Chapter 23
Gabriel: #DreamOrReality
S o that happened. I still don’t believe it. Was last night real or was it just a dream? Looking at the sleeping Nora beside me, I guess it was real. Wow! Am I lucky or what?
She stirs a little in her sleep, and I can’t help but kiss her forehead. She looks like an angel even with her messed-up hair spread around her face and the smudged kohl around her eyes. My gaze falls on her lips. She’s smiling a little. I wonder what she’s dreaming about. Could it be about me? About us? Is that what she’s so happy about? I can’t even bear to think it could be something or someone else.
Jesus! What’s happening to me? This is unfamiliar territory, feeling like this. Feeling a little jealous of whoever is in her dreams! I mean, I didn’t think this was possible. Who, in their senses, thinks like this? And smiles thinking about it? Has to be a crazy person.
But I’ve never felt happier. She said she wanted to talk about us. That clearly means she’s also thinking along the same lines as me. Maybe this is worth a try after all. Maybe I’m not crazy thinking that this could work.
I walk over to the window and let the cool morning air help clear my fuzzy brain. I’m still inhaling and exhaling deeply when I hear the mild creaking of my bed. She’s awake.
I turn around with a bright, “Morning, babe,” but the look on her face is far from sunny. “All okay?”
“Okay? Yeah, of course, everything is okay.”
“Cool. What’s the plan for today?”
“Meet Carla and Mom, then go back. You have anything else in mind?”
“Nah. Same. Unless you’d like to spend time with your mom and sister alone. In that case, I can catch up with some friends while you’re there, before heading back.”
She nods, but her expression still hasn’t changed. I sit down next to her and hold her hand. She has wrapped the sheet around her and her expressions seem very different from how I feel. I can’t understand what’s going on, so I keep quiet, waiting for her to tell me what’s wrong.
“So we’re not going to talk about last night? Are we going to pretend it never happened?” she says.
“No. Far from it. What part do you want to talk about?” I give her a wink.
“How about where my best friend decided we should have sex? Why don’t we start there?”
“Woah. It wasn’t me alone? You said you wanted to do it. And from what I remember, you were no silent party. Far from it, from what my ears remember.”
Her jaw drops as I say that.
“I’m kidding,” I say as she pulls her hand away from mine. “I enjoyed it. Didn’t you? Is there something you’d like me to do differently?”
“Just shut up already and let me think. Look, I don’t want this one stupid act to change our friendship. Okay?” she says, regarding me with those enormous eyes. “We both know that sex undeniably ruins friendship. Right?”
She thinks it was a ‘stupid act’? Wow! I’m such a dolt! But as she said, our friendship is more important than anything else.
“Yeah,” I reply, holding her gaze and cupping her face in my hands. If she doesn’t want this, so be it. I take a deep breath to calm the ache that seems to emanate in my heart. “Last night won’t change anything between us. It won’t happen again because this thing between us—what we have—is far too valuable.”
“Great. So last night never happened. Okay?”
“If you say so. But y’know that given we are fake dating, everyone else obviously thinks it happened and has been happening for some time. We both also know it happened. So ‘it didn’t happen’ will be for who, exactly?”
She slides off the bed with the sheet trailing after her. “You’re impossible Gabs. Just impossible.” She stomps off to the bathroom.
I sit there, wondering what I did or said wrong. Regardless of what I said to Nora, I can see it’s going to take a hell of a lot for me to forget what happened last night. And not only because it was hands down the best sex I’ve ever had, but last night was beyond enjoyment. I felt something deep, a connection as I looked into her eyes and it was unlike anything I’d felt before with anyone.
Shit…
I bury my head in the pillow that still smells of her and I remember the feel of her body and her lips, the sound of her moans and pleas. I’ve had sex plenty of times with more women than I care to keep a count of, but I’ve never felt anything so strongly before.
I inhale deeply and try to make sense of what’s happening. Somehow I don’t want to believe what I think might be the case. Because it cannot be. It’ll ruin everything.
So now what? I fake the fake date?
Ugh! This is getting complicated. I don’t know who to talk to about this because my go-to person for all such problems has always been Nora. But I already know what she thinks of this—a stupid act. Could it be that she somehow didn’t enjoy herself? No. I don’t think so. The look on her face definitely said otherwise.
She takes her time showering before finally emerging from the bathroom, smelling like… well, smelling like my soap and shampoo, because that’s what’s in there. As before, she’s wrapped herself in her towel.
“What’re you staring at?” she snaps.
“Me? Um. Nothing. There’s nothing to stare at.” I shrug and make my way to the shower. Jesus! I need to get a hold of myself.
I turn the knob, but even the cold water isn’t enough to make me stop thinking and feeling. Frustrated, I turn it off and get out of the bathroom. Nora is already dressed in a white tank top and blue jeans, her navel piercing shining brightly on her waist, making me want to exchange places with it. She’s fiercely typing something, probably some post on her social media.
“I just spoke to Carla and told her I’ll be coming over shortly. You can drop me there and meet up with your buddies. Who are you planning to meet?”
“Maybe Josh and the gang. They’ve been after my life to meet them.”
“Nice. Say hi to them for me.”
“You should come over too. They’d love to meet you.”
I can see the indecision in her eyes. We were all good friends until Josh’s father decided to be Nora’s father’s lawyer during the divorce. She never really spoke to Josh much after that. I tried to tell her it wasn’t Josh, but his father, but she simply couldn’t.
“Nah. I’ll pass. Maybe next time.” She looks up at me. “You’ll tell them about us? The gang?”
“About last night? No!”
“Not that, you idiot. That never happened, remember? I mean, about us supposedly dating.”
“Um, I guess I should, right? I mean, if it were real, I’d tell them, so I think I should. What do you say?”
She nods, comes over next to me, and takes a selfie with me.
“Yeah, you should. But keep it as minimal as possible. I’ll do the same with Carla and Mom. The fewer details we go into, the better,” she says, her gaze fixed on her phone as she posts the photo.
“Is this okay? I think you should cross-post this,” she says, showing me the photo and the text - ‘With my beau at his home. #LoveIsInTheAir #LoveBeingInLove.’
I nod, but all I can think of is kissing her all over her body and giving her all the pleasure and happiness that she deserves.
We go down for breakfast. Mom and Dad seem to have already eaten. The cook is waiting to serve us. Nora has only fruits and a boiled egg while I pile up my plate with bacon and toast.
“Wow!” Nora says, scrolling through her phone. “Guess who just congratulated us?”
“The President? Bill Gates?”
“Haha. Hilarious. TruthSeekerBob.”
“The one you’re always picking up some fight with?”
“I don’t pick those fights. They just happen. His views are… well, weird and ancient.”
“Isn’t he the one who used to position himself as some crusader of truth?”
“Yeah. Same. Except that now he’s the one who has become the gossip-monger of the town. Anyway, please accept his congratulations on our supposed relationship.”
“Thank you. Thank you,” I say, bowing down and kissing her hand.
Mom and Dad come in from the garden right then. “Morning to both of you. Wow! Gabriel, isn’t that a bit much for breakfast?” Mom says, giving me and my plate a disapproving look.
“Well, he burned quite a few calories last night, dear,” Dad says with a wink.
Shit! He has no sense of what to speak. Their bedroom is right next to mine, so I guess they heard some stuff. I cast a furtive glance at Nora and she has gone red as a cherry.
“George!” Mom reprimands him, thankfully. Then she turns to me. “But perhaps you two should stay downstairs in the guest room if you plan to stay on.”
They both leave, leaving us stunned and silent, with Dad’s chuckles still reverberating in my ears.
“Well,” I say, after a bit. “That should take care of their believing we’re a couple part.”
Nora arches her eyebrows and looks at me with a twinkle in her eyes and we both burst out laughing. God! I love to see her laugh. What wouldn’t I do to keep that smile and that laugh on her face? Anything. Everything.