Unveiling The Sky (13 page)

“All set?” Derek asked. I opened my mouth to answer when I saw Alara shiver and look around for the blanket they usually kept over the back of the couch. She frowned when she realized it wasn’t there and simply snuggled further into the chair.

Naomi followed my gaze and smirked. She crooked her finger at me until I was bending down so she could whisper in my ear, “It’s in my room.” When I pulled back she was still smiling as she nodded toward what I assumed was her bedroom before she turned back around and started flipping through her book. Without a second thought I got up and walked toward the open door. I immediately found the black knitted afghan draped over her desk chair. I quickly grabbed it and made my way back to the common room.

When I returned Derek had started a solo round while Naomi and Alara were already engrossed in homework. Stopping beside Alara, I cleared my throat and held the blanket out to her. Her eyes held a questioning look as she reached for it, but her smile was warm. And it took everything in me to drag my eyes away from her mouth.

“I saw you looking for it.” I shrugged like it was no big deal and turned to sit down before she could reply. Clearing my throat, I said to the room, “I hope it’s not a problem, but I invited my sister over.”

“You have a sister?” Naomi asked.

“Uh huh,” I answered absentmindedly as I hooked up my controller.

“Of course we don’t mind! How else are we going to hear embarrassing stories from your youth?” Naomi asked as a timid knock sounded from across the room.

“I’ll get it!” Naomi was up and across the room before I could say anything. “Hey! I’m Naomi. It’s so great to meet you! Come in, come in.” She stepped aside and backed up to let my sister in. Sam was biting her lip and hiding a shy smile. I hated how nervous she got around new people, but I knew they’d all be more than welcoming and make her feel comfortable.

“Hey, Sam.” I got up and gave her a hug. She relaxed in my embrace and whispered a quick hello before stepping back and around me.

“This is Samantha.” I nodded my head in her direction before sweeping my arm in front of me. “That’s Alara and Derek. You already met Naomi.”

Derek barely took his eyes away from the video game, but he did call out an enthusiastic hello. Alara sat up straighter and adjusted the blanket before saying hello. Naomi came up behind my sister, linking their arms and dragging her over to the couch. “You two can sit on the floor like gentlemen.” Derek rolled his eyes but got up and walked around the coffee table and took a seat on the floor in front of it. As I joined him and sat facing the TV, I heard Naomi offer my sister a variety of beverages, including wine.

“She’s only seventeen,” I said as I picked up a controller.

“Oh.” I could hear the pout in her voice. “So no wine?” Sam laughed and told her she’d prefer water anyways.

“I feel bad that the first time you meet us is under such boring circumstances,” Alara said.
 

Sam was quick to reassure her. “Oh, no. Don’t feel bad at all. As long as Gabe’s in the room, I’m good.” I turned around and she shot me a blinding smile before I twisted back and refocused on the game.

We all grew quiet as we fell into our activities. Derek and I were focused on the television while Alara and Naomi were writing or turning pages. Sam just sat there and quietly watched our video game, and even though it should have been boring as hell, every time I looked at her she gave me a huge smile like she was having the time of her life and there was nowhere else she’d rather be.

About an hour later Sherry walked in and dumped herself next to Sam, not even registering that she didn’t know her. Her face was void of makeup and her workout clothes were slightly damp as she redid her ponytail.

“So you’ll never guess who I ran into at the gym,” she said as way of introduction. I took a break from the game and swiveled around to face the girls.

“That shifty boxer who kept asking you out?” Alara asked, and several eyes swung toward her. She shrugged as a slight blush took over her cheeks. It was easily becoming my favorite sight. “What? He’s the kind of guy they make Lifetime movies about.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Naomi asked on a laugh.

“It means he’s freaking creepy as hell and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was some crazy stalker who ended up being a serial killer.”

Sherry and Naomi both made thoughtful faces before nodding and mumbling affirmatives. Sam looked at me with raised eyebrows, but I just shook my head and shrugged.
 

“Kevin… and he asked me out again.” She hedged a little as she slumped back against the couch. “Aren’t guys supposed to go running with their tails between their legs when a hot girl turns them down?”

“Yeah, if they’re pussies,” Derek said as he leaned to the left like that would somehow keep his character alive. It didn’t. “Dammit,” he growled before throwing his remote to the ground and turning around.

“I already told you. He’s just… he’s so…”

“So, what?” Alara asked.

“He’s just so
nice
!” she said loudly with a scrunched-up nose.

We all sat in silence staring at her until Naomi finally spoke. “He’s
what
?” Sherry rolled her eyes while Alara unsuccessfully tried to stifle a laugh at Naomi’s obvious sarcasm. “Seriously, he’s
nice
? What the fuck is wrong with him? Doesn’t he know that you deserve to be treated like absolute shit?” Naomi cringed and looked at Sam. “Sorry for the language.”

“Thanks, Gabe,” Sam said as she rolled her eyes. “Now they think I’m impressionable. Like I’ve never had a sip of wine or heard the word ‘fuck’ before.”

Sherry’s eyebrows bunched up as she finally took Sam in. “Who are you?” she asked bluntly.

Sam jerked back a little at the directness but quickly recovered when she realized there was nothing malicious in Sherry’s tone. “I’m Samantha,” she said as she held out her hand and nodded her head my way. “Gabe’s sister.”

“Oh, Sherry.” Sherry shook her hand before studying Alara and Naomi. “Uh… what the hell is this shit?” she asked as she waved her hand around the room. “It’s called Sunday
FUN
day. Not Sunday Suck-The-Life-Out-of-You-Day.” She punctuated this by forcefully closing Alara’s book, just barely missing her fingers.

“Jeez, point made.”

“I have so much homework, Sher.” Naomi groaned and her head fell forward to hit her still open book.

Sherry opened her mouth to respond but Alara spoke first. “I know it’s pretty early”—she glanced at the wall clock, which showed five after five—“but why don’t we just go get dinner now?”

“Let’s not get too crazy,” Sherry muttered, but agreed anyways. After discussing our options we finally settled on a Mexican place within walking distance. Sherry got up and stretched. “Okay, I’m gonna borrow your guys’ shower and we can leave when I’m done getting ready,” she said as she grabbed her gym bag and headed for the hall.

“Looks like it won’t be too early after all,” Sam said, trying to participate in the conversation. She looked over at Alara and smiled before swinging her eyes back my way.

“Yeah, we’ve moved from the senior citizen dinnertime to the junkie with the munchies dinnertime,” Derek muttered as he spun around and picked up the control. At my raised eyebrows he supplied, “Sherry is very… thorough with her makeup. Imagine how long it takes KISS to put on their stage makeup and you’re in the ballpark.” His chuckles were cut off as a pillow launched from Sherry’s hand hit him in the face, and then all we heard was her laughter as she disappeared down the hall.
 

Sherry was ready to leave two hours later.

The six of us were slowly walking down the street after dinner when my phone vibrated and I looked down to see a text from Naomi.

Naomi: TALK to him…

Frowning, I glanced up to find her smirking at me and not so subtly tilting her head toward Gabe before giving me a quick wink and turning around to resume her conversation with Samantha. Somehow we had all paired off and each pair was about ten feet apart, giving us a small amount of privacy. Derek and Sherry were at the front while Naomi and Samantha were in the middle, leaving Gabe and me in the back. And maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like he was trying to walk slower.

After I shoved my phone in my pocket, I glanced over to see his eyes going back and forth between Naomi and me. His lips tipped up into a knowing smile as his eyebrows slowly crawled up his forehead. “Everything okay?” he asked, trying (and failing) to keep the amusement out of his voice.

“Yup.”

I could feel him staring at me, but I kept my gaze forward. After only about a minute of silence he asked, “What are you studying in school?”

“Chemistry.”

“Why chemistry?”

I shrugged and kept my eyes forward. “Because I like it.”

“That’s it?
 

“That’s it,” I repeated before turning my head in his direction to find him giving me a strange look. “What?”

He shook his head and said, “It’s just strange. Most people talk about how they’ll have better job prospects or how it’ll look good on a med school application… something like that usually.”

“I’m not really sure what I want to do when I graduate. So I’m just trying to focus on doing things that I know will make me happy right now. I don’t want to spend years doing something I don’t like hoping that one day I’ll get to a place where I’m happy. I want to be happy right now. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, ya know?”

“Yeah, I know,” he responded somberly as a dark look passed over his face and his jaw tensed.

I looked toward Gabe’s sister, who was laughing with Naomi, before clearing my throat and asking, “Is Samantha your only sibling?”

A warm smile spread over his face as he stared at her with complete adoration. “Yeah, she is,” he said softly. He was still smiling when he asked if I had any brothers or sisters.

“Just one sister. Jackie.”

“Is she older or younger?”

“Older. She’s twenty-seven.”

He nodded. “Are you guys close?”

“Not as close as you and Samantha seem to be, but close enough. She has a daughter to take care of and, unfortunately, that limits our time together.”

His eyes roamed over my face. “That is very unfortunate for her,” he said. I ducked my head and we both fell silent as we continued forward. But it didn’t feel like the awkward tension of two strangers, it felt comfortable, it felt like we were friends. Speaking of which…

“How come you never hang out with your friends?”

He grinned. “I am hanging out with my friends.”

Rolling my eyes, I said, “Yeah, but surely you had friends before us? And Derek says you never go out unless it’s with us, and you never talk about any other friends.”

Gabe’s brows bunched like he’d just realized this was true, and he paused as he thought it over. “I left my master’s program last year, and I guess business friends are like alcohol or drug friends. They’re only your friends when they can get something from you. Once they can’t…” He trailed off and shrugged.

I frowned as my gaze traveled over his resigned, yet unaffected expression. “And that doesn’t bother you?”

“Not really. I was never really close with any of them.”

“That’s kind of sad.”

He smiled as he looked over at me. “It wasn’t that bad. I still went out and had fun. Plus I had Miranda, my ex, and my family. I wasn’t exactly lacking in human interaction.”

“Do you still see your parents a lot?”

His smile dropped just as Sherry yelled that we were stopping for ice cream. A flicker of relief washed over his face and he took a deep breath before picking up his pace and briskly walking away from me. My pace slowed as I thought about what just happened, and how surprisingly painful it was to see him walk away from me. But when he turned around and I saw his pleading smile and the mournful expression in his eyes, I realized he wasn’t walking away from me as much as he was running away from something else.