Angels and Kings

(Callie)

I knew I had been a little mean to Nonnie before but I also knew she wouldn’t take it personally. I was a little on edge. It’s not that Travis, Gabe, and I were arguing per say. Quite the opposite actually; Travis and Gabe had been very cordial to one another. But there was definitely this unspoken palpable tension in the like if we left the two of them alone together they would battle to the death. Cock fight. Whoever thinks juggling two guys is fun, is crazy. I still couldn’t figure out why I had gotten so mad at Cadence. She certainly had every right to flirt with Travis. I guess I still felt like he belonged to me. But what did that mean for Gabe? I wanted to talk about it with someone who could help me figure it out. But there wasn’t one objective person I could go to. I looked at my watch; it was time to meet Nonnie at the merch table. I arrived first as usual and began setting up. Nonnie arrived a few minutes later. She was pale and her eyes were puffy and bloodshot. “Non, what’s wrong? I’m sorry to say it but you look like hell.”

“Can we talk about this later, I’m trying to keep it together enough to work right now,” she said still sniffling.

I felt bad whatever it was had to be bad. “Ok sure.”

We had another busy night Nonnie and I never got a chance to talk. And after we were finished packing up the last of the merch I turned around and she was gone. Pete came running up to the merch table he was still sweaty from the performance. “Cal, where’s Nonnie?” He seemed almost frantic.

“I don’t know, she bolted. Pete what’s going on?”

He sat on a nearby bench and put his head in his hands. “She walked in…she thought…” I saw a single tear run down his cheek. I put my arm around him and waited for him to gather his thoughts. “Ashlee showed up today, out of nowhere. I heard a knock on the bus door, I opened it, and there she was. I didn’t want to be rude…what was I supposed to do slam the door in her face? So I let her in. She started talking about how she still loves me and she wants to get back together. I told her about Nonnie that I care about her a lot, that I might be falling in love with her. Then I guess she decided to ‘remind’ me of what I was missing because the next thing I knew she was on top of me, kissing me. It was only a split second but that’s when Nonnie walked in. She…” Another tear fell, he wiped it away with his hand quickly hoping I wouldn’t see. “Callie, you have to talk to her for me please? I can’t lose her, not because of my crazy ex-girlfriend.”

He looked so sad. “Sure Pete I’ll talk to her in the morning. But I’m not going to tell her what happened, she needs to here the truth from you.”

“Thanks.” Pete wiped his face on the sleeve of his hoodie before pulling his hood over his head, shoving his hands in the pocket and walking away. I got up and headed my own direction to the Cobra bus.

When I entered the bus I noticed that it was unusually dark. I walked up the steps to see Gabe standing by the front table, which had been covered in a tablecloth and had a single lit votive candle. “I know it’s late but would you join me for dinner?”

I was a little surprised. “Yes, of course I will,” I said smiling. I slid onto the bench and to await my food.

“I’m just waiting for the rice to finish. So we can eat our salad ‘til it’s done,” he said handing me a salad with carrot, tomatoes, onions, corn, and avocado.

“Wow you’re cooking!”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“You just don’t seem like the type.”

“Well most people don’t know I can cook because usually I’m too lazy to do it so…”

“Aww, but you cooked for me,” I said sweetly.

“Yes, I only cook for very special people.”

While I finished my salad, Gabe finished up the rice. “I didn’t even know these things had pots,” I said laughing, “I’ve never seen them actually be used.”

He laughed while he plated up our food, “They do get used sometimes but mostly has weapons.”

He put down the plate in front of me. He had even taken down some nice “real” plates and silverware. I looked at my plate and wasn’t quite sure what that was next to the rice.

“Tonight we’re having Tacu Tacu, which is brown rice with chick peas, sweet onions, and garlic and grilled tofu with Chimichurri sauce.”

“And what is chimichurri sauce?”

“It’s basically a really hot sauce made with oregano, parsley, hot red pepper flakes, white wine vinegar, olive oil and lots of garlic. If it gets too hot take a bite of your bread.” He began to go in the refrigerator to get us something to drink.

“And how did you learn to cook all of this?”

“My mom taught me. It’s all traditional South American cuisine.” He pulled out two wine glasses and started pouring me some homemade sangria. When he sat down I finally took my first bite of food. The rice was delicious, I happen to be a big fan of chickpeas. I was a little apprehensive about the tofu. I’d never actually had it before. I poked at it some with my fork. “Just take a bite,” encouraged Gabe, “It’s good I promise.”

I separated a small piece with my fork and popped it quickly in my mouth. I chewed it slowly. “Hmm…not bad,” I said. I took another bigger bite. Suddenly my mouth was on fire and my eyes felt like they wanted to water up. I took a bite of my bread as Gabe had directly and the burning started to die down. “Oh my god that is hot!”

He laughed, “Yeah I’m sorry I kind of immune to it so it doesn’t bother me as much.”

We continued to eat our meal, I made sure to only eat very small bites of the tofu. “You know I was going to thank you for the meal with a kiss after but there’s so much garlic in this food I don’t know if I could do it without killing the both of us,” I joked.

“Rachel Ray says that if you’re on a date and both people eat onions or garlic then they cancel each other out.” I burst into laughter. “What’s so funny? I think it makes sense.”

“No, no that you just quoted Rachel Ray.” He began to laugh too. “But seriously Gabe thank you so much for this dinner it was really nice and…romantic. When did you have time to do all of this?”

“I used my special powers to make it happen,” he said slyly, “Are you ready for dessert?”

“You made dessert too?”

“Well I didn’t make it. And it’s not latin but it’s your favorite.”

Out of the fridge he pulled a slice of Tiramisu and vegan Chocolate Cake for himself. I could barely wait for him to put it down in front of me before I dug in. “Mmmmmm, this is heavenly.”

He looked at me intently. “Ok you’re not allowed to moan like that anymore, especially if I’m not gonna get a thank you kiss.”

I raised my self in the bench slightly so that I could reach him over the table and kiss him. We finished our dessert in silence. I helped Gabe clean up the kitchen area and then went to put on my pajamas. When I exited the bathroom I felt a pang of guilt watching Gabe put his blanket and pillow on the couch. “Gabe, why don’t you come share the bunk. I mean it’s the least I can do after the dinner.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, as long as you keep your hands to yourself. We are not having sex tonight,” I said firmly.

“Yes ma’am,”

We climbed into the bunk. I was exhausted from the very long day.

“Gabe,” called Victoria, “Can I come out of my bunk now, I really have to pee?”

“Yes,” Gabe called back. Before we both dissolved into laughter.