Swallowing hard, I force myself to thumb out a response.
Me: Okay. I’ll see you in thirty.
Gabriel: See you then.
38GABRIEL
Ilied when I told Cecilia the guys were out.
Not a big deal.
I kicked all of their asses out as soon as she said she was on her way and I’ve been pacing the entryway ever since.
Hearing her Jeep pull into the driveway, I don’t hesitate to open the front door.
I refuse to give Cecilia a chance to change her mind about this. It’s been a week of her avoiding me and I’ve had enough.
If she hadn’t messaged me today, I was getting ready to storm her house and demand her parents allow me to see her. I doubt I would have succeeded, but I’m desperate and out of ideas.
Cecilia drags her feet getting out of her car, and it takes everything in me to keep myself rooted on the porch. To not rush over to her and pull her out of the damn thing myself.
“Hi,” she says, lingering beside the driver's side door.
“You coming in?” I ask, trying to keep my tone casual despite the uncertainty swirling inside me.
Cecilia hesitates for a moment before nodding, her movements stiff as she walks towards the porch. I step back to give her space, my hands clenching into fists at my sides. I’m over the fucking moon that she’s here, that she finally reached out to me. But I don’t know what to expect right now. I can tell she’s nervous, but Cecilia should never feel like that around me.
As she reaches the porch, I hold the door open for her, trying to ignore the tension crackling between us. She brushes past me without a word, and I swallow down the lump forming in my throat as my eyes greedily drink her in.
She’s wearing loose-fitting jeans and my hoodie. Was that intentional, or did she just throw it on without thinking? Either way, she looks good in my clothes. The marks on her face are another story. She’s tried covering them with makeup, but the dark marks and swelling around her eye are still visible despite her efforts. Is that why she’s been hiding? Is she ashamed of how she looks?
She shouldn’t be. Cecilia’s never been anything but beautiful.
Inside, the atmosphere feels heavy with unspoken words, and I struggle to find the right thing to say.
“How are you?” I finally ask, my voice coming out more strained than I intended.
She shrugs, her gaze flickering away from mine. “Fine,” she mutters, her tone clipped.
I resist the urge to reach out and touch her, knowing she won't welcome the move. Instead, I shove my hands into my pockets, feeling the weight of the silence pressing down on us.
“You said you wanted to talk,” I start, my voice cautious as I try to broach the chasm that’s only seemed to grow between us this past week.
Her eyes flick to mine, and I get a glimpse of anger buried beneath the surface. “Yeah, I do,” she says, her voice sharp.
Alright. Anger. I can work with this.
I take a step closer. “I need to understand what happened,” I say, fighting to keep my tone even. She’s not the only one upset. “You took off without so much as a goodbye and then ghosted me for a week.”
“What happened?” Cecilia scoffs, her eyes flashing with emotion. “You happened, Gabriel. You went after Austin without even talking to me about it, and now everything’s a mess.”
My chest tightens at her words. I thought we hashed this out already. “I was just trying to protect you,” I argue, desperation creeping into my voice.
“But you didn’t,” she says. “You managed to make everything worse.”
“I didn’t mean?—”
She holds her hand out, and I snap my lips together.
