Wes looked right at me and then brought his gaze to Gabe, looking back and forth between the two of us a couple of times before his eyes settled on Gabe and he smirked. Gabe's grip on my hand loosened and he slipped his arm around my waist, which bothered me. I could handle hand holding, but Gabe's arm wrapped around my waist seemed too intimate and possessive. I begrudgingly admitted to myself that I also didn't like that he was trying to stake his claim on me in front of Wes despite the fact that Wes was clearly taken.
"'Sup Gabe? Long time no see, man." Wes chuckled to himself and the girl in front of him tensed, clearly uncomfortable with the confrontation.
Gabe ignored Wes and leaded me out of the room throwing back one last glare and, "Keeping it as classy as ever, Emmy."
I looked back and saw heat rush to the girl's cheeks as she bowed her head. Wes just laughed, but then his eyes swung to me and I felt myself stop breathing. The look in his eyes was no longer cruel, but rather playful. The deep blue color seemed to lighten with his mood and he flashed me that boyish grin of his before turning back to the girl Gabe had called Emmy.
~~~~
Gabe lead me towards a pair of sliding glass doors that lead out to the pool which was filled with college students in and around. One guy was trying to undo a girl's bikini top while she spoke with her friend animatedly and unaware, and there were a few couples playing chicken. There were at least five girls who had already removed their swim tops with guys standing around them taking some sort of survey of which girl had the best rack. I was thoroughly disgusted with the attention seeking ways of some of these females and my face must have shown it because Gabe looked down at me and smirked, removing his arm from around my waist and grabbing my hand again to lead me over to a couple of unoccupied chairs. The backyard was so packed with people doing keg stands and body shots that I was surprised to see there was room for someone to create a makeshift dance floor on the grassy area to the left of the patio. I was relieved to see that the majority of the guests were fully clothed rather than wearing swimsuits. We hadn't realized there would be a pool and I knew Elle would pitch a fit at Colin for not mentioning it if we had been the only ones without a suit.
I settled into the chair beside Gabe and peered over at him to see his gazed focused in the distance, his eyes tight and his jaw still clenched. I reached my hand over and touched his cheek with my fingers until he turned towards me. His eyes looked sad and I realized that whatever happened in the kitchen with Wes and that Emmy chick seemed to have really affected him.
"Do you want to talk about what happened back there?"
He sighed, defeated. "That girl.. the one who was allowing that fucker to practically molest her in front of dozens of people? That's my ex."
I drew in a sharp breath and my eyes widened, taken completely off guard by his revelation.
"I know what you're thinking … that I'm still not over her." He paused and looked me in the eyes but continued when I remained silent. "I am over Emmy, beautiful. I'm just not over what happened. Two months of being broken up isn't long enough to walk in on something like that. I didn't realize she was with him. I figured he was just a one-time thing that she had to get out of her system. But to see her there with him again … it was like watching it happen all over again."
"I don't understand, Gabe. Watching what happen all over again?" I shook my head, confused. "I don't know what you mean by ‘see her with him again' … "
"Alright, I'll explain everything," Gabe sighed and ran his fingers through his hair and pushed his bangs from his face. He was silent for a moment before he took a deep breath and began.
"Emmy and I had met two years ago when I was a sophomore helping out with orientation for all of the new freshmen. After orientation I had seen her around campus a few times and we ended up talking and I'd helped show her around a bit. I fell hard for her, fast. She was the first serious girlfriend I had ever had. Everything had been perfect with us from the start. We didn't fight often and when we did we got over it pretty quickly.
Two months ago I decided to show up at her house a few towns over and surprise her since I hadn't been able to see her much this past summer. I drove six hours to see this girl, and then when I got there, I ended up being the one surprised. Wes, that guy in the kitchen with her, opened the door in only his boxers and I saw her walk up behind him in only his t-shirt to see who was at the door. Wes just smiled at the whole thing, completely proud of himself for destroying two years of my life. The guy has always hated me, and me him. We were assigned roommates during freshman year and we just never clicked. He knew she was mine but he went after her anyways. He doesn't care about her … I know he doesn't. A guy like that cares only about himself."
"Wow … Gabe I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that. I don't even know what to say … " I was shocked by his story. Of course a guy as good looking as Wes would go after someone else's girlfriend. With all of the single girls throwing themselves at him so easily he must've needed the thrill of the challenge and, Emmy, being his enemy's girlfriend, only made it that much sweeter. I suddenly felt disgusted by my own attraction to the guy. I couldn't fathom the kind of cruelty one must have within them to be able to purposely hurt someone like that.
I got up from my seat and sat down on Gabe's lap, wrapping my arms around his neck and placed a soft kiss to his mouth. I didn't care about who was around for once. I only wanted to help ease the pain in his eyes. I understood what it was like to be betrayed so deeply by the one you loved and I wouldn't have wished that on anyone.
"Thanks, beautiful." He leaned his forehead against mine and smiled softly.
"For what?"
"For listening," Gabe stood, placing me on my feet and laced my hand through mine once again. "Now let's go get another drink."
~~~~
Gabe was wasted. Really, really wasted. He had begun to stumble a bit and slur his words when I left with Elle to find the bathroom and by the time we finally got back he could barely stay standing. To make matters worse, he had called me Emmy twice. I knew he was too intoxicated to understand what he was saying but the decent amount of alcohol in my own system made it difficult to not get angry with him.
I had only seen glimpses of Wes since we had come back from the patio and each time there was no sign of Emmy. I figured she had gone home after the awkward run in earlier in the kitchen.
It was still fairly early, not yet midnight, and considering the state Gabe was in I knew I should get him out of there before he drank more or started a fight with Wes. I looked to Elle for help and she held up a finger signaling she'd be right back.
I waited impatiently, swatting at Gabe's hands as he started grabbing at me and whispering words I couldn't understand through his drunken dialogue. His hair was now sticking up all over the place and his red band t-shirt up shirt was rumpled and wet from spilling his beer onto himself numerous times. His eyes were bloodshot and he reeked of cheap whiskey.
I saw Elle hurrying over with Colin from the corner of my eye and let out a breath of relief. Behind Colin was a guy similar to Gabe from his blonde hair down to hid casual laid-back style. This guy, however, had small diamonds pierced in both ears and dark brown eyes complementing the dark undertones of his dirty blonde hair. He was a couple of inches taller than Gabe and stood at approximately 6'3, towering over Elle's petit frame as he slid up beside her and looked towards Gabe who now had his head resting in his hands and his eyes closed. I poked him in the shoulder, a little roughly, still ticked off about him calling me Emmy, and his eyes shot open.
"Arrrrcchhheerrr!" Gabe rose from the table a little too quickly and grabbed onto the side to keep himself steady.
"Hey, I'm Archer. You must be Brookelyn. Gabe's told me all about you." I looked up at Archer who was now gripping Gabe's arm to help hold him steady. "I'm one of Gabe's roommates so I'll take him home and let him sleep it off." Archer pulled Gabe's arm around his neck to hold him up and Colin got on his other side to ease some of the weight from Archer.
"It's nice to meet you, Archer. Thanks for helping out." He smiled his acknowledgement and he and Colin made their way out of the house with Gabe slumped in between them, probably passed out.