CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Day five.
Date five.
This was the one that actually had Gabe nervous.
Krystal had been a bit more involved in her date day than anyone else. He’d come to all of them to talk about each day on a basic level, but for the most part, everyone (except Sadie) had been more or less fine with whatever he had chosen.
Not Krystal.
She wanted to get tattoos together and go to a rave.
The rave he had been ready to hear, as she’d been talking about wanting to go to one again for a little while now. Since that wasn’t his scene at all, it had been on her to find one. And the same was true of the tattoo.
Gabe at least knew what he wanted.
It was a little basic, but that was probably a good idea for a first tattoo.
Mostly he was nervous about the pain. He couldn’t seem to get a straight answer on how much it hurt beyond the fact that it did hurt.
He’d seen some people say it didn’t, but when he’d brought that up, Krystal had told him flatly that was bullshit.
Krystal had been ready by ten in the morning. The fact that she was in his car, awake, alert, and not pissy as hell spoke to her commitment to the day. Honestly, it was extremely touching. He knew how much difficulty she had surrounding sleep. She wouldn’t do that for practically anyone else.
And now here they were, cruising towards downtown.
“I want to ask one more time,” Krystal said, “you’re completely sure about this? Because I actually won’t be angry or disappointed or whatever if you back out. I can just get a new tattoo later.”
“I’m sure,” Gabe replied. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to get a tattoo and sit through two hours of pain out of politeness or peer pressure.”
She chuckled. “That’s good. Also, it’ll probably be like an hour for your idea. Which, I gotta say, is probably going to buy you bonus points forever.”
“Like I need bonus points with any of you.”
“Good point.” She fell silent for a moment, then a grin slowly spread across her face. “You gonna get Kim’s name on there, too?”
“Oh, yeah, that wouldn’t scream ‘psychopath’. Showing up on our first date with her fucking name literally tattooed on my arm.”
She laughed loudly. “Okay, fair point. But that girl likes you. Like really likes you?”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, for one, she admitted she liked you way back when. For two, she has already kissed you twice and sent you nude pics. For three...I saw what I saw that night at the party. Once she gets ahold of you, boxer girl is going to wear you out.”
“I’ll wear her out.”
“She’s got ‘I haven’t had sex for the whole year’ energy. And she’s a fucking boxer. And fit. You are already fucking all of us.”
“That just means I’ve got a lot of experience at wearing out.”
When Krystal didn’t respond, he glanced over at her. She was staring at him with surprise, her mouth a little open.
“You are really different now,” she murmured finally. “I remember you were such a shy boy when we first met.”
“Yeah, it’s...been a long road.”
“Traveled in a pretty short time. Like, we haven’t even known each other two months.”
“That’s true. It feels like a lot longer. It’s weird, I’ve heard ‘I feel like I’ve known you my whole life’ so many times in movies and games, but I haven’t really felt it until I started hanging out with you all.”
She snorted. “Hanging out.”
“Okay, and other things.”
“I actually know what you mean, though. I kinda felt the same way. I’ve been wanting to have a writer friend slash boyfriend since forever.
And once you showed up, you filled that slot-” He snorted and then she laughed.
“And it was like you were who I was waiting for, who I’ve been wanting for for damn near two fucking decades now.
My tall, dark, and handsome sensitive and creative boyfriend. ”
When she didn’t say anything else after a few moments, he looked at her again. She was frowning.
“What?”
“It’s just...I guess I was thinking back to the guys I pursued, those Ellen did, Holly and Chloe, just...
why? What were we thinking? I mean, Holly didn’t know any better.
This is her second actual relationship. But honestly?
Ellen and Em and Chloe and me are all bad bitches and we’ve known it.
So how did we end up in such shitty relationships?
Not once, but more than once.” She focused on him suddenly. “Gabe, you’re smart: why?”
He laughed loudly. “I am not smart. I have just enough intelligence to seem like I’m intelligent.”
“I dunno, you seem pretty fucking smart. I’ve seen you defuse several situations that could’ve turned into fights.”
“Yeah, but that’s not...intelligence. It’s emotional intelligence, which, yes, obviously is a form of intelligence, but it’s not like I studied up on this shit. I just...know, you know? Like, I feel like I didn’t really work for the knowledge, if that makes sense.”
Krystal was silent almost the whole way there after that. As they pulled into the parking lot of the tattoo parlor, she finally seemed to come back out of herself.
“Isn’t that what intelligence is, though?” she asked finally.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, like, people who sit there and memorize a bunch of stuff, like they can be intelligent, to be sure, and often are, but it’s not the same thing.
Intelligence is like...figuring stuff out.
Isn’t that what you did? What you do? You’re so emotionally intelligent that you didn’t have to study, you just picked it up along the way. ”
Gabe thought about it for a long moment, then sighed. “Fuck, I don’t know. That makes sense, but I don’t really feel intelligent.”
“What does it feel like?”
“Confidence?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true. Although I like your way better.”
“What’s my way?”
“The way where you have intelligence and use it for good, but you doubt yourself, you know you could be wrong, so you don’t just shove solutions in people’s faces and then proclaim yourself right...anyway, come on. Appointment starts soon. You’re going to like Jen, she’s cool.”
“How do you know her?” he asked as they walked across the lot.
It was cold out today, but not terribly so. Somewhere in the high forties. Which was good, considering the next part of the plan.
“She was one of the bad bitches me and Em and El ran with back in the day. She actually got lucky. Burned out of the party scene at like twenty one and actually got her shit together. Went to college to be a tattoo artist, never looked back. Now she has her own place.”
“Holy shit, that’s awesome.”
“Yep.”
They walked inside. Jen turned out to be a woman who reminded him a lot of Emily. Tattoo sleeves, an easy smile, her hair cut short and dyed pink. She had more piercings than Emily.
“Holy shit,” Jen said as she looked up from the book she was reading behind the front desk. “You look...so different. And yet somehow exactly the same.”
Krystal laughed loudly. “I got chubby,” she replied. “And also saner. You look, like, exactly the same. Except for the tattoos.”
“Yeah, I still really like those. Though it’s been a few years since I’ve gotten a new one. Anyway, hello, Gabe. I’m shocked it was a man who finally tamed Krystal.”
“First of all,” Krystal said, stepping forward and slamming her palms down on the desk, “no one has tamed me.”
“Uh-huh,” Gabe muttered.
She turned her intense glare slowly onto him. He smiled at her. “What was that?” she growled.
Gabe didn’t say anything. Instead, he reached out slowly and lifted the GABE’S GIRL tag, then let it drop.
Krystal rolled her eyes and sighed explosively.
Jen pursed her lips and stared at Krystal. “Wait, what does that say?...Gabe’s Girl.”.
“Oh, whatever! Secondly...fuck, I forgot what I was going to say.”
Jen laughed loudly, then sobered a little. “So...it didn’t work out with, um...fuck, I feel like a bitch because I can’t remember her name…”
“Liz. And yes, it worked out. She’s at home right now. Probably working out.”
“Oh! You’re poly now. Nice.”
“You have no idea,” Gabe replied and Krystal laughed again.
“More than three?” Jen asked, raising an eyebrow.
“There’s six of us living together now, with a seventh waiting in the wings.”
Jen’s eyes widened noticeably. “Holy shit, for real?” Krystal nodded. “That’s...kind of awesome. And it’s working?”
“Shockingly well. I think it helps that Gabe is the only boy.”
Her eyes widened a little more. “You and five chicks?”
“Five are just living with him. Emily and her wife have also laid claim to him. And so has our fifty year old landlady...and a hot shy blonde...and there was that other cougar…”
“How are you alive?” Jen asked, laughing.
“I ask myself that every day,” Gabe replied.
“He keeps up shockingly well. Although yeah, you’re right about working out with Liz as a routine. It would help you a lot. Lately you’ve passed out a few times in the middle of sex.”
“Wait, really?”
“Yeah. Although I guess, to be fair, you’re usually pretty stoned or it’s because I woke you up in the middle of the night. Like last night.”
“Last night...oh, right. You were fucking riding me last night. I thought that was a dream.”
“Nope! It was past midnight so it was my day and I was fucking taking the opportunity.”
“Okay, let’s get you two started on your tats,” Jen said, checking her phone.
“Got appointments to keep.” She tilted her head and they followed her through a door into a room with tables and chairs that looked like they were meant to lounge in.
“Krystal, Lorelei will be taking care of you. And Gabe, I will be handling you today.”
“Are you flirting with my boyfriend?” Krystal asked as she set her purse aside and got out of her jacket.
“No, it’s called being nice, you hussy,” Jen replied, rolling her eyes as she guided Gabe over to one of the chairs. “Okay, Gabe, let’s see it.”
He nodded and pulled up the image he’d put together on his phone.
It had actually taken some time to put together and really think about.
It was a list of names. The first name of each woman he currently shared the house and his life with.
Each a different color, their favorite colors, and each a different font.
He’d spent hours scrolling through different fonts and finding the ones that made him think of each individual woman.
“This...is pretty cool,” Jen murmured as she studied it. “And very romantic. Admittedly more romantic than I imagined a guy with five girlfriends would be...hopefully you don’t take that as an insult.”
“Not at all,” Gabe replied.
“Wait...how many?” Lorelei asked from across the room.
Krystal laughed. “I think you’re going to need to tell them about the whole thing.”
“I’m honestly all ears. I’d really like to hear this,” Jen replied.
“Same,” Lorelei agreed.
Gabe chuckled. “All right, uh...in the beginning, there was a six foot five blonde goddess...”