Tonight, We Are Young

After coming home from the beach I ran right up to my room. I didn’t look behind me to see if Gabe was following me, or if Bea was hot on my heels. I just raced to my room and slammed my door. I leaned against my door and closed my eyes. I couldn’t get the image out of my mind. I didn’t know why I was letting it get to me, but I couldn’t stop it.

*Flashback*

After the four of us went into the water and played water football, we decided to sit on our blankets and watch the sun go down. Bea brought her cordless iPod dock, so we softly listened to music while we all made small talk. Bea and I had talked about what we were going to do the last two weeks for school. I tried to pay attention, but something happened that got me quite distracted.

While Bea was in the middle of telling me about all of the shops we had to hit before school started. I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist. I had a feeling as to who it was, but turning my head to see Gabe’s face confirmed it. He pulled me in between his legs and rested his chin on my shoulder. I began to tense up slightly. Remembering what Bea had told me about Gabe leaving in a few weeks played over and over in my mind. Something whispered in my ear muted those thoughts quickly.

“You’re beautiful.”

*Flashback*

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I couldn’t help but think of Gabe’s face as I pulled away from him. He looked so down, as if I tore a piece of his heart out. I felt guilty, but I knew I couldn’t get too attached to him. He wasn’t going to be in Sweden for long, and I needed to focus on my school work, I couldn’t be wondering about a boy who is across the Atlantic ocean playing the game he loves and getting girls thrown at him at every corner.

Stepping away from my window, I walked over to my bed. I laid down and closed my eyes again. I told myself that I had to get up to change into some pajamas but I was so tired and drained, both emotionally and mentally, that I couldn’t care less. I felt the cool breeze coming in through my window, and could sense myself slipping into a deep slumber.

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the next morning..

I woke up shivering. Looking down at myself, I remembered that I layed on top of the blankets and was still in my outfit from the day before, bathing suit included. I had allowed myself to forget about what happened with Gabe at the beach as I got changed and made my way downstairs for breakfast. When I reached the dining room, I saw that Cecelia was just setting the table. She smiled at me as I walked over to help her placing the plates around the table.

“Have a fun time yesterday? You guys got home a little later than we expected.”

I felt my body grow tense slightly for a few seconds as I put a plate down on one of the placemats.

“Yeah, we had fun. We didn’t realize we were out so late. We watched the sunset on the beach.”

She smirked at me.

“I do love that beach. It’s one of the most beautiful places to watch the sunset.”

I nodded slowly, trying to cover up the uneasiness in my eyes. I had hoped Cecelia wouldn’t notice. Thankfully, Tony, Bea and Gabe came downstairs and into the dining room before I could give her the chance to question me. Cecelia walked into the kitchen, quickly returning with a tray with bacon on it. Gabe leaned in to grab a piece when his mom smacked his hand away.

“Gabriel, you know the rules,” she scolded him. “No bacon on the plate before the omelet.”

One by one, we walked into the kitchen to get our omelets before sitting down to grab some bacon if we wished. As I was eating, I could feel both Gabe and Bea looking at me. I avoided Gabe’s gaze, but locked eyes with Bea a couple times. Her look confused me. She had a half smirk, yet she still looked a little concerned. I knew that a talk was coming sometime in the near future, probably sooner than I would like.

After we had finished eating as were allowed to leave the table, I made my way back up to my room. I felt someone lightly grab my arm. Turning around, I found myself looking into the eyes of Gabe. His eyes looked almost as though they were pleading me to talk to him. As much as I didn’t want to, I spoke first.

“What can I do for you, Gabe?”

His eyebrow raised.

“Can we talk? About last night?”

I didn’t really feel like talking, but I figured it would be better to get it done sooner or later.

“Um, sure. I guess.”

He lightly nodded. Before he continued, he lightly pulled me into his room. Shutting his door, he turned to me.

“I want to apologize. I didn’t mean to be so forward, and I hope that we can put this behind us. I still want to hang out with you, all the time, but I don’t want what happened last night to make things awkward.”

I shrugged my shoulders lightly, not really knowing what to say.

“I accept your apology, though you didn’t need to give me one. “

He walked closer to me and before he could say anything more, there was a light knock on the door. Gabe backed away from me and opened his door, revealing Bea on the other side. She looked over Gabe’s shoulder and her eyes widened as she saw me.

“I was going to ask you if you had seen Katy, but apparently, you’re the one who stole her away.”

He gave his twin a small smirk and stretched his arm out in front of him, allowing Bea to come in his room. She stayed in her place and shook her head.

“Actually, I was looking for Katy to take her shopping.”

A smile broke out on my face. I was willing to do anything to get out of being alone with Gabe. I tried to walk as fast as I could past Gabe without looking too obvious. Before I got out of the room, Gabe grabbed my arm.

“Can we talk when you come back?”

I shrugged my shoulders and nodded.

“Sure, I guess we can.”

I left the room and turned around to see Bea still standing in the doorway. She looked between me and Gabe, finally focusing her gaze on me.

“Go get ready, I’ll be downstairs in a couple minutes.”

I couldn’t get another word in before she walked into Gabe’s room, slamming the door shut. I didn’t want to eavesdrop on their conversation, so I walked down the hall to my room. I gathered up what I had needed to go shopping, and left my room. As I passed by Gabe’s room, I heard my name.

“I didn’t mean to be so forward with Katy, honest. I just can’t help but feel something when I’m around her.”

I felt my heart swell just a little bit after hearing that. While I knew that eavesdropping on their conversation was wrong, I couldn’t turn away, wanting to hear Bea’s response.

“Well, just remember, you’re leaving soon. She needs someone who will be here for her, and with you leaving to go back to Denver in less than a month, you don’t seem like a likely candidate. Please, try to control yourself.”

I couldn’t help but feel a little bit of anger towards Bea. I knew that she meant well, only wanting to save me from heartache and sadness, but she couldn’t control her brother’s decisions. Frankly, a part of me didn’t want her to, but a bigger part of me hoped she had gotten through to him. After what happened at the beach, I knew it would be awkward to be around Gabe for a while, especially with Bea’s words of warning floating in both of our heads, but I would try to make the best of it. I didn’t want to listen to anymore, but Gabe’s voice drew me in once again.

“I’m not going to stop hanging out with her. With you being out with Erik all the time, who else will she hang out with? I don’t want to leave her alone. She doesn’t know anyone here.”

He had a point. In the two days that I had been in Sweden, the only time I got to hang out with Bea was when she was with Erik. I didn’t really care for being the third wheel, so hanging out with Gabe was the better option. I had put a small smile on my face, and walked away from Gabe’s door to wait for Bea downstairs, content with what I heard, even though I shouldn’t have heard a word.

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Shopping with Bea had been really fun. I found myself coming home with a few bags of new clothes. After we left our last store, Bea decided to bring up the beach.

“So what happened with Gabe at the beach? Ever since we came home, you two have been kind of …. odd.”

I shrugged my shoulders, not really knowing what to say.

“Nothing happened. I guess it’s just jet-lag catching up with me. I’ve been really tired today.”

She shook her head and smirked.

“You’re a terrible liar, you know that? I know that something happened between the two of you. Gabe told me. Now, are you gonna spill, or what?”

I raised my eyebrow at her.

“Spill about what?”

She scoffed.

“Oh come on, it’s obvious with Gabe, but you, you’re a different story. Do you like my brother or not?”

I bit my lip as I decided on the right answer. Was Gabe gorgeous? Yes. Was he funny? Yes. Could I see myself dating him? I wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know. I don’t really know him that well. I mean, he’s nice and really funny, but I don’t know enough about him to make a decision just yet.”

She rolled her eyes as we pulled into the driveway.

“It’s a good thing you’re majoring in Communications. You’ve got a way with words.”

I chuckled lightly as I stepped out of the car and into the house. I had slipped off my sandals and took my purchases up to my room. In passing his room, I saw Gabe walk out into the hallway. Looking up and noticing me in the hallway, he sent me a small smile. Glancing at the many bags in my hands, he grabbed a couple of them from me. I smiled at him.

“Thanks, you didn’t have to do that.”

He shot one of those knee-melting grins.

“Well, this way, I know that I could talk to you.”

I rolled my eyes and scoffed lightly.

“Yeah, because you know, knocking on my door wouldn’t work.” I said sarcastically as I opened my bedroom door.

After placing the bags on the floor, I sat down on my bed. I looked up at Gabe, who was leaning against my doorway.

“So, you wanted to talk?”

He sighed and sat down beside me on the bed.

“Yes, I did. I know that I said it before, but I am really sorry for being so forward last night. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at him. It was hard not to, he looked like a little boy apologizing to his mommy for taking the last cookie from the cookie jar.

“It’s fine, really. I should’ve said something. I’m sorry I was so isolated when we came home. I just….needed time. I needed to process everything.”

He raised an eyebrow at me, clearly not understanding what I mean.

“Okay, I don’t really follow you, but I have a question for you.”

I nodded, encouraging him to ask his question.

“My friend is having a bonfire at his place. You wanna come along?”

I smiled and nodded quickly. I loved bonfires.

“Sure, that’d be awesome. I love bonfires. Oh, just one thing.”

He smiled at me.

“What’s that?”

“We’re not going to sing corny campfire songs, are we?” I chuckled.

Gabe laughed. “No, no corny songs, I promise.”

I smiled and stood up from my bed.

“Okay, count me in. When are we leaving?”

Gabe looked down at his watch.

“In about 2 hours.”

I nodded and walked over to my dresser.

“Let me shower, then I’ll be ready, okay?” I asked, turning back to face him.

He stood up from my bed and walked up to me. He pulled me into a hug.

“Awesome, just knock on my door when you’re ready. We can always leave a little bit early if you want.”

With that, he left my room and I gathered up clothes to change into before leaving my room myself, heading towards the bathroom.

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I didn’t take as long as I thought I would. Partly because I just bought the perfect outfit, so I didn’t have to choose. The rest of me knew that I was excited. I didn’t know why I had begun to feel like this, but being around Gabe and enjoying the wonders of Sweden had my mind going all kinds of crazy. I opened my door to see Bea standing there with her arm up looking ready to knock on my door any second. She smiled at me as I stepped out of my room.

“So bonfire, huh?”

I smiled and nodded.

“Yepp, I love bonfires, haven’t been to one in a long time.”

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled at me once again.

“Well, it’s gonna be fun. Erik and I will be there, but not for too long. It’s Friday night, also known as date night.”

Bea wrapped her arm around my shoulder and we walked down the stairs. We looked around for Gabe, but he was nowhere to be found. I turned to Bea.

“Where’s Gabe?”

Walking over to the door and slipping on her shoes, she pointed outside the door.

“He’s gonna meet us there. His friend Vik asked him to help set up. Erik’s helping too, so let’s go.”

I slipped on my sandals and followed Bea out to her car. She started up the engine and we were one the move. We sang along with the radio as we drove. When we pulled up to the house, we noticed that the fire had already started. We got out of the car and walked through the gate. I looked around for Gabe, but found him nowhere. Bea had walked away from me, but came back shortly with two beers in her hands. She handed one to me and opened her one.

“Gabe should be back shortly. Him and Vik went to get some more wood for the fire. Until then, let’s find you a man.”

I didn’t move from my spot. Bea had a hold of my arm, but turned back to face me when she noticed I wasn’t going with her. She sighed softly to herself.

“C’mon. There’s tons of hot guys here. You gotta find yourself a nice Swedish boy to take you places when I’m out with Erik.”

I shrugged my shoulders. I wasn’t in the mood for hearing another speech about Gabe and how I shouldn’t get involved with him, so I humoured her for a bit.

“Okay, let’s go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After going through what I called “Bea’s Crash Course in Speed Dating” and 2 beers running through me, Gabe and some other guy, who I could only assumer was his friend Vik, showed up with armfuls of wood. Gabe placed the wood down when Vik had placed his armful and walked over to me.

“Hey, you and Bea find the place okay?”

I nodded. “Well, Bea’s been here before, hasn’t she? Erik’s here too.”

He smiled. “Yea, she has. I was just making small talk.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, in that case, yes, we made it here in one piece and as of late, I’ve been put up for auction of sorts.”

Gabe and I walked over to a log that no one else was sitting on and sat down. He turned and raised his eyebrow to me.

“Come again? You’re up for auction? How so?”

I rolled my eyes again and sighed, running a hand through my hair. Before I could explain to Gabe what I had gone through before he showed up, Niklas, one of the first guys I met walked over to us.

“Hey Katy.” He sat down on the opposite side me.

“Hi.” I now knew what one of those awkward moments that happen on TV so much felt like. Niklas smiled at me, then glanced over at Gabe.

“Oh, hi Gabe. How’s it going?”

He smiled and nodded at the fellow Swede.

“Not too bad, Nik, and yourself?”

His eyes met mine once more and he smiled.

“A lot better now that Katy’s here.”

I thought I was hearing things, but I could’ve sworn I heard Gabe growl beside me. I turned my head to face him. He gave me a small smile.

“So, I see you met some of the guys here?”

Nik spoke up again, avoiding the fact that Gabe just asked me a question.

“Hey Katy, I’m going to grab another beer. You want one?”

I shook my head. “No, thanks.”

He nodded and stood up from the log. Once he walked away, I turned to Gabe once more.

“Yes, I did. Thanks to Bea. That was the auction I was talking about. I went through ‘Bea’s Crash Course in Speed Dating.’ I swear, I must have talked to over a dozen guys from the time we got here to the time you showed up.”

I saw Gabe ball up his hands into fists. He looked through the crowd of people. I assumed he was looking for Bea, but I didn’t want him to cause a scene. Instead, I lightly grabbed his hand. He slowly turned his head, his eyes meeting mine.

“Can we go sit somewhere else?” I whispered. He nodded, keeping my hand in his, we got up from the log and walked away from the crowd. We didn’t get very far before my name was called again. As much as I didn’t want to stop walking, I was happy that it was Bea that was calling me, and not one of the guys. I turned to face her.

“So nice of you to come and say hi when you got here, brother dearest.”

He smirked at his twin. “Well, I’m sorry, but you were too busy with your tongue down Erik’s throat. I figured you’d see me eventually.”

She blushed slightly, slowly putting her head down. Her head stopped mid-way and her eyes grew wide. My gaze followed hers and it landed on my hand intertwined with Gabe’s. I slowly looked up and my eyes met hers.

“Well, umm… I ….uh….I just wanted to tell you two that Erik and I are leaving for our date. I’ll see you both at home?”

I nodded while Gabe snickered. “You mean tomorrow?”

She blushed once again, this time she added the “loving gesture” of the middle finger.

“See ya guys later.”

We both waved as we watched Bea walk back up to Erik. I turned to look up at Gabe.

“You know she saw, right?”

He looked down at me with a confused look on his face. I pulled my hand up and he saw that we were, indeed, still holding hands. I half expected him to pull his hand away right away. Instead, he squeezed my hand ever so slightly.

“Ask me if I care.” He whispered.

“Well, don’t you? I mean, she warned both of us. Do you really want to be on bad terms with your sister all summer?”

He chuckled lightly and began to walk once again.

“Katy, I leave in three weeks. Besides, she’ll be so wrapped up in Erik, she won’t have time to give a damn.”

I shrugged my shoulders slightly and continued to follow him. I craned my neck to look behind me. The fire was getting less and less visible by the step.

“You know, when I thought we were coming to the bonfire, I thought we were going to sit by the fire.”

I heard him lightly chuckle as he changed directions and we came up to flight of stairs. Before stepping on the first step, he turned to face me, a smirk very evident on his face.

“Who says we’re not?”

I raised my eyebrow to him, but followed him up the stairs nonetheless. When we reached the top, we on the roof of what I was told earlier, was Vik’s cabin. There was a blanket up laid out and a small stereo. Gabe walked me over to the blanket and sat down. I sat down beside him while he pointed down to the fire.

“Okay, so it’s not really that close, but at least we still get to see it.”

I shook my head and smiled.

“No, it’s perfect.”

He smiled and relaxed. We watched his friends laugh with each other, laughing at them ourselves when they fell over. In between our laughing fits, we fell into a comfortable silence. Staring at the fire, Gabe spoke up.

“So, what made you decide to come to Sweden to study?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I don’t know, really. I’ve always wanted to study abroad and I’ve heard nothing but good things about the university here, so here I am.”

“Well, I know someone who’s happy you’re here.”

I let out a chuckle. “Yea, Nik’s quite a catch, isn’t he? I tell you, other than his name, I know nothing about him. Nothing at all.”

I was still smirking when I turned to face him. He looked down at Nik with a scowl on his face.

“Yeah, Nik seems pretty interested in you, but there’s someone else.”

He slowly turned his head towards me. I smiled at him.

“Yea, Bea seems pretty happy to have another girl around the house. I don’t think Erik would last very long on the shopping expedition we went on today.”

He leaned closer to me and whispered. “Guess again.”

I didn’t get a chance to say another word as he pressed his lips to mine. He pulled away with a slight smirk.

“Now, imagine the expedition Bea would be on after seeing that.”

I giggled lightly, turning away from him. Biting my lip before turning back to face him. I leaned back in close to him, our lips almost touching.

“Ask me if I care.”