I'm Not a Princess

Reality strikes Avery at once, as if it had never hit before, and she jumps back, covering her burning lips with a hand, her eyes wide with alarm. She stares at him speechlessly for over a minute until she does the only thing she can think of.

She slaps him.

"'Ey, now," he rubs his cheek, stepping back with an injured expression.

She shakes her head furiously to shake out the nonsense. "I can't believe you!"

"What? That it was that good?"

She slaps him again, unable to contain her fury. "You're horrible! Horrible!" She lets out a frustrated groan, steps around him, and stomps off as best as any girl can in a dress and flats holding a purse.

"Wait, Avery!"

"Now he calls me by name," she mutters under her breath, closing her eyes for a moment to clear her mind. But all she can see, all she can feel, all she can think about.... is that kiss. "Unbelievable." She swallows, glancing back to see him walking after her.

"Avery, please, come on," he says relentlessly. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" She echoes his words in disbelief. "What do you think?"

"I don't know!" He throws his hands up. "Because I know you liked that kiss!"

"What?" She squeaks, stepping back and clutching her purse closely as if he might take it. "N-no, I didn't! You- you instigated it, and I broke it! Okay? I- I don't like you! I just.... I went out with you to get you to stop bothering me."

"No you didn't," he snorts casually.

"I did too!" Avery says defensively, yet her eyes are troubled, glancing uneasily around as she avoids looking him in the eye, though she's not sure why. Swallowing, she fiddles with her purse. "I- you just- we... "

"If you didn't like me," Gabe says slowly, "you wouldn't have let that kiss go so long."

Avery's jaw drops. "Or- or maybe I was- just planning... something!" She gives him a stubborn glare and begins walking again, finally off the boardwalk. Muttering under her breath, she continues walking down the street at full stride.

"Carina!"

"Shut up!"

"Where are you going?"

"To the hotel," she glances back, snapping.

His response is delayed, and she's pretty sure she could hear him chuckling, even from the widening distance. "No you're not."

Furious, she turns around, hands on her hips. She's too angry with him to express in words, and yet... she's not too sure why, why she's angry. Maybe it's anger at herself? But the idea is brushed aside from her mind to respond. "Oh really? And why would you say that?"

Gabriel Saporta takes his time, hands in his pockets, his hair curling around his forehead as he strolls forward, until they are once again, inches apart. Avery swallows and steps back, her heart beating loudly in her chest as she matches his gaze defiantly. But he looks cool and confident, and it's unsettling in her gut.

"Because," he smirks at last. "That's the wrong way." And then, whistling, he turns his back to her, and begins walking the other way, past the pier, and down the street. There, Avery notices that he is, unfortunately, correct. Her shoulders droop. Her hotel isthat way.

Muttering under her breath about indignities, she follows behind but at a distance, arms crossed in the chill, clutching her purse. It's a longer walk in the silence, and it makes her feel lonely as she turns back to her thoughts, anger draining from her blood as she relaxes and only feels sullen, now, towards him.

"You're cold." He drapes his jacket around her before leading her to cross the street. She hadn't even noticed him walking towards her, so caught up in her thoughts. "See?" He says after a minute, and she glances around. They're at the front doors of her hotel. Gabe swivels his head towards her with a lazy smile. "I told you."

She gives him a sour look, unappreciative of his attitude, of his whole being. "Good night." And dropping his jacket, she steps inside and refuses, no matter how badly the desire pulls, to look back.

The walk to her room seems to last long, her legs beginning to feel like lead. Some of the girls are back, she notices, and one calls out to her. But in her exhaustion, she only waves a hand, drops her purse in a chair, and slumps in to her bed. Tonight, she is afraid, was too much of a rollar coaster ride.

Too much of time, she believes, spent around one Gabe Saporta.