Page 14 of It Couldn't Be You
Gabriel and I were the same sort of something? I thought it was true as I fell asleep. I decidedly didn’t let myself think about Maggie’s truth-or-dare question.
Four
Me
It’s so late and I drank a couple of glasses of wine, so I’m staying the night with Katie. I’ll drive to the party from there tomorrow!
Jordan Boyfriend <3
Good morning, beautiful. I’m so excited for today!
The next morning, I woke up disoriented and with a desperate need to pee. I trudged over to Katie’s en suite bathroom, but the door was locked.
“Are you going to be a while?” I whined.
She, ever the morning person, cheerily called out from behind the bathroom door, “Yeah, sorry!”
I crawled back onto the bed and found my phone under the pillow. It was 7 a.m. I knew most of the house was probably still asleep.
I was in a white tank top and a pair of Katie’s baggy sweatpants. My hair was a tangled mess, but I felt safe that no one would see me. I crept down the hall toward the bathroom off the living room.
“Good morning, sunshine.” Gabriel was standing by the coffee maker with that smug grin of his.
“It’s too early for you morning people.” I covered my face as I passed by him.
He started chuckling.
“It’s too early for you tolaugh at me,” I added.
He just laughed more.
“I haven’t seen sleepy Em in a long time,” he called after me. “I missed her!”
I ignored him, closing the bathroom door on the sound of his chuckling.
After I reappeared, he asked, “Would you like coffee?”
I thought about my earlier intention to sleepily fall back into Katie’s bed, but instead, I snatched the throw blanket from the couch and wrapped it around my shoulders.
“I’d love some,” I said.
“Do you still do equal amounts coffee and half and half?” he teased me, his curls freshly showered. He had on a gray hoodie, the hood all the way up, the way he always did when he first woke up or was feeling particularly moody.
“I’ve grown since then. Now, I do what Starbucks would refer to as ‘a splash,’” I said proudly.
He raised an eyebrow as he splashed a little creamer into a teal ceramic mug of coffee.
“Okay, maybe a few splashes,” I admitted, rubbing my tired eyes.
He put in a little more. I reached over and grabbed the spoon and creamer and made it to my liking as Gabriel judged me from behind his inky dark cup of coffee.
“So, tell me, how’s life? How’s things as a newspaper reporter?” he asked, leaning against the kitchen counter.
“Small staff, small pay,” I said honestly. “But I do love telling the stories.”
“Living the dream?”
“Not so sure it’s ‘the dream.’”Or even my dream, I thought.
