It's the Mess That Feels So Right...

“So, he’s leaving for how many weeks?” Gabe asked, hanging over the back of our tattered couch, looking intrigued. I sighed, digging further into the now-stocked fridge for something that wasn’t ninety-five percent sugar.

“Can neither you nor Caleb eat healthy things? Not even buy them for your best friend?” I huffed and shot a glare at Gabe who put his hands up, trying to pull off that innocent look.

“You know that Caleb and I are allergic to that healthy shit!” Shaking my head, I settled for a fruit roll-up, the fruit bit has to be healthy right?

“You’re stalling!” Gabe shouted suddenly, jumping up off the couch, wrapped up in some sort of excitement.

“Gabriel, what are you on about?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and taking a bite of the roll-up before spitting it out into the rubbish bin. “That is terrible! It tastes like solid chemicals!”

Gabe made a grab for the roll-up before it could make the bin. “Steal!”

“Okay, ew.” I jumped up onto the counter and looked down at Gabe, who shrugged and leant on the counter next to me, his face propped up on his hands, still munching that disgusting snack.

“So, how long is he leaving for?” He asked again, his large eyes looking up at me, he was almost glowing in his smugness.

“No need to get so upset about William’s leaving,” I replied sarcastically. “He said, he was going to be gone for about two weeks, it’s just a small tour to get them back into the flow or something like that.”

Gabe chewed the roll-up, thoughtfully as well as loudly. “Well, are you coming to the Halloween party?”

“We’re having a party for that?” I asked, and Gabe nodded, grabbing out two glasses, pouring Diet Soda into each and passing one to me.

“Diet? Holy heck! How did this weasel its way into your shopping cart?” I asked teasingly, giving him a playful push which he returned happily.

“Shut up, I was thinking of you!”

“Well, thank you! And yeah, I guess I am coming to the party. Otherwise I have to go trick or treating with Caleb, and after last time, no thank you!” I shuddered at the thought of the previous Halloween. Gabe chuckled into his cup, resulting in him choking, and then it was my turn to laugh.

“Didn’t he, like, seduce some old lady into giving him an entire bag of lollipops?” Gabe asked, as I groaned and hit my head.

“Don’t remind me! Can I bring the doofus along?”

“Sure, if he’s not busy seducing elderly!” Gabe smirked and I hit him over the head.

“Shuddup! Don’t you have Gabriel things to go do?” I asked, jumping off the counter and placing my cup in the dishwasher, as Gabe chucked his in the sink.

“Dishwasher!”

“Okay, okay, jeez mom, give me a break!” Gabe said playfully, shoving me out of the way to reach the dishwasher as I rolled my eyes with a smirk.

“Well, I’m off to do Gabriel things now, see ya!” Gabe chucked on his favorite flat cap and grabbed his wallet, patting Shylo on his way out the door. Shylo looked up at me and cocked her head to one side in a confused manner.

“Yeah, I don’t know what ‘Gabriel things’ are either and maybe that’s a good thing.”

-X-

GABE.

The longer that I walked, the more I thought about everything, thus creating my mood to be swiftly kicked to anger. Without consciously thinking about it, I found myself outside William’s hotel, thinking fast, irrational thoughts.

Getting up to his hotel room was easy, I didn’t even have to use the ever-helpful hip jerk to the front desk assistant, and all too soon I found myself in front of his door. Trying to calm myself down was a waste of time; I was already worked up from the walk over here.
Rapping my knuckles on the dark wood impatiently, I then pushed them deep into the pockets of my signature hoodie, I had to take precautions, I didn’t want a repeat of the other night. There was shuffling on the other side of the door, before it was pulled open and a sleepy looking William peeked out.

“Gabe?” His voice cracked from lack of use and he looked shocked and slightly frightened, but worked against that as he motioned for me to come inside. The room wasn’t anything special, dull and mundane like every other hotel room. William sat down cautiously and looked up at me, waiting for some indication of what I wanted. I couldn’t sit, not with all these thoughts, so I settled for pacing.

“Do you want a drin-"

“What I don’t get, is how you can be such an asshole, and still be so nonchalant about it!”

“Gabe, I-"

“No, you, shut up. I need to say this. First off, what the fuck were you thinking? You were one of my closest friends; I thought it would be obvious that she is off limits to all my mates! She’s younger than you, she’s still in school and she doesn’t need some rock star boyfriend jet setting around the world while she has to be here. That’s not fair on her,” I whispered the last part, halting my pacing to give William’s expression a good, hard stare.

William sighed, and sat forward in his seat, hiding his face in his hands. Finally, he looked back up at me with a strange look, making me question what he was going to do next. Very slowly, almost as if he wanted to build suspense, he stood up, looking be square in the face.

“Gabe,” He started off. “We both know that’s not exactly the real reason.”

“What? What the fuck are you on about, of course that’s the reason! I’m looking out for my best friend like any good mate would!” I threw back at him, trying desperately to direct the little self-control I had left.

“Any good mate? Get off it Gabe, I know as well as the next guy that ‘friend’ isn’t how you see Bee anymore...”

“What are you trying to say?” I growled, my fingers curling by my sides, the knuckles on each hand turning a shade of white. William, fear flashing in his eyes but obviously not wanting to back down, took a bold step toward me, before answering.

“Isn’t it evident? You are in love with Bee. The only reason you are so angry with me, is because I got to her first.” That was it, that was all it took. Before I knew it, I had closed the space between William and I, grabbed him by his shirt and had him slammed against the wall, trying to keep myself from giving him too much visible damage.

“William,” I said lowly, forcing the words out from between my clenched teeth. “If I find out that she is just a contestant in one of your fucking games, or she is ever hurt because of something you have done, you’d better start running. I’m not playing, I will fuck you up.” I smacked him against the wall to back up my statement, before letting him loose and stalking out the door.

Pounding the pavement in front of the hotel to get home, the rush of fresh air blew horror into my mind. Did that really just happen? What if William tells Bee of what just occurred? Sucking in a deep breath of air, I tried to hide myself further into my hoodie, trying to push everything out of my mind.

Running up the stairs to the apartment, I could hear the loud laughs of Bee, instantly making me smile, followed by a male laugh. Unlocking the door, I stepped inside to see a still-giggling Bee thrown over Caleb’s shoulder as he was tickling her.

“Hello, Gabe! What’s a-shakin’, my man?” Caleb asked with a grin, which I answered with a grunt and walked off to my room. I need space to cool down before I could face them.

BEE.

“Whoa, who ran over his dog?” Caleb asked, looking up at me and all I could offer him was a shrug. Caleb finally let me down off his shoulder, I had made the mistake of telling Caleb his nail-painting skills sucked cow nipples and he attacked me, collapsing on couch with a sigh.

Caleb fell next to me, poking me in the gut when I shut my eyes.

“Quit it,” I mumbled with a grin as he did it again.

“What do you want?” I asked, opening an eye to look at him. I was trying not to focus on how William was leaving tonight, Caleb obviously picked up on this, suddenly yelling,

“We are in desperate need of a movie night!”