33 | once upon a time

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CHAPTER 33

Lucy squealed from where she was standing. "Cora, this is perfect! We can do coupley things together now."

I nodded, but continued to watch her closely. I had a feeling that she was already planning something.

I was proven right when she turned to me a second later, eyes glittering. "We're going to have a double date. Tonight."

"Luce—" I began to protest.

"It'll be fun, I promise. We'll do it right here, so we don't have to go to a restaurant." She gestured around my living room.

"We'll just play drunk games." She winked. "They're always more fun when you can't remember what you said the next day. It'll help us get to know each other more."

It was impossible to say no to her when she threw me the look that she did, eyes wide and lips pouting.

I gave in with a deep breath. "Let's do it."

In the instant that the words left my mouth, my phone vibrated from my back pocket with a notification.

I took it out and glanced down at it to see that I had two unread messages, both from the same group chat.

Gabe's name was written next to a text which read "Sounds good," and Danny's name was featured alongside the words "On it already."

There was a small smile pulling at my lips when I looked back up at Lucy. "You messaged them before I even said yes, didn't you?"

She threw me a guilty smile. "Whoops?"

I shook my head fondly as I made my way out of the living room, walking the short journey to the art studio a few rooms away and shutting the door behind me.

Once I had prepped a canvas and gathered some brushes, I did nothing but stare for a while.

The white fabric swam in my vision as I thought things over.

I had already created two of the pieces that I needed for the gallery, but I was completely stumped for the third and last one.

Everytime an idea sprang to mind, I would get bogged down in the execution and end up scrapping it altogether.

It was five minutes later that I had an epiphany.

My brush travelled across the canvas in strokes, perhaps with slightly more caution than I was used to. After all, it had been a while since I'd painted anything.

I began to nimbly switch between dabbing the brush onto the sheet and dabbing the brush onto the palette next to me, mixing colours together until they matched the vision that I had in my head.

A dash of pink at the sides.

A little white in the middle.

A hint of blue and there.

Brown wove itself between each of the colours that I filled the canvas with, the only constant within each of the pieces that I'd made for the gallery.

They were all extremely different and it was even more apparent when I stepped back, taking my time to admire the finished product.

A face had emerged amid the colourful chaos, only partly identifiable by the nose and mouth.

The vagueness of the subject was perfect for the diversity brief, having been stripped down to nothing but the most basic of features - the ones that we all share.

The sound of the door creaking open broke me out of my reverie, causing my attention to shift direction along with my body.

My eyes followed the path that Gabriel was taking to get to me, watching him come to a pause directly in front of the canvas.

The smile that appeared on my face was automatic. "Hey, stalker."

He shook his head playfully. "You break into one house."

At that moment the door flew open, revealing a mischievous looking Lucy. "Break it up love birds, we've got things to do!"

Gabe and I risked a glance at each other, neither of us willing to find out what would happen if we didn't do what she told us to.

"Hurry!" Lucy's voice travelled down the hall as she walked away, spurring us into action.

A coffee table had been moved into the centre of the room when I entered it, littered with empty cups, full bottles and four chairs that circled it.

Danny and Lucy were sitting on two chairs positioned on one side of the table, matching grins on their faces as they waited for Gabe and I to sit down on the other two.

Drinks were thrust into our hands as soon as we sat down, with Lucy launching into an explanation of the first game.

"Think Never Have I Ever but less primary school." We each laughed as she continued. "We'll take it in turns, asking people to 'Drink if' they've done whatever it is you say."

She looked up. "Cora first."

"Okay." I paused, thinking about it before I spoke. "Drink if you've ever been arrested."

Nobody took a drink, which surprised me.

My eyes sparkled in amusement. "Danny, you have to tell the truth."

A chuckle escaped him. "I haven't, I swear." He winked. "I can get into trouble without breaking the law."

I shrugged, a small smile on my lips. "Fair enough. You can go next."

He grinned. "Cool. Drink if you've ever been skinny dipping."

My cup remained firmly in its place on the table in front of me, so I let my eyes dance around everybody else.

Somehow it wasn't that surprising when Lucy and Danny both took a sip, flashing each other a look that I pretended not to notice.

On the other hand, my mouth fell open when I felt Gabe's arm graze mine as he lifted his cup to his lips.

Feeling my eyes on his face, he gave me a mischievous smile. "You're forgetting that I grew up in a seaside town."

Disbelief cut through my words. "I can't believe that I'm the only person here that hasn't been skinny dipping."

I felt Gabe lean in from his seat at my side, breath fanning my ear. "We can rectify that."

Ignoring the flutter that started up in my stomach at his words, I cleared my throat. "Gabe, you go next."

"Drink if..." I noticed him smile from my peripheral vision. "You have a crazy obsession with dimples."

My face heated a little as I took a sip, hiding my smile. "I wouldn't call it an obsession."

He chuckled. "Pretty sure you like my dimples more than me."

I shrugged, my eyes twinkling. "You're not wrong."

I felt the alcohol hit me in waves as the night progressed, lapping up and down my veins as my body loosened up.

Two hours in and we had switched games a total of four times, with the current being drunk poker.

"I'm all in." Lucy announced, prompting everybody to take a sip. The same thing happened if a player folded, went bust, or won with a bluff.

Since we didn't have any real chips, it was hilarious to watch her shift a bunch of old buttons into the centre of the table.

We were also playing with Monopoly money instead of real money since it was the game we had been playing before this one, making the whole thing even funnier.

We revealed our hands to each other by showing all five cards, and I let my eyes travel around the table.

I smiled when it became obvious that I'd won with my full house, doing a little happy dance in my seat. "That's two games in a row."

Gabe's dimples were on show when my eyes found his face. "Nice one."

Danny started to shuffle the cards again, brows knitted together slightly in concentration. "Let's have a rematch."

Lucy burst into laughter, watching the cards move back and forth in his hands. "You can't win everything, babe."

I smiled. "I think I'm a little too drunk for another game, sorry Danny."

The urge to eat something sweet overcame me like it always seemed to at the most random of times, probably made worse by the fact that I was drunk.

"I need something sugary." I announced, pushing my chair out.

"Me too." Gabe's deep voice came from beside me, wrapping around both of the words he had spoken.

I turned to face him with a smile, thinking that he meant chocolate or a sweet, or something of the like.

"Which type do you—" My voice trailed off when my eyes found his, seeing that they were firmly focused on my lips.

He smirked at my sudden silence, which was all I needed for my wits to come back to me. I bit the side of my cheek as I spoke. "Stop doing that."

He feigned cluelessness, but the grin on his face said otherwise. "Doing what?"

I ripped my gaze away from him with a small smile, lifting my body out of the chair and making my way over to the kitchen.

My hands reached forward to open the cupboard that I reserved for snacks, filling my arms with everything from jelly babies to strawberry laces.

When I approached the centre of the room, Lucy pulled me down from her new position on the floor and sent the snacks flying.

They each landed at different corners of our room which - in our drunken state - we found far too funny.

Lucy was wiping tears of laughter away from her eyes when she spoke. "There's a gummy worm in your shoe."

Danny, who had been watching our back and forth for a while, recollected all of the snacks with a goofy grin. He held them out to Lucy. "I think these are for you."

A smile fell onto my face at the sight of him clearly obsessed with her, and I plopped myself down in the middle of the carpet.

I threw an eclair into my mouth and shut my eyes, gently sucking until the liquid chocolate exploded onto my tongue.

I was vaguely aware of Lucy and Danny leaving the room, but chose not to follow them since I could guess what they were up to.

When I opened my eyes, I realised that the room was completely empty. Gabe had disappeared too.

The silence around me was somehow deafening, a stark contrast from the laughter that had filled this same room a few moments ago.

I took my phone out of my pocket and fiddled with it, turning it over in my palms again again until I grew bored.

The drinks that we had during those games were flowing directly to my brain, overriding the #nerves there that helped me to make sane decisions.

At least, that was the only possible explanation for what I did next.

A monotone beeping sound filled the air as the phone rang.

My fingers danced anxiously over the back of the phone as I waited for her to pick up.

I could feel my heart thundering along with the dial tone.

After all, I hadn't spoken to either of my parents since I left my graduation ceremony all those months ago.

My breathing slowly began to settle when it became obvious that nobody was picking up, and I ended the call.

Relief washed over me instantly. I had a feeling that I'd have said something that I'd regret the next day.

I couldn't do anything to fully put myself at ease though, a sinking feeling in my stomach that grew whenever I thought about how my parents would react to the call once they saw it.

Footsteps that signified someone entering the room stole my attention away from the unanswered phone call.

I turned around from where I was seated on the floor, letting my brain register what my eyes had.

Gabe was standing a little way away from me, face shrouded by the shadows that flitted around the room.

Plaid pyjama pants slung low around his hips and a grey t-shirt clung to his chest, leaving my eyes struggling to decide where to look.

After my initial ogling, I realised that this must have been the reason he had left the room.

Gabe had a knowing look on his face when he spoke, a barely there smile pulling at his lips. "Come lay with me."

I remained frozen in place, prompting him to sit down on the couch and pat the space between his legs.

"Cora." He urged, eyes twinkling.

I made my way forward, lowering myself until I was sandwiched between the chair and his body, the heat from both warming me up.

We talked for a little while, with him telling me about the basketball match that he had in two days.

"If we win it, we'll have made it into the finals. And we need to make it into the finals, because that's the one that people are allowed to watch." He smiled once he had finished speaking. "I want you there."

I leaned forwards a little, resting my head on his chest. "Then I'll be there."

I bit my lip. "And I know you don't need it, but good luck for tomorrow."

My eyes shut at around about the same time that Gabe's did, the quiet around us enclosing me in a makeshift blanket.

But even thirty minutes later, I couldn't sleep.

And don't ask me how, but I just knew that Gabe couldn't either.

"Gabe." I whispered into the night, muffled by the silence that surrounded us. "Are you still awake?"

His response was a small smile, one that I could only see because of the weak glow that the moon let in through the window. "Yeah."

My bottom lip found its way between my teeth for a moment, letting me consider my next statement.

"Can you..." I paused, cringing at how childish I knew my next statement would sound.

His eyes were twinkling. "What is it?"

I took a breath, burying the embarrassment. "Tell me a story."

I looked up to see that that glow had spilled over to the rest of him, allowing me to see his hand running through his hair. "Let me think."

The fact that he didn't even question my request left a warm feeling running through me.

His finger absently danced over my arm as he spoke. "Once upon a time, there lived a girl in a tower."

I giggled a little, interrupting him. "Isn't that Rapunzel?"

He threw me what I guessed was supposed to be an annoyed look, but the amusement in his eyes stopped it from looking even remotely close. "Do you want the story or not?"

I bit back a smile. "Sorry. Keep going."

He continued, eyes locking on mine. "The difference between her and Rapunzel is that this tower wasn't real. She liked to imagine that it was there so that she'd have a reason to never leave it."

"One day," He smiled. "A dashingly handsome young man found himself walking past her tower on one of those rare days when she had come outside of it."

"She was singing to herself and listening to music that he couldn't hear, but he remembered thinking that he'd never seen anything more beautiful."

My eyes grew wide as I digested his words, realising what this story actually was.

"He didn't talk to her on that first day so as not to interrupt her music, but made a promise to himself that he would when he came back the next day."

"And so he did. She was shy at first, reluctant to speak to him about anything, but he wore her down slowly. Day after day, he came back to that tower, finding that she said a little more each time."

The hand that had been on my arm moved to my cheek. "The most interesting thing about it all was that everytime she opened up, the tower would become a little more transparent. By the last day, it wasn't there at all."

"She ran past the tower's grounds and into his arms, glad to finally know what it felt like to be truly free."

"She wasn't going to miss that fake tower one bit. It was kind of old, anyway." I found myself laughing in spite of the tears that had begun to fall. I wouldn't have expected any other kind of ending from him.

The look on his face when I glanced up was familiar.

Familiar because it was the same one I knew was all over mine.

There was no going back now.

Not when I'd already fallen in love with him.

Hi my loves !!

I was in a writing slump for a while but I managed to break through it with this chapter :)

My exams are finally over which is great because it means that it's already summer in

my head hehe

Have a good day/night and thank you for reading <3