[ g a b r i e l   a n d   i ]

♥ louisa ♥

LOGAN WAS IN the stand today. This was the first time I noticed that things didn't hurt so bad anymore.

Of course, there were occasional moments when he looked up and my heart stopped in fear; his hands gripped tightly around the brown wooden railing before him, and we met eyes. There was that ever present glimmer of pure loathing lurking in their depths.

On the other hand, there were moments when I saw nothing apart from the teenage boy that I once fell in love with. Yet within a split second, that image melted away. Like a drop of water that formed gentle ripples in a puddle before vanishing into the stillness, the hate always reappeared and Logan too.

I was afraid to look back and see how far I had come. What if I turned back and saw that I'd simply been running in place? It was hardly worth the risk.

I had learned to trust that each day would be better than the last. And even if it wasn't, something beautiful was around the corner and this was simply a test to see if I was patient enough to deserve whatever wonderful things awaited me.

My head nodded softly, music playing from my earphones. Exams were fast approaching and the content I had left to study stacking up high. Between the court case, revision and retaining sanity, it was fair to say that time management was my worst enemy.

The sound coming out of the headphones stopped. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, before noticing that Pierre was holding my phone, finger still hovering over the pause button. We were sat in the cafe area of the British Library, laptops out on the table between us. A guilty smile grew on my face as I slowly took off my headphones and held my hands up in defeat.

He's clearly caught on that I'd stopped listening to him a while ago.

"How could you, ma cherie?"

"Pierre, I swear you could literally talk somebody to death. And I mean that as a compliment. I have no idea how you do it," I said, fiddling with my low messy bun.

My brown balayage was growing out fast, revealing my black natural hair. I'd been contemplating whether to get it re-done. On the one hand, I didn't want to damage my hair any more but on the other hand, it looked so good.

His dark eyes narrowed in suspicion as he questioned whether I was being sarcastic.

I shrugged my shoulders.

My new favourite thing was saying ambiguous things that left things open to interpretation. It was funny to see people's perplexed faces.

"I'm sorry. Go on, what did you say?"

Pierre rubbed the slight black stubble on his chin. "Well, I suppose you don't care too much about the Espirit girl gossip I spent the last five minutes analysing in so much detail. So I'll move on to more pressing matters."

I raised an eyebrow, digging my hands into my hoodie pockets. "And what's that?"

"My maman told me."

I held still for a second, before letting out a sigh. "Pierre, I was gonna tell you. I just didn't know how."

He folded his arms, leaning back in his chair. "It's actually quite simple. You just open your mouth and say 'Hi Pierre, just a heads up - I'll be staying in London until exams officially start. I'll fly back to Paris to take them once they kick off. Oh, and I almost forgot. I'll leave you completely alone in the literal hell called Professor Boucher's revision sessions. I know I promised to attend with you but whoops! My bad. Anyway, enjoy and see you never.' See it's straightforward forward actually."

"I do not sound like that!"

He frowned, taking a sip of his americano. "Actually, you do. Your accent always makes me feel like I'm talking to royalty, even though I'm the one with more royal blood." Pierre his hands up making an exasperated sound, before resting his face on his palms. "Anyway. Let's circle back to the issue at hand."

I sighed. "It's only because of the court sessions, Pierre. It was a pain having to fly from Paris to London so regularly for meetings."

"It's so much more convenient if I stay here for a bit until it blows over. The curriculum at Forteaux and Espirits is identical anyway, all the way down to the lesson plans and schedule."

That was only part of the reason.

Pierre grumbled, "Ever so rational, as usual. It's gonna take a lot for me to convince maman to let me do the same."

My eyes widened a millimetre in awe, "Really? You'd do that?"

"Don't be daft, Louisa. You can't get rid of me that easily. My maman may be the scariest headmistress Espirits has ever seen but I'm her son after all. I'll think of something."

The sound of my phone buzzing broke the conversation. "Gabriel?" he read.

It was still in Pierre's hand and he snatched it away from me before I could take it.

A wide smile crawled onto his face as he held it far away from me, proceeding to read it. "Ooh, is it spicy? Let me see. Oh my my. Ma cherie is blushing! It must be. Hmm, let's find out."

I could feel my face getting hot.

Get a grip, Louisa. What on earth?

"Pierre! Give it back. Now! I swear I'll-"

He put another one of his accents. This one was deep and husky. "I'm here. I know I'm a bit early so don't rush if you're busy."

Taking advantage of his distraction, I grabbed it from Pierre's hand and tried my best to ignore the grin on his face.

"Louisa, if you were having a secret rendezvous, you should have just said. I know the top ten tryst spots on this side of the river. Totally discreet and hidden away locations. I'll share the list-"

"Pierre!" I said, utterly mortified.

He rolled his eyes, "Please. As if you haven't done it before."

I'd die before I admitted it to Pierre, but he did have a point.

"I must say, Louisa, Gabriel is a very attractive man but he is rather terrifying. The last time I saw him, I was convinced I'd catch frostbite just by looking at him. So cold and icy."

Sometimes I forgot that Pierre never saw the same side of Gabriel as the rest of us.

Sure, he was so painfully annoying and irritating at times, but Gabriel was even more so hilarious, witty and pure of heart.

"I know part of the reason you're staying is for him," Pierre stated, not leaving any room for me to protest. "But as your friend and someone who cares about you, I must ask what's the point of all this?"

There was an earnest fleck dancing with curiosity in his almost black eyes.

I glanced down at my oval manicured nails that were coated in a translucent white colour. "It's impossible to explain. I know you've never met the Gabriel we knew but... but it was incredible," I breathed out, staring at the twisting wooden swirls of the coffee art in my teacup.

"The way his eyes lit up when he spoke. His passionate refusal to take anything too seriously," I shook my head in amazement, thinking about how he had quite literally crashed into my life.

"My perception of the world was always so guarded yet he showed me that it's worth wearing my heart on my sleeve from time to time."

Pierre drank in my words, watching me carefully, "But is any of this even worth it, ma cherie?"

I lifted my head with conviction, carefully checking my nude lipstick using my compact and packing away my things. A small smile pulled across my cheeks, "Gabriel's an amazing man. One of the funniest and kindest I've ever met. He taught me that life is for living, not surviving. I think it's my turn to remind him the same."

***

"One long black and one almond milk latte please," Gabriel's smooth voice responded instinctively. His stormy grey eyes moved from the waitress to my own, a brief glimmer of hesitation passing through him. "That is unless you've changed your usual?"

I sat straighter, long nails drumming against my Birkin and sunglasses balanced on the bridge of my nose. It was unusually sunny for this time of the year, and we'd chosen to sit outside.

"No, that's correct."

Pairing a beige hoodie and tracksuit with a brown handbag was an interesting combination, but judging by the multiple pairs of envious looks from the other people in the cafe, I'd managed to make it work. 

Pierre has kindly offered to take my laptop bag back to Prince's house, where he was staying for the exchange scheme. He was planning to go to the gym for a bit but return back to Prince's by the time I'd finished getting coffee. I'd stop by and pick it up later.

He nodded curtly at nobody, in particular, chiselled face nonchalant. "Great. That's it for now."

The blonde girl's eyes stayed firmly planted on her iPad as she nodded, typing the order in and desperately avoiding Gabriel's gaze. A faint blush tinged her cheeks. She didn't look a day older than 16.

"Thanks. I mean- You're welcome. Um, sorry," she stuttered. I read her name badge.

Nova.

Another blonde's face crossed my mind, this one with bright blue eyes and long wispy, platinum strands.

Ashlei's middle name was Nova.

Ashlei Nova Kovalenko.

I wondered how she was doing. The hate I'd harboured for her from the day I'd found out Logan was cheating on me with her has somewhat subdued. Perhaps, she was a victim in all this too.

Then the memory of her comments at the annual ball came back to me.

Maybe not.

The waitress hurriedly smiled, looking at me instead of him, nervous under his gaze. It was painfully obvious that Nova was attracted to Gabriel but who wasn't?

Sure, the messy-haired brunet with an endless supply of foolish grins was long gone, but in his place was an intelligent, well-mannered man who carried himself with impeccable composure and grace.

"I'll bring that right over to you both."

I gave her a warm smile which she returned, "Thanks."

Both of our heads turned towards her, watching as she walked away. Slowly, our gazes moved to each other, staring intently at each other's faces with a strange unfamiliarity, like when you found an old photo that didn't quite look the way you remembered.

The chatter in the rest of the cafe melted away into soft background noise as if there was a diaphanous bubble around us. It tightly enclosed us with the difficult conversations that lay ahead, a tempest of our locked-away sentiments

looming in the air.

It was just Gabriel and I.

And boy, was it hard to breathe.

please. i'm the one that can't breath atm, ahahha.

three updates in three days? crazy, i know. i know some have asked for an updating schedule, but to be honest, i'm on a writing roll at the moment and hopefully i can just keep it going.

one request: please vote and comment if you enjoyed! if only takes a moment and hearing all of your words has definitely loosened my writing block, leading to frequent updates <3

i really do appreciate each of you for sticking with the story.

so yes... follow and keep your announcements on for more coming very soon (;

kiwi x