The City Calls to Her

Ignoring Mrs. Belt, Gabe spent most of the hour staring at Rachel. She took a notebook out of her binder and opened it to a random clean page.

Stop staring at me.

She slid the notebook over to Gabe so he could read it.

What are you doing tonight?

She glanced at him and then responded.

My answer depends on your reason why.

Oh come on! Maybe I just wanna hang out with you tonight.

Well I suppose we can hang out for a couple hours.

Awesome. After school?

Yeah, sure.

OK. I'll meet you at your locker after school.

Rachel nodded her head and shut the notebook. She turned her attention back to Mrs. Belt. She leaned back in her chair and let out a quiet sigh. Gabe reached over and took her hand. She pulled her hand away and looked at him. He watched as she shook her head.

"Not here, not now," she whispered.

"That's too damn bad," he responded and took her hand again. She didn't put up anymore of a fight and let him hold her hand for the rest of the period.

* * * * *

"Hey, I told Tyler I'd meet up with him at his locker. So I'll see you later," Gabe said.

"Yeah, see you later," Rachel responded before Gabe leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She watched as he walked away towards the gym.

"Rachel, over here!"

Rachel looked in the direction she heard her name. Melody waved her over.

"Hey," Rachel cautiously said.

"Look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the way I've treated you when it came to Gabe. He obviously means something to you if you're still with him." Melody pantomimed air quotes around the word 'with.' "I mean, you even cheated on your boyfriend with him."

"Melody with that tone of voice and those choice words, you obviously really aren't sorry." She turned to leave but Melody grabbed her arm.

"Sorry, my mind got away from me. I guess I never really got over Gabe," Melody confessed. "I really am sorry. If we can try and be friends again, I'll try and be happy for you and Gabe and whatever state of friendship you're in."

"I'll have to think about it but I'll let you know," Rachel said and sighed.

Melody nodded her head. "Great. Well you have my number so just call me whenever."

"Yeah," Rachel said and walked away. She tried to take in what just happened. I wonder what she's up to now. Maybe she really is sorry but how can she try and be happy for Gabe if she's not really over him?

"Hello little lady," Jenni said when Rachel approached the door to their psychology classroom.

Rachel set her stuff down and looked at Jenni. "You will not believe what just happened. Melody apologized for the way she got all over me about Gabe and wants to be friends again."

"Seriously? So we're gonna be the three musketeers again?"

"Maybe. I told her I had to think about it and that I'll give her a call when I know what I wanna do."

"What is your gut telling you?"

"That she might be up to something because she said she guessed she wasn't fully over Gabe."

"She's gotta be. The other night, Jon and I went on a double date with Melody and Jeff. According to her, Jeff is her boyfriend."

"Just because she's got herself a boyfriend that doesn't mean she no longer has feelings for Gabe."

"Okay, dang girl, I was just saying. No need to get all possessive over Gabe. No one's trying to steal him from you."

"I'm not getting all possessive!"

Jenni laughed. "I was just kidding…sorta. We had called you to see if you wanted to go t the movies with us but you never answered your phone."

"I was with…yeah."

"I know. I mean, it's not like you were with Nathan."

Rachel wasn't sure what to make of that comment.

"I mean, in terms of where you were. You know, like when you and Nathan were together, if you weren't home, we knew you were most likely with Nathan."

"Oh, okay. Gotchya."

"So like, are you and Gabe together or not?"

"I don't know. I mean, we spend a lot of time together and we do everything couples do but he never actually asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend."

"Maybe you should look into it."

"I don't know. Prom is coming up and then he's graduating and going off to college."

"You still have summer."

"I don't want just a summer romance. This isn't 'Grease' you know."

Jenni laughed. "Yeah, I know. I don't know though. Maybe you should just talk to him about it."

"I'll bring it up after school since we're going to hang out. At least I'll try and bring it up."

"Is he planning on staying in state to go to college?"

"I believe so."

"Well then if you guys get together, you can go visit him on the weekends or he can come home and see you. Vacations will be easier too."

"True but what about all the girls? There'll be girls everywhere around him."

"Rachel, really? Look how long it took him to get a real actual girlfriend. He hasn't really had one until you. You really think he's going to screw around on you when he worked this hard to just even be friends with benefits."

"What if that's all he wants to be? Friends with benefits."

"Again, talk to him about it. Maybe he really does want you to be his girlfriend but…" Jenni stopped in mid-sentence when they saw Jon approaching.

"Hey," she said when Jon stood next to her. Rachel stayed silent and shifted her weight uncomfortably.

“I'm gonna go head in since the bell's gonna ring soon," Rachel finally said after glancing at her watch. She turned and quickly walked to her seat and sat down.

* * * * *

"Don't do it," Gabe said as he stared at the road. "Don't let her back in."

"Maybe she's serious this time. Maybe she'll actually butt out of our business," Rachel countered.

"No she won't. She's like, obsessed with me! And we still haven't figured out how to get her to admit that what happened with the pictures and everything was her doing."

"What if it wasn't? What if it was someone else that you didn't see there that doesn't like you?"

"Rachel baby, trust me, it was her."

"Okay Gabe. If you say so," Rachel said and dropped the subject. She could understand Gabe's ill feelings about letting her back into her personal circle but she couldn't understand why he was adamant about the ordeal being Melody's doing.

They soon got to Gabe's house and went inside. After setting his keys on the counter, they set their book bags off to the side out of the way. Gabe took her hand and they went upstairs to his room. Gabe sat on his bed against the wall and Rachel sat on his lap.

"Can I ask you something?" they said in unison.

"You go first," Rachel said.

"Okay. So you know prom is coming up and all and I wasn't planning on going but now I think I want to go. I was just wondering if you would be my date."

"I would love to be your date Gabe."

"Great," Gabe said and kissed her. "Now what was your question?"

"I don't know if I want to ask now."

"Go for it anyway."

"Okay. What are we?"

"What do you mean? You want a label on us?"

"Well maybe just a clarification. Are we just friends or are we together or are we friends with benefits? You know what are we?"