Do Not Open Before Christmas

‘Skinny mocha latte?’ the brown haired Starbucks barista called out.

‘Yep, that’s me!’ I called back, walking up to the counter and received my highly caffeinated beverage, I glanced down my watch. Realising I was late for my meeting; I spun around intending on leaving. But as I turned on my heel, my face was met with someone’s chest.

I looked down at my once white blouse and sighed.

‘Oh god, I’m so sorry,’ I looked up to see to deep brown chocolate eyes staring down at me.

‘Don’t worry, really, I don’t like it that much,’ his eyes continued to penetrate my own, the feeling telling me that I’d seen those eyes before grew. ‘…Gabe?’ I finally remembered.

‘Izzy?’ he mused.

‘Yep, the one and only,’ I grinned.

‘You’ve changed so much,’ he commented as he looked me up and down, his mouth slightly ajar in shock. It was understandable, as soon as I got out of high school; I underwent a massive makeover, fed up with my mousy school girl exterior. The last time he saw me I had frizzy brown hair (my nickname for most of my school life was ‘frizzy Izzy’), acne, no dress sense and glasses. At the time I had a black bob, a clear complexion, better clothes and no glasses thanks to laser eye surgery.

‘Is that good or bad?’ I smirked.

‘Good, it’s all good.’ He said, still obviously in shock.

Remembering my lateness after looking at my watch, I said, ‘I’m really sorry but I’ve got to run. Give me your phone.’

He got out his black T-Mobile Sidekick and handed it to me; I punched in my number and
saved it.

‘Gimme a call,’ I said with a flirtatious wink before making a dash for the door.

Sitting on the subway on my return from the amazingly boring meeting, I couldn’t seem to stop thinking of Gabe. In high school, we weren’t best friends, but we talked now and then.

It was weird seeing him after all those years.

The train reached my stop and I exited and made my way up to the surface.

I was strolling down the slightly breezy street, when I heard the very familiar sound of my ringtone. I searched through my various pockets and my bag, until I found it and it notified me that I had a new text from an unknown number.

Want to go out sometime? Gabe

My smile widened and became uncontrollable. I couldn’t describe the unusual immense happiness that I felt at that moment.

I immediately texted back one single word.

Yes

I carried on down the road, almost floating as opposed to walking. I reached my apartment; I dumped my bags on the floor and decided to have a shower.

The hot water cascaded down from the shower head, relaxing my overly tense muscles.

Feeling calm and serene, I stepped out of the shower only to hear my phone ringing incessantly.

‘Hello?’ I questioned into the handset.

‘Hey Izzy, its Gabe.’ My face instantly lit up.

‘What’s up?’ I asked as casually as possible.

‘Nothing, I just wanted to see when you wanted to go out?’

Thinking about it, I answered, ‘How about tonight? I’m not doing anything and it is Friday.’ I reasoned.

‘Tonight? That’s awesome!’ I could here the smile in his voice, ‘I’ll pick you up at 8.’

‘Um, Gabe, don’t you need to know where I live?’ I giggled.

‘Oh yeah, ’ he laughed.

I gave him my address and proceeded to get myself ready. After much deliberation, I finally settled on my favourite black dress. If there’s anything I knew about first date fashion, it was that a little black dress never fails.

I decided on green and red accessories to fit with the Christmas theme that plagued every aspect of life from mid-November year after year.

I slipped on my red patent heels as I applied my lip gloss. The clacking of said heels sounded as I walked across the hard-wood flooring of my lounge.

Looking myself up and down in the full length mirror, I was quite pleased with the look I had managed to achieve in less than an hour.

As I stood there, the doorbell rang. I smoothed down my dress and fixed my hair before opening the door to reveal a very dapper looking Mr. Saporta.

He wore a fitted grey shirt, a black skinny tie, black skinny jeans and very expensive looking black leather shoes.

‘Mr Saporta,’ I greeted, nodding my head curtly at him.

‘Izzy you look absolutely beautiful.’ He said as he took my hand, bringing it up to his face and kissing it.

‘Ever the gentleman Gabe,’ I smiled. He took my hand and led me out of the building.
Despite my frequent questions, he wouldn’t tell me where we were going.

We eventually ended up at a little tapas restaurant in a secluded area of the city called Alexandro’s.

Once we were seated and both had menus, Gabe and I engaged in a comfortable conversation.

‘Yeah, the guy who owns this place is my best friend’s dad.’ He informed me.

‘Awesome,’ I said as a middle-aged brown haired man came over to our table.

‘Gabe!’

‘Alexandro!’

They both hugged each other and Gabe returned to his seat before introducing me.

‘Izzy, this is Alexandro, he owns the restaurant, Alexandro this is Izzy, my date.’ He smiled.

‘Pleased to meet you,’ I said offering him my hand.

‘The pleasure’s all mine,’ he said suavely.

The meals came and went, before I knew it, Gabe was walking me home.

‘I had a great time tonight Gabe,’ I said as I rested my head on his shoulder while we walked, my arm linked with his.

‘So did I, the most fun I’ve had in ages,’ he said quietly.

We reached my door, and for a moment, we both stood there, looking at each other. I got lost in his deep brown eyes which were piercing my own hazel orbs.

Silently, he closed the gap between us and pressed his lips against my own. The kiss was very sweet and innocent – everything a first kiss should be.

We pulled apart, both of us wearing goofy grins.

‘Thanks for an amazing night Gabe.’ I kissed his cheek before running into my apart, the goofy grin never leaving my face.

Over the next eight months, Gabe and I became inseparable, spending every moment together. I even took frequent trips to join him on tour for weeks at a time.

On one particular tour I couldn’t join Gabe because of work commitments. Being a writer, I always had very flexible working hours, but this once; my agent wanted me to have my book finished when I was only half way through it. Seeing as it was only a two week tour, it wasn’t a big deal. But as Gabe’s departure drew closer, that prospect flew out the window.

‘Do you have to go Gabey?’ I asked quietly, watching him as he packed his case, his case which looked ridiculously small for two weeks worth of clothes.

‘I have to go Izzy, but I’ll be back before Christmas. Don’t worry,’ he said, leaning down and kissing me on the forehead.

‘Christmas is only six weeks away, do you have my present yet?’ I questioned playfully.

‘For once I actually do. But I’m taking it away with me, so I can put the finishing touches to it.’

He winked as he zipped his case.

‘I still haven’t got yours,’ I revealed, my cheeks reddening slightly.

‘Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll love whatever you get me. But I have to go now,’ he frowned.

‘So soon?’ he didn’t answer, he just wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.

We stood, locked in our silent embrace. Sooner than I hoped, Gabe pulled away., traces of sadness evident on his face.

‘I love you,’ he said picking up his case and walking to the door of the apartment we shared.

‘I love you too, happy anniversary.’ I said tears forming in my eyes as I handed him the gift
I’d bought him. I’d brought him some expensive headphones as he was always complaining that the ones he had were awful.

‘Happy anniversary to you too.’ He smiled handing me a box. I slowly opened it to reveal a silver locket attached to a simple chain.

‘Gabe, I love it’ I gasped.

‘Open it,’ I clicked open the fragile silver and smiled. Inside was picture of the two of us kissing on our second date in a photo booth.

When I looked up, he was gone. In the near distance I heard the elevator door closing. Try as I might nothing could erase the grin from my face. Gabe may have gone on tour, but the simple gesture of the locket meant the world to me.

The two weeks of the tour passed in a flash. I finished writing my book and even started working on a sequel for it.

I was in the kitchen, making myself a cup of coffee, when the phone rang. The caller ID informed me it was Vicky, the keytarist in Gabe’s band.

‘Hey Vicky, what’s up?’ I asked cheerily.

She was silent on the other end of the line for a moment before saying, ‘Izzy, I don’t know how to tell you this, but Gabe got hit by a car,’ her voice hoarse as though she’d been crying.

‘What?! He’s alright though?!’ I asked frantically.

‘…He died about an hour ago.’ She stated coldly. As these words rang out, my whole world crashed down around me.

‘No… no this can’t be happening!’ I screamed, I dropped the phone, the plastic shell cracking into tiny pieces as it hit the floor. My knees gave way and I fell to the ground with a dull thud.

I numbly got through the next few day, until I had to attends Gabe’s funeral. I was extremely reluctant to attend; it just made everything so real. It made everything official, Gabe was gone forever.

The service passed in a blur, my memories flooded with tears. Throughout the whole service I mercilessly clutched the locket Gabe had given me as an anniversary present. It was the single hardest thing I’d ever had to do, the only people helping me through it were my parents and the other members of Cobra Starship who understood how I felt.

I was a mess, so much so, that I had therapy session. They helped, but they couldn’t erase any of the immeasurable pain I felt.

About a week after the funeral, Vicky dropped off Gabe’s things from tour. Still running on autopilot, I thanked her and brought the bag inside.

Silently, I unpacked his things, tears never ceasing to escape from my eyes. Within a few minutes, I’d almost unpacked everything. The last thing in the bag, was a small gift box. I looked at the tag, it read,

To Izzy, love Gabe
Xx

I opened the box and saw three things, a piece of paper, a letter and a ring box. I opened the letter and it read.

Merry Christmas baby,

I hope you like your present, read, the piece of paper. I wrote it especially for you.

Lots of love,
Forever yours,

Gabe
Xx

I picked up the piece of paper and read Gabe rushed scrawl which decorated it. The title read The World Has It’s Shine (But I Would Drop A Dime On It), I smiled, it had Gabe written all over it.

I’m not one for love songs.
The way I’m living makes you feel like giving up
But you don’t,
And I want everything for you.

My disappointment
‘Cause you’ve been left behind
And the world has its shine,
I would drop it on a dime for you.

(Hey oh!)
And whatever it takes.
(Hey oh!)
I’m gonna make my way home.
(Hey oh!)
We can turn our backs on the past
And start over…

Not long ago
I gave up hope,
But you came along
You gave me something I could hold on to.
Woah-oh.
And I want you.
Oh, woah.
More than you could ever know.

Before I met you
I used to dream you up and make you up in my mind (up in my mind)
Woah-oh.
And all I ever wanted
Was to be understood.
You’ve been the only one who could.
I could never turn my back on you.

(Hey oh!)
And whatever it takes.
(Hey oh!)
I’m gonna make my way home.
(Hey oh!)
We can turn our backs on the past
And start over…

Not long ago (not long ago)
I gave up hope, (I gave up hope)
But you came along (you came along)
You gave me something I could hold on to.
Woah-oh.
And I want you.
Oh, woah.
More than you could ever know (more than you could ever know.)
More than you could ever know.
It’s you.

Not long ago
I gave up hope,
But you came along.
Gave me something I could hold on to.
Woah-oh.
(Yeah!)
Not long ago (not long ago)
I gave up hope, (I gave up hope)
But you came along (you came along)
You gave me something I could hold on to.
Woah-oh.
And I want you.
Oh, woah.
More than you could ever know.

A single tear dropped onto the piece of paper.

‘They’re beautiful,’ I whispered.

Wiping my eyes, I looked down and saw the ring box. It didn’t take a genius to work out what Gabe was going to do with it. I opened the box and smiled weakly. It was a silver ring with a ruby in the middle with a diamond on either side. I looked, engraved on the inside of the ring, were the words,

G & I forever

I sat down on our bed and slipped the ring onto the third finger of my left hand. Where was supposed to be.

Gabe was gone, but he always had a special place in my heart, that no one could ever replace. The locket and ring were never removed, the way it was intended to be. The lyrics he wrote were in a frame which was placed by the side of my bed, next to a blown up version of the picture in my locket which I looked at every night before I went to bed.

Not long ago
I gave up hope,
But you came along.
Gave me something I could hold on to.