Behind Closed Doors

Delia was currently sitting in her apartment waiting for Gabe to come pick her up so she could meet his band. She had a hard time trying to convince Madison why she wasn’t angry at Gabe and why she was meeting Cobra Starship. But, after hours of arguing and Delia promising that she would introduce her later to the band, Madison finally gave up and let the situation go, at least for now.

There was a knock at the door, and Delia instantly got up to answer it. She was surprised when she opened the door to see Roxanna on the other side. “What are you doing here?” Delia asked.

“What do you mean? I’m here to see you, obviously!” Roxanna told her. “Were you expecting someone else?”

“Actually, yes,” Delia replied. Roxanna gave her a look that clearly asked who she was expecting, and Delia continued. “Gabe’s supposed to pick me up. I’m meeting his band today,” she explained.

“You’re meeting his band?” Roxanna questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, why?”

“You do realize that this relationship is meant for the press, right? You don’t have to hang out with him on your own time.”

“Yes, I know it’s for the press, but he asked me to meet his band, and I told him I would.”

“He’s not planning on telling them about this arrangement, is he?” Roxanna asked, worried. “Because we don’t need any more people finding out. The less people, the better.”

“Roxanna, calm down. I don’t think he’s going to tell them. I think he’s just going to introduce me to them.”

“He better not tell them,” Roxanna threatened.

“Okay,” Delia said as there was another knock on the door. She walked over to answer it and found Gabe standing there.

“You ready to go?” he asked before he looked around Delia and saw Roxanna standing there. “Roxanna, hey.”

“Hi,” Roxanna said. “So, Delia told me she’s meeting the rest of your band today.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not planning on telling them about the arrangement, are you?”

“No, Roxanna, why would I do that? I’m going to introduce her as my girlfriend. They’ve already seen her with me in the press, so I’ll just tell them she’s my girlfriend.”

“Okay,” Roxanna said, not completely believing him. “Well, Del, have a good time.”

“Thanks, Roxanna. I’ll see you later,” she said as the three of them walked out of her apartment and Delia turned around to lock her door.

They had been in the car for about fifteen minutes when Gabe turned to Delia, asking, “Is everything okay? You’ve been kind of quiet.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied quietly, while continuing her gaze out the window.

“Seriously, what’s up? Was it something with Roxanna?”

“I want to tell Madison,” Delia blurted out.

“You want to tell her what?” Gabe asked looking over at her. “That we’re in a fake relationship?”

“Yeah,” Delia replied.

“Okay.”

“Okay? You’re okay with it?”

“Well, yeah, if you are. If you trust her, I’ll trust her,” he said simply.

“We can’t tell her. Roxanna would go crazy.”

“Who cares? If you want to tell Madison, go for it. Roxanna will get over it.”

“I’m not even kidding, Gabe,” she said looking over at him. “She started freaking out today when I told her I was meeting your band. She thought you were going to tell them the truth. If she finds out that I want to tell Madison, I don’t know what would happen.”

“I’m serious, Delia. If you want to tell Madison, tell her. I’ll back you up one hundred percent.”

“Really?” she asked looking up at him.

“Yeah,” he said with a laugh.

“Thanks,” Delia said looking back out the window. Gabe put the car into park, and Delia looked over at him. “Where are we? I thought we were going to your place?”

“Oh, well the band’s all here. This is Alex’s apartment. You don’t mind, do you?” Gabe asked.

“No, it’s fine,” Delia replied getting out of the car.

Once they walked up the two flights of stairs to Alex’s apartment, Gabe knocked on the door. Alex came answering the door to let them in. “Gabe, hey man. How are you?” he asked as Gabe and Delia walked through the door to see Nate, Ryland, and Victoria sitting around the living room watching television.

“I’m good. Everyone, this is Delia,” Gabe introduced. “Delia, this is Alex, Ryland, Victoria, and Nate,” he said as he pointed to each person.

“Hi,” Delia said as she politely waved to everyone.

“Delia?” Nate asked. “As in your girlfriend?”

“Yes, that would be the one,” Gabe answered.

“As in the girlfriend you cheated on?” Ryland asked, giving Gabe a hard time.

“Yes,” Gabe said through gritted teeth.

“As in the one who has to have the biggest heart if she took you back after what you did,” Victoria chimed in.

“Oh, don’t think that,” Delia said with a smile. “I told him that if he ever thought with his dick again, he would no longer have one because I would be castrating him.”

“Ooh, I like this girl!” Victoria exclaimed.

“Me, too,” the others agreed.

“Good,” Gabe said as he sat down on the couch with Delia sitting down next to him.

“So, Delia, tell us about yourself,” Nate said.

“What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know. What you do, where you’re from, why someone like you would degrade yourself to going out with Gabe,” Nate replied.

“Okay,” Delia said with a laugh. “Well, I work at a bakery. I’m originally from Minnesota, but I moved here about four years ago. And, I figured I could probably get some free stuff by going out with Gabe,” she said with a straight face.

Fortunately, everyone got her sense of humor and started laughing. “You’d probably better off going out with Ryland,” Victoria told her. “He tends to splurge on his girlfriends a little bit more than Gabe.”

Delia turned around to look at Ryland who was sitting next to her. “So, are you single?” she asked.

“Actually,” Ryland replied with a smirk as he put his arm around her.

“Gabe,” Delia said turning her head to him. “I don’t think things are working out between us. I’m sorry, but I’ve found someone else.”

“What?” Gabe exclaimed while everyone else in the room laughed.

“Well, just look at him,” Delia said grabbing Ryland’s face and pulling him towards Gabe. “How can I deny this?”

“And how can you deny this?” Gabe retorted as he pointed to himself.

“Mmm, tough decision,” Delia said before she burst out laughing. She then turned around to Ryland again. “I’m sorry. I have to choose Gabe, though. He did find me first. It’s only fair.”

“Fine, I understand,” Ryland said, faking defeat. “Gabe, treat her well.”

“I will,” Gabe said as the topic of conversation changed to something else. He couldn’t help but notice that this was the first girl he had introduced to his band that they actually got along with, and she wasn’t even his girlfriend!