Chapter 6
“Just get in the damn boat, Jamie,” Gabriel grumbles from where he’s standing in the shallow little canal boat. When Gabriel reaches out to him, the boat rocks, turning up James’ reluctance of getting into said vessel even more.
He swallows, looking away. “You know what? I’d rather not.”
“You’re going to regret leaving Venice tonight and not having gone in one of these. I just know it.” Gabriel makes a soft victorious sound when he manages to grab hold of James’ jacket sleeve. “And I, for one, don’t want to hear you complain about it.”
“But-” James eyes the slowly rocking wooden boat dubiously. Gabriel is right. It’s on his Venice list. On top of his list, actually. It, however, looked a lot safer online. Now it just looks like a visit to the emergency room waiting to happen.
A gust of wind has him burrowing deeper into his coat. The cold air feels cutting in its frigidness, this close to the waterline, and he doesn’t even want to imagine what it would feel like being on the water.
“Besides, isn’t this something couples do together? Go on a romantic paddle through the canals?” Gabriel’s smile takes on a wicked edge.
James’ eyebrows furrow. “We’re not a couple, though.”
“I know that. You know that. The people looking at us, however, don’t.”
James turns in the direction Gabriel briefly glanced. He finds Paul and Riley a little ways away on the dock. He grinds his teeth. The anger, and quite frankly, the embarrassment that’s been brewing inside of him since last night hasn’t lessened at all.
The shocked, disapproving look that settled on Paul’s face the night prior made up for it a little.
He clearly thought James wouldn’t be able to move past their relationship falling apart in the less than ideal way it had.
In theory, James’ hadn’t. He moved on from Paul, that much was true.
But how well do you move on from giving the best of yourself to someone for close to ten years, only to be humiliated in such a way that you’re afraid to show your face to your own family?
Paul didn’t have any right to be mad at James for having moved on. Especially not now that he’s here with the exact person he left James for. Engaged to be wed, nonetheless.
And while it is true that James still feels the lingering effects of the relationship, he’s also more than certain that what he feels for Gabriel could actually be more than just reluctant friendship. It’s definitely more than the fake dating scheme Gabriel has somehow come up with.
When they were finally able to leave the restaurant last night, after an excruciating ten minutes of small talk, Gabriel confessed to not knowing why he’d done it.
He just hadn’t liked the way Paul spoke to James.
He thought Paul was the biggest asshole on the planet and how dare he insinuate that James wouldn’t be able to do this on his own.
James felt like there might be more to the story, but he was too rattled to pry for more.
In the end, they settled on keeping this charade, or whatever Gabriel wanted to call it, up for the time being.
James figured that it might as well keep Paul away from him, which is a relief in itself.
It might also help keep his mind off the fact that his ex is here with his new fiancé, on the trip that he said he’d never go on.
For him it’s not even about making Paul jealous. That chapter of his life had been written and put to rest. It’s the fact that once again someone in his life thought he wasn’t cut out to do something like this, simply because his brain worked a little differently.
Gabriel never makes him feel that way. He never looks at him like he’s being weird or looking for attention. Not once has Gabriel made fun of the fact that he might need a bit more structure to his daily life, or that new situations make him a little uncertain.
James lets out a suffering sigh, once more eyeing the boat rather critically and uncertain. Gabriel’s tugging on his jacket sleeve has brought him closer to the edge of the little dock. The water around the boat looks calm. Even in the cold, windy weather. It settles his nerves a little.
“James, come on. I promise it’s safe,” Gabriel states softly. “I won’t let you fall in.”
With lingering reluctance, James tears his eyes away from the boat and into Gabriel’s waiting, open gaze.
He’s never seen that look on Gabriel’s face before.
There’s the patience that’s always been there whenever he speaks to James, but there’s something else lingering underneath it.
Something soft, something that James recognizes might be in his own body language toward Gabriel as well.
He thinks it’s best to ignore that for now.
Who knows if it’s only there now that they’re pretending to be a couple for Paul’s sake.
James twists his arm, tugging his sleeve from between Gabriel’s fingers and puts his hand in his outstretched palm instead.
With a heaving breath he lowers his foot into the boat and lets momentum guide him fully into it.
Gabriel steps back, making space for James to settle in next to him. They take a seat on the narrow bench and before James knows what’s happening the gondolier pushes off from the shore and guides them onto the water.
The warmth radiating from Gabriel as they settle into a steady glide along the canal provides an easy distraction from the fact that they’re rocking with the motion of the water and all that could go wrong along the way.
With how close they’re sitting, hands still clasped together, it’s easy to forget the cold of the winter air.
James has never felt this warm before.
“You know they have electronic boats now as well?” Gabriel’s gruff voice pipes up from beside him.
James nods, eyes on the beautiful canals and lights shining overhead. “I know, yeah. Saw them yesterday.”
“Then why, pray tell, are we in one of these contraptions?” The question is accompanied by one of Gabriel’s signature eyebrow raises.
“Never said you had to go on it, did I?” James retaliates.
Gabriel huffs, fighting a smile. “Touché. But I figured you wouldn’t go on your own.”
It’s an echo of Paul’s words last night.
And on any other day it might have been different, hearing it from Gabriel.
But today it feels like a confirmation, even if James knows he doesn’t mean it that way.
He feels his mood darken a little. Which is a shame, now that they’re gliding through the foggy canals of Venice, surrounded by twinkling lights and the smells of Christmas.
“I don’t need you doing things that you don’t want to, just because of me. ”
Gabriel doesn’t rise to the bait. “Never said I didn’t want to do it, did I?”
“No, but-”
“I was just teasing, you know that,” Gabriel says, giving James’ hand a squeeze. “I just think it’s very you to pick something like this over the modernized version of it.”
It makes him laugh. Deep down he’s pleased that Gabriel seems to know him well enough already that he knows his preference regarding certain things. “Even if I have an e-reader?”
“Yes, even though you somehow turned your back on normal books.”
It’s an ancient subject for lighthearted teasing, going back to their first month of living together when James remarked if it wouldn’t be easier for Gabriel to carry an e-reader instead of the two paperbacks that were a staple in his daily bag.
Gabriel’s affronted and frankly judgmental look still makes James chuckle when he thinks back to it.