You're Still My Favorite Melody

“Pete!” I shout pushing open the door to the apartment we shared.

“I’m in the kitchen!” Pete yells and I run into the kitchen. Pete, Patrick and Ryan are standing around the stove and Gabe and Brendon are sitting at the table.

“Gabe told me what happened,” Pete says, without taking his eyes off of the pot on top of the stove.

“Did he also tell you that William wants me to move to Chicago with him?” I say and all five pairs of eyes lock on me.

“What?” Pete and Patrick ask in unison and Gabe just groans.

“He gave me until Thursday to decide if I want to go but I don’t even know what to say to him,” I mumble, joining the three boys at the stove. The pot was filled halfway with a dark red substance and blackened meatballs.

I turn to Patrick and raise an eyebrow, “you let them make this?”

“I came to put out the fires,” Patrick says in defense. I laugh and turn off the stove.

“Order pizza.”

“That’s what I said,” Ryan mumbles, glaring at Pete. Pete smiles nervously and dials the pizza place.

“William’s your boyfriend right?” Brendon asks suddenly, his eyebrows pushed together in confusion.

“Yeah.”

“So why don’t you wanna go with him?” he continues and I sit down across from him.

“There are a lot of people here that I love and I don’t want to lose them,” I say carefully, staring down at the table.

Pete now off the phone with Papa John’s turns to face me, “do you love this person enough to lose William?” I chance a look at Gabe and he’s staring directly at me, not even attempting to hide the disconcertion in his eyes.

“I don’t know Pete. If I knew I wouldn’t be in this situation,” I say and Pete sighs.

“You can’t keep leading them on like this, it’s not fair to any one,” Patrick says, as Pete whispers something in Gabe’s ear.

“I know Patrick but I have no idea what I should do,” I mumble, burying my face in my hands.

“Sabrina, I think you should stay in New York,” Gabe says finally, and I instantly lift my head to stare at Gabe. Pete gives me a pointed look that I ignore. I was still pissed and I refused to take the bait.

“Of course you do Gabriel. I can’t leave until you’ve completely ruined my relationship with William. But I’m giving you too much credit, you just wanna sleep with me before I leave right?” I say in monotone and keeping a blank expression on my face.

“Why are you being like this? You know it’s not like that and it hasn’t been like that since you came back from Boston,” he protests.

“I’m not getting into this with you,” I say stubbornly and there’s a collective eye roll in the kitchen.

“No, I think we should get into this,” he argues. I sigh and send Gabe a glare before standing up from the table, “why can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Because,” Gabe begins and then he glances at the four other guys in the room. They all give him some sign of approval before filing out of the room.

I push my eyebrows together in confusion, “what’s-” Gabe stands up and presses his lips against mine. I hear a giggle --yes a giggle-- from the other room and pull away blushing profusely. I try to back away but Gabe maintains a tight grip on my waist.

“That doesn’t um...answer the question,” I mumble.

Gabe smiles, “I can’t leave you alone because I love you.”

“You what?” I whisper, searching Gabe’s eyes for some sign of this being a joke. There was no smirk or amusement in eyes; he was sincere as ever. He couldn’t be serious. There was no way.

I patiently wait for Gabe to add a spirited ‘gotcha’ but he doesn’t. He just keeps smiling, wide and unrestrained.

“I love you,” he repeats, as if it’s the most ordinary thing to say to someone. What was I supposed to say? I could barely even comprehend his words much less, give my own response.

Did I love him back? Did I really want to end things with William? Holy shit, how did I end up in this twisted love triangle?

“I need you to choose. Me or him. No more games or stupid excuses, I just need an answer,” he continues maintaining an expressionless face. I couldn’t choose, not right now. I needed to think this through, to clear my head.

“I can’t...um I need to think.” How my words had managed to come out coherently while I was standing in such a close proximity to Gabe was a feat in of itself.

"Sabrina-"

"I'll answer you as soon as I figure this out," I mutter and Gabe nods, before I turn around and head for my room. This was gonna be a long week.