FicWad

I found myself highly amused as the four of us left the club late that night. I must enforce though, that is wasn’t because I was moderately drunk, but because Gabe was. So much that both of his arms were thrown around both Pete and Dirty’s shoulders, his legs wiggling with every step he took. The (significantly) shorter men struggled to keep him up while I walked a little behind them, laughing at Pete’s sober expression.

“See this is why I don’t drink,” he mumbled. Dirty rolled his eyes and lifted Gabe up again, him chuckling out and pausing to turn slightly towards me.

“Oh, there you are,” he slurred slightly, attempting at pointing at me. I smiled innocently and walked over, taking Pete’s spot only because I proved to be taller than him with high heels on. Gabe smiled sloppily at me, his eyes drooping. “I don’t remember you being this tall,” he commented. I shook my head.

“I’m not,” I responded. Gabe nodded knowingly and Dirty stopped us as we got to Pete’s SUV. He opened the back door for Gabe to collapse into, which he did, but as the door was closing on him, he reached out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me to the car. I winced as my back hit the door and looked over at Gabe.

“Come with me!” he announced. I looked back, a little worried at Dirty, who shrugged and looked at his own car parked behind Pete’s.

“I’m going where Pete is, so it doesn’t really matter if you ride with them,” he paused and looked to Pete who was twirling his keys around his finger. “Where are we going anyways?” he asked. Pete looked into the backseat where Gabe was lying, his arms outstretched outside of the car to hold me around the waist against one of the seats.

“Gabe’s hotel room, jus to hang out for a while,” he spoke. Gabe smirked from behind me.

“Play poker,” he said, glancing up at me. “You play poker?” he asked. I nodded and glanced at Dirty.

“I guess I’ll see you at the hotel then,” I mentioned. Dirty nodded and leaned forward, giving me a small hug before walking to his car. Pete walked around the front of his own and I maneuvered into the back seat, observing Gabe as he slid down a little bit, flipping onto his back and resting his head in my lap.

“Hello beautiful,” he smiled. Pete groaned from the front.

“None of that in the car dude, that space is reserved for me and my wife,” he joked. I cringed slightly and Gabe giggled up at me, his head turning back to my face.

“If we’re quiet, he won’t notice,” he whispered. Pete still sighed from the drivers’ seat and reached back, hitting Gabe in the side.

“Gabe!” he shouted, but then laughed afterwards. “So dude, tour is coming up,” he announced. I looked down at Gabe who suddenly beamed with delight.

“Oh yeah!” he paused in thought. “I’m stoked to headline two tours in one year man,” he admitted. I chewed on my lip, feeling a little bit left out of the conversation. Pete looked back at us through the rearview mirror as he drove.

“Do you think you’ll meet up with that girl you told me about the next time you swing through Chicago?” he asked. My heart rate picked up and I snapped my head down to look at Gabe. He seemed to far gone to realize I was trying to hint that he should keep his mouth shut.

“What do you mean? I already met up with her!” he proclaimed. Pete turned around quickly as he stopped at a light. His eyes were somewhat wide and he seemed genuinely surprised.

“Wait, what?” he questioned. “When?” Gabe smiled dreamily up at me followed by a hopeless sigh.

“Tonight,” he bluntly said. Pete seemed to hit another red light as he said this and whipped his entire body around, staring bewildered back at him.

“Did you talk to her? Why didn’t you say anything?” he yelled. Gabe sat up slightly and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah I talked to her,” he turned his head and peered at me. “I’m staring at her,” Pete’s eyes widened even more and he landed back facing the street, shaking his head and laughing to himself.

“Good one, Gabe,” he chuckled, glancing in the rearview mirror at me. “I’m not that gullible,”

I breathed out and looked at Gabe as he sat up finally, opting to sit next to me instead on the other side of the car. He smiled innocently at me and inconspicuously winked. I then realized that even though he sounded drunk, he wasn’t. He had planned the entire conversation, knowing that Pete wouldn’t believe him. I rolled my eyes jokingly before looking out the window, out at the hotel. Gabe’s hand twitched next to mine and I drew my eyes back to my lap, watching as his pinky hooked into mine. Looking to his face, I found him staring ahead, acting like he wasn’t doing anything. I caught on and couldn’t help but smile as I tightened the grip back.

*

A Royal Flush. I sat with a nervous smile, staring at my hand as I observed the colors and cards in my hands. Better yet, they were all Queens. Gabe sat across from me, wearing a ridiculous pair of sunglasses that shielded his eyes, but I could clearly see his eyebrows every time they perked over the edge. This would be the last game of the night, as Pete wanted to get home before morning and Dirty wanted to avoid being yelled at by Elizabeth and upsetting his baby girl. We had played a total of fifteen rounds, and both Dirty and Pete were down to their last twenties, both Gabe and my own pile still filled with cash. I have to admit, I don’t remember being this good at poker, but I wasn’t complaining. Pete eyed me from over his cards and then looked down at the pile.

“All-in,” he mumbled. I shifted my eyes and looked down at my stack of twenties. There had to be at least $360 dollars and I thought back to the fact each of us had chipped in $150 for the entire game. I glanced back up at my hand and creased my eyebrows together before nodding to myself.

“I’m all-in too,”

Gabe’s eyebrow slowly arched over his sunglasses and he smirked softly before slightly turning his head to Dirty. He rolled his eyes and put down his cards.

“I fold,”

Gabe seemed to take in a deep breath and I could almost feel his eyes penetrating my own as he stared in my direction. I twitched an eyebrow up and offered a smile before he nodded.

“All-in,” he spoke. I licked my lips nervously as he placed his cards down, revealing a straight, but just an ordinary one with no face cards. He pushed back his sunglasses, smiling wide at Pete. Pete rolled his eyes and threw his cards down, showing three queens with an ace and a king.

“Jeanie?” he questioned. I smiled lightly and slowly placed my cards down, letting them fan out. Dirty’s jaw was the first to drop open before Pete started wide eyed at me. I glanced at Gabe and it seemed he was unaffected for a moment before he realized he had just lost to me. A girl. I shrugged as he gawked at me and grabbed at the cash, stacking the bills nice and neat before folding them and tying a spare hair tie I had on my wrist. Gabe continued to stare at me, bewildered as Pete stood, stretching slightly.

“I don’t really care losing to Jeanie, I know she won’t rub in my face like Gabe does,” he joked, leaning over to give me a good-bye hug. I nodded at him and watched as he waited at the door for Dirty. He looked down at me as I continued to sit.

“Am I taking you home or are you going to catch a cab?” he questioned. I blinked a little bit and glanced back at Gabe who perked up his eyebrows, hinting at something. I shrugged a little bit.

“I’ll catch a cab,” I stood to hug Dirty. “You’re in enough trouble already being out this late,” Dirty rolled his eyes and with that, the two left, leaving Gabe and I awkwardly staring off into space.

“So…” Gabe paused as he stood, moving to stand near me. “Room service?” he offered. I nodded and flashed my cash.

“It’s on me,” Gabe rolled his eyes and I looked down at my cards, grabbing at the queen of hearts and putting it in my back pocket. Gabe looked at me.

“What was that?” he asked. I tilted my head to the side.

“I collect queen of hearts,” I explained. Gabe nodded slowly and leaned over, grabbing at the phone that was behind me. I sat back down and grabbed at my phone, laughing as I saw a Tweet from Elizabeth.

izzymiller: @arueliejean where the hell is my husband?

I giggled and by the time I had finished a response, Gabe was leaning over my shoulder looking at my phone.

“What was that?” he asked. I looked at him.

“It’s Twitter,” I spoke and pointed to the screen. “You heard of it?”

“Yeah,” Gabe nodded. “I just haven’t gotten one yet,” he explained. I nodded once and watched as he sat down next to me, scooting over his laptop. “Pete wants me to so we can communicate through it during the tour,”

“About that,” I mumbled. Gabe looked to me.

“What?” he questioned. “Are you working our tour?” he seemed suddenly excited.

“Well, I wasn’t supposed to, but I’m sure I could pull some strings,” I grinned at him. “I like hanging out with you, Gabe,” I expressed. Gabe seemed overjoyed by this but didn’t have much time to react as a knock came to the door and he went to the entrance, wheeling in a cart. The first thing I noticed of course was the bottle of coconut rum and walked over to where he had stopped near the bed and sat down. I stood on the other side of the cart, picking the bottle out of the bucket of ice.

“How did you know?” I joked. Gabe raised an eyebrow.

“Favorite?” he asked.

I nodded and he seemed even more pleased with himself. He grabbed the shot glasses from the cart and placed them right-side up. I filled them up quickly and with a quick ‘cheers’ we knocked them back. I moved to sit next to him and for much of the next hour, we sat there laughing at the mini contest we created: how many shots we could do. Gabe was up to 8 and I was currently beating him by one. I found that both of us were heavy-weights and laughed as he grabbed for another shot as I poured my tenth. He struggled slightly though and as he tilted his head back to swallow, he fell backwards, laughing as the glass rolled off the side of the bed onto the carpet below. I shot back my own and couldn’t help but fall back as well, landing against Gabe. He caught me in his arms and chuckled as I lazily opened my eyes.

“Isn’t this interesting?” he questioned. I laughed and nodded, glancing up at him again.

“What?” Gabe softly smiled.

“How we keep bumping into each other,” he mumbled, bringing me a little closer. I brought my arms up to slightly wrap around him. He took a deep breath and shifted up, dragging us up on the bed a little further. “Do you believe in fate?” he asked. I widened my eyes a little but relaxed from the alcohol.

“I don’t know,” I answered, truthfully. I snuggled my head a little more into his shoulder and breathed in as his arm moved around my waist instead of my shoulders.

“Well I think I do,” he mentioned. I nodded to myself and closed my eyes, just listening as he went on. “You’re that girl Pete asks about,” he admitted. I smiled into his shirt.

“I figured,”

“Aurélie,” he called and I hummed in response. “You’ll stay, right?” he asked.

I didn’t bother to answer him with words, but instead opted to slide my arm across his chest, tucking my hand under his back and elongating my legs. He sighed contently and I took that as his sign of acknowledgement. I had to agree with him though, that whatever this was, was interesting. I didn’t quite get it, but didn’t bother to try and find out. After all, it seemed that Gabe knew what he was doing. I was quick to fall asleep, but only after one more thought; what exactly was Gabe up to?