Tonight, We Are Young

I knew this time would come, but I was dreading it. I held a lot of it in, not wanting Bea or Cecelia to get the wrong idea about my feelings for Gabe. Waking up and looking at the calendar, I saw that there was only two days left before Gabe left for Colorado. I didn’t know how I would act when he left, and for the next two days, I tried to put it in the back of my mind. That wouldn’t be very easy, seeing as his friends were throwing him a goodbye party that night. I, of course, was invited, and had also agreed to help prepare some of the foods. I rolled out of bed and started the day off with a nice, long shower.

After I was dressed and ready for the day, I went downstairs to see that no one was in the living room. I could, however, her voices from the kitchen. I recognized one of the voices as Bea, so I walked closer to the kitchen. When I walked into the kitchen, I saw Bea was on the phone. She looked over and smiled at me. I smiled back and walked around aimlessly, not knowing if I should leave and let her finish her phone call, or start preparing one of the salads. I decided to give her some space, so I turned to leave the kitchen. When I re-entered the living room, I saw Gave coming down the stairs. He smiled at me.

“Good morning.”

I smiled back. “Good Morning. Have a good sleep?”

He nodded. “I did, thanks. So, what are you up to today?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m helping Bea prepare some food for your party tonight.”

He smiled. “Well, that answers the question if you’re going or not. You never answered the invitation.”

I smiled and opened my mouth to respond when I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders.

“Good morning, brother dearest. I’m sorry, but you can’t have Katy today. She’s my partner in crime and is fully booked. You can have her at the party.”

I blushed lightly at Bea’s words, but hid my face the best I could from both Bea and Gabe. I turned away from Gabe and walked back into the kitchen. I walked over to fridge and began to fill the counters with all of the items on the lists that Bea had set out for the salads and fruit trays. I started to search the drawers for a sharp knife to start cutting up the vegetables.

“Please don’t tell me you think we’re actually going to make the food?”

I turned to face Bea, who had a smirk on her face and her hands on her hips.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Well, kinda. You did say that we were going to make the food.”

She chuckled lightly.

“Yeah, well, I kinda lied. I already ordered the food. I just wanted to spend time with you.” She looked at me with sadness in her eyes. “For the last two weeks, it seems like you have only had time for Gabe.”

I felt a little bad. I put my head down and began to play with the hem of my shirt.

“I’m really sorry, Bea. I didn’t mean to offend you or anything. I just saw how much time you were spending with Erik and I just assumed you were always busy.”

She gave me a small smile. “It’s okay. So, I just thought that we could have the day to ourselves.”

My face lit up a little bit. I nodded with a smile.

“Sure, what did you have in mind?”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t know. How about the beach? Then maybe some shopping?”

I nodded. “Sound’s great.”

Bea smiled and we agreed that we would wait for Gabe to leave then head out to the beach. We spent our time at the beach tanning and talking about school. I was getting more and more excited to start school. Simply because it would give me something to get my mind off of Gabe being gone. When we were on our way to start shopping, I leaned back in my seat in the car and sighed. Bea looked over at me, quickly taking her eyes off the road.

“You okay?”

I looked over towards her and shook my head.

“Oh, yea. I’m fine, just getting a little tired.”

She turned her attention back to the road, as she was looking for a place to park, and nodded. After we parked, we went into a store that sold bathing suits. I walked in behind Bea.

“What are we doing here? Didn’t we get enough bathing suits last time?”

She scoffed then chuckled lightly.

“In the summer, bathing suits are like shoes. A girl can never have enough.”

I rolled my eyes and followed her to the bikinis. While Bea was looking through, finding something to buy, I was looking around aimlessly, not planning on buying anything. I was looking at the t-shirts when I heard my phone go off. Looking down, I noticed it was Gabe phoning me. My eyes panicked and I rushed over to Bea.

“Bea, I don’t know what to do.”

She raised her eyebrow at me. I rolled my eyes and showed her my phone. Her eyes widened and she immediately put the bikini in her hand back on the rack. She grabbed my phone and answered it.

“She’s busy.” I just stared blankly at Bea as she continued talking to Gabe on my phone. She smiled over at me a few times, making me wonder what Gabe was saying, but I quickly shrugged it off. When Bea was finished she handed me back my phone with a small smirk.

“We’re caught. The food was delivered early. We gotta go.”

I raised my eyebrow.

“What do you mean? I thought you said we could be in the clear?”

She rolled her eyes.

“Well, I wasn’t exactly sure, and as it turns out, we got caught. So, we gotta go back to the house. Gabe and Vik need our help with something.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Us? Do you have any idea what it is?”

She shook her head.

“Nope. Gabe never gave me a clue. He just said they need our help and we are to go back to the house.”

I didn’t question any further. We got back into the car and drove back to the house. I was a little relieved that we weren’t shopping anymore. I didn’t want to spend all of the money I had on summer stuff. I needed stuff during the school year that I could spend that money on.

When we arrived at the house, we saw Gabe and Vik lounging on the couches in the living room. When the boys noticed us, they stood up from the couches. Bea put her hands on her hips.

“So, what’s the big fuss that you had to interrupt our shopping spree?”

Vik shuffled on his feet for a few seconds before speaking. I didn’t really hear what Vik said after I locked eyes with Gabe. I zoned everything else out around me and just stared into his blue orbs as he smiled at me. I didn’t realize how long I’ve been staring, but Bea smacked mr out of it. I shook my head and turned my head to look at her.

“Sorry, I was thinking about something. What did you say?”

Bea rolled her eyes and looked between Gabe and I.

“I asked if you were ready to go. Vik asked if we could pick up a few things for the party.”

I nodded and quickly turned to walk back out of the house. I was embarrassed that I was caught staring at Gabe, but tried my best to forget about it. Bea didn’t really seem to notice, as she was too busy talking to Vik about the list of stuff he wanted us to pick up.

Bea and I got into the car, and she handed me the list. I looked it over and laughed lightly. Bea looked over at me at the corner of her eye.

“What’s so funny?”

I shook my head.

“Oh, just the way that Vik wrote some of these things down. It’s not that I don’t know what he means, it’s just funny.”

Bea chuckled. “Yeah, I saw that. I don’t know when he started calling knives ‘swords’, but we all just went along with it.”

I chuckled while I read through the rest of the list. Bea and I pulled into the parking lot of the supermarket and my phone went off. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the caller ID. My eyes lit up a little bit when I saw that it was a text from Gabe.

If you don’t understand the list, just give it to Bea. She speaks Vik. Haha.

I let out a light laugh as I typed out a reply. I had stopped just outside of the doors as I punched the letters into my phone.

I understood it fine. We just got to the supermarket. See you soon.

I went to put my phone back in my pocket and continue following Bea into the supermarket when I heard my phone go off again. It was Gabe, again.

There’s something missing from the list.

I looked around to see if I could see Bea anywhere through the store window, but it was so congested with people, I couldn’t see her anywhere. I glanced down at my phone again and typed back a reply to Gabe.

What’s missing?

I stood in my place, waiting for my phone to go off.

Cups. Something to put our drinks in.

I rolled my eyes wondering how the hell they could forget cups. I walked into the supermarket and began to search for Bea. I looked through each of the aisles as I passed them. I finally found her in the juice aisle, grabbing the mix on the list. Walking up to her, I noticed that she had almost everything on the list in the cart.

“They forgot something on the list.”

She looked over her shoulder at me as she was leaning up to grab a jug of cranberry juice.

“Yeah, I saw. Cups. How the hell could they forget cups?”

I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders.

“I have no idea. Gabe just texted me.”

She placed the jug in the cart and looked over at me.

“Can you text him back and ask him if orange and cranberry is all the mix we need?”

I nodded and pulled out my phone.

We got the cups. Bea wants to know. Is Cranberry and Orange good for mix?

We stood in the aisle as we waited for a reply.

Yeah, that’s good. We bought Coke earlier.

I turned to Bea and relayed the message. She nodded and we turned out of the aisle. Looking over the list, we realized we had everything. Just before we pulled into line for the cash register, I sent Gabe another quick text.

Before we leave, is there anything else you forgot?

Bea went ahead and got into line before I got a reply from Gabe. She was almost finished when my phone finally went off again.

Well, I don’t think I told you how sexy you look today yet.

I turned away from Bea as I blushed at the text message. I should’ve been used to these, but they still got to me, every time.

No, you haven’t.

Well, that’s a shame. I can’t wait to see you at the party. Have you picked out an outfit yet?

I followed Bea out of the supermarket and to the car, clutching my phone, praying that she wouldn’t see the text messages.

Yes, I have.

I helped Bea put the bags in the trunk of the car, then got in the passenger’s seat and looked at my phone and surprise, surprise, I had a reply from Gabe.

Can I get a sneak preview? ;)

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Bea let out a light chuckle.

“What’s got you all blushy and stuff?”

I let out of soft giggle as I turned to face her, thinking of a lie.

“Oh, it’s just my sister. She’s asking me if I have found myself a sexy Swedish boy yet.”

Bea laughed. “Well, we are known for our sex appeal.”

I laughed along with her. “Yeah, she’s jealous that she couldn’t come with me.”

Bea shrugged her shoulders. “Well, you win some, you lose some. Maybe she’ll come and visit for Christmas.”

I sighed, thinking about being away from my family for Christmas.

“Yeah….maybe.”

I tried to shake the negativity from my mind as I turned my focus back to Gabe’s text message. I thought about typing out a reply, but decided against it. I put my phone back in my purse and looked out the window aimlessly as we drove to Vik’s to drop everything off. When we pulled into the driveway, Bea sighed. I turned to her, confused.

“What’s wrong?”

She ran a hand through her hair. “They’re not back from getting the booze yet. We’ll have to wait until they get here. I need time to get ready.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself. I didn’t do it to offend Bea, I just thought back to the texts I shared with Gabe. We leaned back in our seats and blasted the radio. We started singing along to “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” by Whitney Houston. It didn’t take long for us to start dancing. We got so caught up in the dancing that we didn’t notice another vehicle pull into the driveway. A knock on the passenger’s front window startled both of us. We stopped dancing abruptly and looked out the window. I saw the smirking face of Gabe peering in the window, staring at us. Bea didn’t hesitate to get out of the vehicle and follow Vik into the backyard. I waited until Gabe backed away from the window to step out of the vehicle. As soon as I got out, Gabe backed me up against Bea’s vehicle and placed one of his arms beside either side of my head trapping me against the car. He leaned in and whispered into my ear.

“You never answered my question.”

I felt my breath get caught in my throat for a few seconds before I squeaked out a response.

“Would it have mattered anyway?”

He pulled away and looked me in the eyes.

“Of course, it would have. Well, actually maybe not. Considering I’ve seen the type of clothes you bought with my sister, I could only imagine what you’d wear.”

I smirked. “Well, I guess you’re just going to keep it with your imagination.” I lightly pushed him away from me and walked to the trunk of the car. I grabbed the last two bags and walked into the backyard, Gabe trailing closely behind. Every once in a while, he’d let a small whisper slip.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily, you know.”

I looked over my shoulder and shot a whisper back.

“You’re leaving in two days, I’ve getting rid of you more easily than you believe.”

I heard his footsteps stop behind me and as much as I wanted to turn around, I didn’t want to see the look on his face. It had hurt me to finally admit the realization that he was leaving in less than 48 hours, rubbing it in his face couldn’t have been so great to hear. I found Vik and Bea setting some stuff up. Bea was pulling things out of the bags and handing them to Vik, so he could place them where he wanted them. When the saw me coming towards them, Bea stopped what she was doing and walked up to me. She took the bags from my hands and set them on the table beside her. I didn’t know what she wanted me to do, so I stood still. She looked over at Vik and shouted.

“Hey, you okay if we leave now?” Vik nodded and Bea looped her arm with mine and turned us around. We walked back out to the car, waving to Gabe as we passed by. He was looking at his feet shuffling aimlessly in the same spot he stopped in.

When Bea and I arrived back to the house, we both rushed to our rooms to get changed. I wasn’t as enthusiastic as Bea, but I certainly made it look like I was. I was still feeling a little guilty about my comment to Gabe about him leaving. I tried my best to shrug it off as I got dressed. I decided to go with a plain teal-coloured crop top, revealing a smidge of my stomach, with a pair of demin short-shorts. They weren’t Daisy Duke’s or anything, but they were damn near close. I switched up my hair a little bit. I usually always had it down or pulled up in a bun. For the party, I decided to put it in a side-braid. After applying a minimal amount of make-up, I was out the door. I met Bea in the hallway, who gave my outfit a thumbs up, even though it wasn’t the outfit she picked out. I smiled at her and followed her down the stairs. Slipping on a pair of black, peep-toe wedges and after waiting for what felt like an hour for Bea to pick out a pair of sandals, we were out the door.

It seemed as though we were misinformed as to when the party started. We didn’t take too long to get ready, but there was a ton of people at Vik’s when we arrived. Getting out of the car, Bea smiled at me.

“I see that Erik’s already here.”

I rolled my eyes and smiled at her. “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

She mockingly scoffed. “You have been spending way too much time with Gabe recently.”

I shrugged my shoulders and smirked. We walked through the gate, but as soon as Bea spotted Erik, she vanished. I looked around for someone I could walk up to and have a pleasant conversation with. However, after the last time I met most of these guys, I felt awkward around them all. I walked over to the table of drinks and picked up a red plastic cup. I wasn’t sure what was in it, but at the same time, I didn’t really care. After I grabbed my drink, I slowly made my way through the crowd of people to the food table. I felt someone place a hand on my hip. Startled, I turned around. It was Gabe. He had a slight smirk on his face.

“Come with me.” He whispered in my ear. I wanted to protest, but after feeling his hot breath on my skin, the only thing I could do was nod. I felt him grab my hand and lead me into Vik’s house. We passed by a group of people sitting at the kitchen table. I tried my best to wave at them, but the looks they gave me made my cheeks flush with embarrassment. Gabe turned down the hallway and stopped. He turned to me with a smirk and gently pushed me against the wall. He began to place feather light kisses down my neck while one of his hands was massaging my hip. His lips found their way to mine, and once he pulled away, he whispered in my ear once again.

“I’ve been waiting all day to do that.” He leaned back and looked into my eyes. We shared a smile. He leaned in once more, but the sound of voices made him pull away. I pushed away from him and walked out into the kitchen. I saw Bea coming towards me. She let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh, goodness, I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Come, try this drink Erik came up with with me.”

I turned my head to see Gabe peek his head out of the hallway and smirked at him. I had hoped that it wouldn’t be the last time I saw him before the night was over. I walked back outside with Bea. We walked over to Erik, where he had given us each a drink. I examined the drink and looked up at Erik.

“What is in this?”

Erik smirked. “It’s a secret mixture, nothing too lethal, I promise.”

I shrugged and took a sip. Tilting my head back, I shot back the whole cup in one shot. I wasn’t expecting to get completely hammered, but after that drink, I was definitely on my way. I stayed with Bea and Erik for a little while longer, switching up my drinks every now and then. Finally, after about a hour and a few drinks later. Bea and Erik decided to head out. I surveyed them both. While Bea looked a little worse for wear, Erik didn’t look all that bad. I still had to question him.

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?”

Erik nodded. “Oh yea, I’ve only had two or three. I was too busy being your bartender, remember?” he finished with a slight smirk.

I picked up my drink and smiled at him. “Yes, and thank you, they’re delicious. See you tomorrow, Bea.”

Even in her sloppy state, she still managed to flip me off. I chuckled as I turned on my heel. I was on my way to get another drink when I locked eyes with a certain blonde. Gabe smiled at me as he began to walk towards me. He took one of my hands in his.

“You ready to get out of here?”

My eyes widened. “You can’t leave! This party is for you.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I spent enough time with them this summer. We’re having a guys day tomorrow. Besides, I only have one more night with you. I want it to be special.”

At a loss for words, I smiled at him. I squeezed his hand and nodded. Looking around, I noticed that the crowd had dispersed and there wasn’t many people left. Gabe tugged lightly on my hand. I looked back at him and nodded, silently giving him permission to lead the way. We walked back Vik and waved. He smirked at me.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

I rolled my eyes and continued to follow Gabe. For reasons unknown, we went through the house, when we easily could’ve walked to the car through the backyard. It didn’t matter much, though, we didn’t have a car to get into. Gabe didn’t have a car, and Bea had the keys to her car. When we reached the driveway I turned to him.

“You do realize we have no way back to your place, right?”

He smirked as he pulled a set of keys out of his pocket.

“Oh, how little faith you have in me, my dear.”

I rolled my eyes and followed him to Bea’s car. He unlocked the car and opened the passenger’s side door for me and I hopped in. After he got in, I turned to him.

“How the hell did you get keys to Bea’s car?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Erik gave me the keys before they left. He asked me to bring her car back to the house.”

I smirked and shrugged my shoulders. “They make it too easy, don’t they?”

We shared a laugh as we drove back to the Landeskog house. When we reached the house, we noticed that the lights were off. Gabe opened my door for me and lead me into the house.

“My parents must have gone to bed for the night.” He turned the lights on in the living room. I slipped my sandals off.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” I stretched my arms up over my head. Gabe walked over to me, pouting.

“Don’t think you’re going to bed. This is my last night with you.”

He put one hand on my waist and pulled me into him. “I’m not finished with you yet.” He whispered with a slight smirk, before pressing his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and if it were possible, pulled him even closer to me. I felt his tongue run over my bottom lip, begging for entrance, which I immediately obliged. While our tongue fought in a fierce battle, Gabe’s hands roamed my body, while I ran my hands up and down his back. Gabe backed me up against the wall and I lifted my legs to wrap around his waist. Never losing contact, Gabe walked us up the stairs and into my bedroom. Shutting the door behind us, he gently placed me on my bed. Smirking down at me, he spoke in just above a whisper.

“On second thought, perhaps going to bed was a good idea.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled him towards me. I captured his lips with mine, tugging on his bottom lip, as my hands tugged on his shirt. Pulling away from me, Gabe lifted his shirt over his head, seconds later removing mine. His hands roamed my sides as his lips searched my neck and collarbone. I couldn’t hold back the moan that came to me when his lips found the spot where my neck meets my collarbone. He moved his body so he was laying directly on top of me. He pressed his hips against mine. Through his shorts, I could feel how much he wanted this. While I may not have spoken an agreement, I wanted this just as badly.

After the remainder of our clothes had been removed, I found myself in my most vulnerable state. Gabe pressed his lips lightly against mine. Pulling away, he placed his forehead against mine, looking into my eyes. I wasn’t sure if he was looking for permission, but I nodded anyways. Seconds later, I felt the most pleasurable pain soar through my body. I wrapped my arms around Gabe’s neck, pulling him closer to me. As we moved together, our breaths got shallower and I felt my whole body tense up. A shudder ran through my body as I captured Gabe’s lips with mine. Our tongues danced as we felt one last rush roll through us. Gabe collapsed beside me, leaning over to press one last kiss on my lips before whispering.

“Best summer ever.”

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

the morning Gabe leaves..

I didn’t see much of Gabe since we had sex. I didn’t hold it against him, even though a part of me was hurt. I knew it was just a summer fling. I know had to forget about him and focus on school.

The morning that Gabe was leaving to go back to Colorado had arrived, and I was a nervous wreck. I didn’t know what to say or how to act. After breakfast, as a “family” I joined Bea, Cecelia and Tony, as we drove Gabe to the airport. I sat in the back between the twins. I felt Bea put her head on my shoulder as she began to fall asleep. I felt Gabe nudge my elbow. Looking up at him, he pointed down to his cell phone. I looked at the screen and three words were typed out.

I’ll miss you.

I felt my breath get caught in my throat. I didn’t act on any of the feelings I had inside, so instead I just smiled up at him and nodded. I pulled out my cell phone and typed one word.

Ditto.

We pulled up to the airport and we all piled out of the car. Even though the rest of them have done this once before, the family was so close, they still said goodbye as a family. Tony and Cecelia were saying goodbye to Gabe while Bea and I stood back and watched the scene unfold in front of us. I didn’t want my turn to say goodbye to come. I didn’t want to say goodbye, but I wouldn’t show it.

When my turn finally came, I wrapped my arms around Gabe’s neck. The hug may have lasted a little longer than two “friends” would have. As we pulled apart, Gabe smirked down at me.

“Now, don’t you forget about me while I’m gone.”

I smiled and shook my head. I watched him walk away and could feel tears spring to my eyes. Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I blinked back the tears and turned my head. Bea gave me a sympathetic smile. I turned on my heel and followed Bea, Tony and Cecelia out of the airport. The last words Gabe said to me replayed in my head, as Bea nudged my elbow in the backseat of the car.

“You okay?”

I tried to put on my best smile, while nodding. I moved my gaze away from Bea and looked out the window. She leaned over and whispered.

“You love him, don’t you?”

My head snapped towards her. I shook my head.

“No, I don’t. That just reminded me of when I said goodbye to my family.”

It wasn’t a total lie, as I do know what it feels like to say goodbye to your family. But I was replaying Bea’s question in my head.

I don’t love him……do I?