Wires
Chapter Two
In 2003, I found my first ending. This ending was the discovery of Gabe Saporta versus Gabriel Saporta. He was introduced as Gabriel to me by my father, but he insisted I call him Gabe when I spoke to him personally.
"Gabe knows Spanish," Nancy told me one day.
I just rolled my eyes, because all I had ever heard Gabriel say was Hola when we first met. In that case, I could also speak Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese.
"Why don't you talk to him?" she asked me. "He thinks you don't like him."
I just shrugged. I couldn't talk to him because I couldn't follow his train of thought, but I didn't want to admit that Nancy was better at something than I was, even if it was being able to understand her boyfriend. She always called him that now. She always said my boyfriend then followed it up with a dreamy sigh. I wasn't sure how Gabe could be anyone's boyfriend.
"Do you like him?" She was frowning now, ready to pounce if I responded with any answer she didn't like. I could practically see the muscles in her legs flexing as she prepared herself.
"He's okay," I told her. I wasn't entirely sure it was true, but since she smiled at me I guessed it was the right answer.
On the 28th of December, 2003 -- more than a year since we had first met -- I finally found an ending. Nancy wanted us to spend New Years Eve together, and then New Years Day together, but Gabriel already had plans, so we settled for the 28th.
We sat in Gabriel's back yard with a small fire burning, which I guessed was probably illegal but I chose to ignore it. It was our bonfire, which we sat around with flashlights by our side and marshmallows ready to toast. I didn't really like toasted marshmallows, so I just gave them to Gabriel instead while Nancy wasn't looking.
Nancy went up to the house to use the bathroom, leaving me with Gabriel, sitting on the unmown lawn. The grass itched at whatever skin it could touch, and it was eerily quiet with the fire crackling as Gabriel downed another marshmallow.
"It's really starry," Gabriel said simply, turning his head up to the sky. He fell back onto the grass with a small thud, still staring.
"Uh huh," I said, unwilling to get myself tangled in his wires, especially when Nancy wasn't around to cut in.
He told me to lie down, so I did. He held out the ashen stick that he had been burning over the fire, then in the night sky he began to wave his arm with a flourish as he wrote in the air.
I could only just follow the end of the stick, and though it was weird, my eyes did stick to it closely. Watching as he spelled out Gabriel Saporta in elaborate letters.
"Do you like untoasted marshmallows?" he asked me then.
I just shook my head.
"Do you ever talk?"
"Yeah," I responded quickly, but my voice was all croaky because I'd barely said a word that night. I felt the cold air nip at my hands, so I pulled my jacket sleeves down over them.
"Well perhaps you should do it more if your voice is going to get like that."
"In a perfect world, Gabriel."
He didn't complain about me calling him Gabriel like he usually did, but just nodded. We lay in silence for a few moments before we heard the crunching of grass, and knew that Nancy was returning.
Gabriel jumped to his feet and ran over to her. I stayed where I was, and picked up the burnt stick that he had dropped at my side. I wrote Gabe / Gabriel, and could almost see the letters imprinted in the dark sky.
I had reached my first ending, and the ending was that Gabriel didn't have wires. Only Gabe did.
"Gabe knows Spanish," Nancy told me one day.
I just rolled my eyes, because all I had ever heard Gabriel say was Hola when we first met. In that case, I could also speak Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Chinese.
"Why don't you talk to him?" she asked me. "He thinks you don't like him."
I just shrugged. I couldn't talk to him because I couldn't follow his train of thought, but I didn't want to admit that Nancy was better at something than I was, even if it was being able to understand her boyfriend. She always called him that now. She always said my boyfriend then followed it up with a dreamy sigh. I wasn't sure how Gabe could be anyone's boyfriend.
"Do you like him?" She was frowning now, ready to pounce if I responded with any answer she didn't like. I could practically see the muscles in her legs flexing as she prepared herself.
"He's okay," I told her. I wasn't entirely sure it was true, but since she smiled at me I guessed it was the right answer.
On the 28th of December, 2003 -- more than a year since we had first met -- I finally found an ending. Nancy wanted us to spend New Years Eve together, and then New Years Day together, but Gabriel already had plans, so we settled for the 28th.
We sat in Gabriel's back yard with a small fire burning, which I guessed was probably illegal but I chose to ignore it. It was our bonfire, which we sat around with flashlights by our side and marshmallows ready to toast. I didn't really like toasted marshmallows, so I just gave them to Gabriel instead while Nancy wasn't looking.
Nancy went up to the house to use the bathroom, leaving me with Gabriel, sitting on the unmown lawn. The grass itched at whatever skin it could touch, and it was eerily quiet with the fire crackling as Gabriel downed another marshmallow.
"It's really starry," Gabriel said simply, turning his head up to the sky. He fell back onto the grass with a small thud, still staring.
"Uh huh," I said, unwilling to get myself tangled in his wires, especially when Nancy wasn't around to cut in.
He told me to lie down, so I did. He held out the ashen stick that he had been burning over the fire, then in the night sky he began to wave his arm with a flourish as he wrote in the air.
I could only just follow the end of the stick, and though it was weird, my eyes did stick to it closely. Watching as he spelled out Gabriel Saporta in elaborate letters.
"Do you like untoasted marshmallows?" he asked me then.
I just shook my head.
"Do you ever talk?"
"Yeah," I responded quickly, but my voice was all croaky because I'd barely said a word that night. I felt the cold air nip at my hands, so I pulled my jacket sleeves down over them.
"Well perhaps you should do it more if your voice is going to get like that."
"In a perfect world, Gabriel."
He didn't complain about me calling him Gabriel like he usually did, but just nodded. We lay in silence for a few moments before we heard the crunching of grass, and knew that Nancy was returning.
Gabriel jumped to his feet and ran over to her. I stayed where I was, and picked up the burnt stick that he had dropped at my side. I wrote Gabe / Gabriel, and could almost see the letters imprinted in the dark sky.
I had reached my first ending, and the ending was that Gabriel didn't have wires. Only Gabe did.