Destine (The Watcher's Trilogy) (10 page)

My walk went by quickly, it was only three blocks after all, but I was deep in thought
.
What my father had said was the closest thing to him talking about my mother’s condition I had ever witnessed, and what he had said bothered me
.
My mother was paranoid that something was after me, and not just any something,
ang
e
l
s and demons
.
I physically shook my head
,
hoping I could dislodge the
serious
thoughts out
and just
be a normal girl at a football game
with a cute boy
.
I arrived outs
ide the football stadium
five minutes late,
which was
not too bad for me, especially
in these sandals
.
Gabriel
was waiting for me by the main gate, and my breath caught in my
throat,
as he looked straight into my eyes
.
He was,
of course
,
as handsome as he was earlier this afternoon, but it seemed that the few short hours we had spent apart had changed him
.
I felt like I could
look at him every
day and never get use
d
to those ice colored eyes and that mop of black curly hair
.
I sighed audibly to myself and started across the parking lot towards the main gate, mentally praying the whole time that I didn’t trip while he was watching me
.
He smiled that dazzling crooked
grin
as I approached
.

“Hey
.
”

“Hey yourself
.
You look great
.
I love
your hair down.” He reached out and ran his hand through my hair
.
“It
’s so soft.
”

The sensation of his hand in my hair was both exciting and alarming
.
I hadn’t expect
ed
him to touch me and I automatically took a step away from hi
m
.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like
it,
I just wasn’t even sure why he was paying attention to me
.
After all, there was nothing special about me, and
no boy in my seventeen years of life had so mu
ch as glanced in my direction
.
To say I was skeptical was an understatement
.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have touched you
.
Please forgive my rudeness.” I looked into
his
eyes and saw hurt
.
Crap,
I hadn’
t meant to hurt his feelings
.

I shot him my most reassuring grin, at least that’s what I hoped it looked like
,
and said,
“No need to
apologize
, you just surprised me
.
I’m glad you like my hair.
”

T
he hurt
faded from
hi
s eyes and he smiled back at me.
“I surprised myself
.
One minute I was
looking at how soft your hair looked
and then I had to
touch it to see ho
w soft it felt.
”
He let out a little nervous bark of laughter
.
“I really shouldn’t touch you.” H
e turned
in
the direction of the main gates of the football stadium
.
“Shall we go in
?
I thi
nk the game has already started.
”
His emotions seemed to snap closed into a controlled emptiness.
Wow, ten minutes into the “date” and I had already ruined it
.
I wasn’t even sure it was a date, but I was sure that it wasn’t going well
.

I sighed heavily.
“Yeah, that
’s
probably a good idea.
”
We walked through the main gate
,
pausing at the entrance to get our hands stamped
.
We didn’t have to pay since
we had our Shady Lane student ID’
s with us, and the stamps ensured that if we left we could get back in
.
As we entered the stadium I was shocked with just how crowded it was
.
I guess Cami and I really
were
the only people who never attended these things
.
Well, use
d
to be the only people
.
Not only were we barely friends at the moment, but I was now in attendance and I had no doubt she would be here
,
too
.
I glanced over at Gabriel. “Where do you want to sit?”

He shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter to me
.
I have no idea what I’m going to
be
watching.
”

My mouth gaped open.
“You’ve never been to a football game?”

“No, I’ve never watched a football game,” he replied sheepishly
.

“Then why are we here?” I inquired with a laugh
.

“Oh
, I just assumed you would be here any way.”

“No, hell n
o!” I laughed
.
“I never go to these things
.
I have no idea what I’m watching either.
”

He smirked at me.
“Well I guess we’ll figure this out together.
”
He grabbed my hand and pul
led me through the crowd toward
the bleachers
.
When we got to th
e middle of the bleachers he le
d me up t
o the top row
.
“I guess this
works.
”

“Wo
rks for me, if it works for you.
” I had to admit, I could care less where we sat or what the score was, all I cared
about was that he still had my
hand in his
.
His hand was surprisingly warm, but the contact caused my hand to prickle and tingle
.
The sensation was both comfortable and exciting
.
I was having trouble thinking of anything else
.
I was so focused on our joined hands that Gabriel’s sharp intake of breath surprised me
.
I jerked my head up and looked at him
.
He was looking down the bleachers in front of us, and I followed his gaze
.
When I saw what he was looking at, I let out a deep sigh
.
There sat Cami and Alex Chase
.
I wasn’t really surprised, I had expected her to be here and of course with him, but the fact that it looked like she was giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation took me by surprise
.
She was seriously doing her best to crawl inside his mouth
. G
ross
. N
ot to mention the fact that they were in plain sight of everyone
.
Holding hands in public was one thing, but this was just rude
.
No one wants to see that! 

Gabriel tore his gaze
away from them and looked at me.
“I seriously hate that guy,” he spit out through clenched teeth
.

“I never thought I would see the day when Cami would act like such a skank,”
I muttered in surprise
.
“They’re
in plain sight, and that is
definitely
not for public viewing
.
Eww
.
”

“I’m sorry, this must be tough to watch
.
You want to leave
?
No one should have to see that, especially you.
”
He looked at me with caring concern in his eyes
.

I appreciated his concern, although I found it a little odd
.
Of course I was upset Cami and I had been f
riends since kindergarten, and
now she was behaving like someone I didn’t even know, but Gabriel wouldn’t understand that
.
We had just met and his dislike
of Alex for my benefit was endearing, but the depth of the hatred in his eyes and voice was slightly extreme considering the circumstances
.
After all, Alex wasn’t doing anything Cami didn’t seem to be enjoying
.
I forced myself to stop looking in Cami’s direction, and looked back over at Gabriel
.
He was still staring at Alex and the hatred in that gaze made my blood run cold
.
He looked like he was seconds from marching down the bleachers and pulling them apart himself.

I grabbed his wrist and shot-up out
of my seat
.
“Y
eah, let
’
s go.
I wasn’t muc
h interested in the game anyway.
” I began pulling him down the bleachers and towards the main gate
.

As we passed Cami and Alex on the bleachers I felt Gabriel pause on the steps, and I quickly glanced back at him
.
Alex was staring directly at Gabriel, ignoring the fact that Cami was sucker-fished to his face
.
The look in Alex’s eyes was smug and challenging and I felt Gabriel tense along side me.

I tugged on his
wrist.
“Come on, let’s just go.”

Gabriel
tore his gaze from Alex and peered
into my eyes
. H
is
expression
shifted from hatred to a firm resolve. He gave me a tight nod of his head and we headed out the main gate
.
I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on between Gabriel and Alex
.
Surely that
display was not simply for my benefit; something about Alex had
gotten under Gabriel’s skin
.
Of
course, it seemed like he and I were the only two people at school wh
o weren’t swept-up in Alex Chase
’s “charm”
.

“What the hell was that about,” I shouted as soon as we were safely out of the stadium and standing in the parking lot of the school
.

“What?”
Gabriel asked with a nonchalant shrug.

“
What
?!
How about
the
fact that I thought you were going to
rip Cami and Alex apart and
pummel
Alex into the ground!
”
I screeched
.
“Not that I wouldn’t want to see that, but Cami didn’t s
eem to mind what he was doing.”

“The guy just irritates me! I can’t stand him, and he’s not what he appears
.
Everyone else may be fooled, but I’m not,” he stated
.

“I’m not either,” I muttered under my breath.

Gabriel took a deep breath and gave me a sly smi
le.
“I know you’re not either. 
I’m sorry I ruined our date.”

M
y heart stop
ped
and there was a moment when I thought it wouldn’t start back up
.
Had he just said “our date”
?
I had secretly though
t
of it as a date, but I thought I was just kidding myself
.
Out loud I stuttered, “You didn’t ruin it
.
Their little display was the probl
em.
Plus, it doesn’t have to
be
over
.
” I couldn’t believe I had just said that, I quickly glanced down at my sandals
.

He
reach
ed
over and grab
bed my hand.
“Come on, let’s go for a walk
.
We need to talk anyway.” H
e began to walk me across the parking lot, away from the school and stadium, and towards the soccer fields
.

I was excited that he wanted to spend time with me, and not run home and forget about the events of the evening, but pulling me into the darkness away from everyone else made m
e nervous
.
We were very alone out on the soccer fields, and I’m sure no one could see us with the lights of the parking lot and the stadium drowning out all the surrounding fields
.
He pulled me over to sit on the player
’
s bench that was on the
sideline of one of the fields
.