was up, I assumed.

“I should let you go take care of that.” I said, as a small smile tugged at the corner of my expression. I leaned rather lazily on the table, one arm propping up my chin the other hand holding the phone to my ear. Gabe mumbled a hasty goodbye into the phone, and hung up shortly afterwards.

I copied him and set the phone down next to the pile of papers I was working on. Since I had been distracted by Gabe, my work was going to keep me busy late into the night.

 

He was there on time the next day. I waited for him outside the apartment, in my best clothes. Though I hadn’t been told what to do, I was told what to wear at least. So I was wearing the only dress I owned. It was red, and a shiny silk. The back was too low for my comfort, but I didn’t have much choice. It was all I had though, so I couldn’t be picky. I had stolen a pair of Elle’s heels that would go with it, so I seemed all set.

I had wondered how he intended on getting here, since he was unable to drive. But when he pulled up, he was driving by himself as he pulled up into the loop outside the building. Leaving the car idling in the loop, Gabe jumped out of the vehicle and ran around to my side. At first I wondered what he was doing.

He was wearing a white dress shirt and black pants. Something I never quite pictured him owning. I had assumed everything he had would be jeans and t-shirts. Part of me wondered if he had borrowed the clothes from Jared.

“Did you get your intermediate license?” I asked Gabe, assuming that that was the only way he could have driven over here in the first place.

“Nope.”

It took me a minute to realize that he had driven here illegally, sighing under my breath as I hopped into the car and he closed the door behind him.

“Where did you get the car?” I queried. Part of me expected to hear that he had stolen it. I wouldn’t put it past him, frankly.

“Jared’s. I borrowed it,” he put ‘borrowed’ it in quotations with his fingers, before putting the car into drive, and pulling out of the loop.

“Doesn’t he need it?”

“He’s sleeping right now. He was up puking most of the night, so he’s sleeping it off now.”

“What if he wakes up while we’re out?”

“I left him a note on the fridge.”

I sighed gently at this comment, idly shrugging my shoulders. “So, Gabe, where are we going?”

“Dinner. Then a surprise.”

“What kind of surprise?”

“I can’t tell you, then it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

I held a small red bag on my lap with one hand as I reached over for the seatbelt of Jared’s car. “Well, where are we going for dinner?” I questioned.

“You’ll see,” he responded and I frowned at him.

“Can’t you tell me anything about this date?”

“Nope, because that’s no fun.”

I sighed loudly, just to emphasize my dislike at him not telling me about where we were going. But I didn’t do anything else. Resting my forehead against the glass window, I watched as the scenery passed.

“You didn’t make me get dressed up for no reason, right?” I asked him rather playfully.

“Of course not. I wouldn’t wear these clothes if I had any other choice.”

I smiled at this reply and nodded. “Are they Jared’s?”

“Nope, these are mine. But I haven’t worn them in years.”

I nodded with understanding, idly wringing my hands on my lap. “I haven’t worn this dress in ages. It was at the back of my closet while I was going through everything I could wear, earlier today.”

“I looks pretty,” he commented with a small nod, his dark eyes idly flickering over to mine as he took his attention from the road for a few moments. I was unsure about this whole date thing, but it seemed like it would be a fun experience. Although, I felt mildly uncomfortable in the dress.

Author's Note

I'm still working on it, it's just... taking time. I'll update the chapter when I have more time.

Reviews

[The Perfectionist]

Well, at least I can't fault you for being inconsistent. This chapter, for better or worse, has done nothing to change my feelings on the story, or any of the characters therein. Tying the reader's sense of wonder to what will happen next only works if they have managed to connect with the character feeling that emotion, and Jeanette is so flat, try as I might, I can't bring myself to be more than idly curious about where Gabe plans on taking her.

In short, and since this is the last one, I'll wrap it up here, your writing is what I would call "just good enough". It's not so bad (or even so average) that I would avoid seeing where it goes next, but neither will I be waiting with baited breath for the next installment.

You have the ability to write, you should know this by now. Venture out of the shallows and into the deep end. Explore some real creativity and you'll see that it's in a whole other galaxy than stock characters and paint-by-numbers plot lines.