Page 61 of Love is Strange
“Where to, darlin?” the cabbie asked as he peered at her up and down.
“55thand Broadway, in a hurry…” Cinder told him, sounding just as impatient as he had.It was an old habit of mine. Match everyone’s tone, word for word. You only give as good as you get. Try to play me, and I’ll teach you how the game is played. Bend the rules and I’ll rewrite them completely.
The cab driver nodded once and Cinder took this as my cue to get in. Swinging the back door open, Cinder climbed inside and repeated the address of the theatre just before slamming the door shut. In a second flat, the cabbie took off, screeching out of sight once more. He swerved through the streets, masterfully cutting through traffic and curling corners. In a record twenty two minutes, the cab pulled up outside of the theatre house with only minutes to spare before Cinder was due backstage to begin costume and make up.I can feel my anxiety kick up in my belly. I am usually never nervous before a performance, but tonight was not just any performance. Tonight, the Gabriel Cartwright would be in the audience. And he wasn’t attending the show simply to pass the time. He was coming to see me – Cinder Alexander, little nobody from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. I pinched the flesh of my arm. Was my luck changing? It certainly appeared to be. Cinder Alexander may have been a unknown Southern sweetheart, but Veronica Westerley was coming into her own on the Broadway stage.
As the cab came to an abrupt halt, Cinder pulled out a twenty dollar bill and paid the driver.
“Need change?” the driver asked her in a thick, brusque New York accent.
Waving him off, Cinder replied, “No. Keep it,” shortly before swinging open the cab door and stepping back out into the cold autumn air. The wind swept my hair off her shoulder as Cinder made her way into the theatre. Disappearing behind the double doors, Cinder waved hello to the door man Raymond once, before sweeping down the hallway towards the dressing rooms.
Chapter Three
“So how long have youknown this chick?” Decker asked Gabe, just before taking another swig of his Pabst beer. While Gabriel seemed to be nursing his Stella Artois, Decker had a small collection of PBR pounder cans on the table. The waitress had tried offering him a chilled mug, but he waved her off with a dismissive swipe of his hand. He was more of a chug from the can kind of guy. When the same waitress came by and offered to take away his empties, Decker again waved her off. “Hang on, honey. I want to see somethin’...” Gabe knew what he was doing. Decker was counting how many beers he could chug in the time it took Gabe to finish his bottle of Belgian pilsner. Gabe gave the waitress a sympathetic glance as she walked away whilst rolling her eyes at his friend.
Gabe raised his right eyebrow at one of his oldest friends, and stared at him with a look of mild irritation. Despite the longevity of their friendship, it seemed that Becker Campbell never did mature in all their years as pals. Gabe had no interest in playing catch up with Becker. He knew without a doubt that his buddy could drink him under the table - he had plenty of experience doing as much.
“Dude!” Decker cried out dramatically. “Earth to Cartwright! You with me?!” He knocked three times on the wooden table between them.
“What?” Gabe asked, his irritation becoming more evident in his tone of voice.
“This chick you’re going out with tonight… How long have you known her?”
“Oh, umm,” Gabe said in hesitation. Decker noticed.
“Yeah?” Decker asked, casting his buddy a perplexed look.
“I don’t know. A while I guess,” Gabe added, not going into further detail.
Decker narrowed his eyes upon his friend’s face. “Uh huh… a while… right.”
“It’s true,” Gabe remarked with a quick shrug of his shoulders.
“You’re awful… quiet on the subject…” Decker suggested. He appeared hell-bent upon trying to pull more information out of Gabe than he was willing to give up freely.
“Who is she? Where did you meet her?” Decker pushed on.
Once again, Gabe rolled his eyes. “Grade A nag, you are… Giving my mother a run for her money in that department,” Gabe joked.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Decker appeared to be quite happy with himself. The smug smile that was growing across his face told Gabe everything that he needed to know. “It’s in the best friend handbook… I get to vet the women who want to try to take on the all-coveted role of Mrs. Gabriel Cartwright.”
Gabe nearly choked on his beer. “They’ll be waiting a long time for that position to open.”
“Mr. Big Time CEO with all the ladies in waiting…” Decker teased his buddy.
“Jealous?” Gabe asked with a wink. The corner of his mouth curled up into a sly smirk.
“Fuck yeah, I’m jealous!” Decker admitted. “I don’t know how you just don’t come back around to some of them chicks you’ve been with. Brooklyn was hot. Jamie was fucking gorgeous… But Kaitlyn… you knocked it out of the park with that one…” Decker opined as his gaze seemed to trail off as his mind recalled some of Gabe’s former flings.
“You know my rules,” Gabe said tersely. “One and done.”
The look on Decker’s face was nothing short of comical. While Gabe brushed his buddy’s comments off like they were nothing, Decker was in a state of bewilderment.
“Dude! But-” Decker began to protest, but Gabe wasn’t trying to hear it.
“One and done, man. That’s how you stay out of trouble. No feelings. No obligations. No attachments,” Gabe explained. “Once they’re attached, you’re done for. You’re never getting rid of them. First she takes your name…”
“Then your money,” Decker added as he rubbed two of his fingers together.
