FicWad

speaking of twitter; https://twitter.com/eviegarland

Emily Miller was much more beautiful than Dirty had expressed. She was just about a year old now, and as I observed her fast asleep in her car seat, Dirty stood behind me, looking over my shoulder proudly.

“Can you believe somebody like me could produce something so pretty?” he joked. I smirked and glanced back at him.

“You’re just lucky she looks like her mother, and not you,” I responded. Dirty tried to look hurt, but smiled, nodding his head.

“Yeah, if a chick looked like me…”

“She’d be working for the circus,” My ears perked at the sound difference, and when I turned to see what was wrong with Dirty, found Elizabeth standing next to him, his arm now around her waist as they embraced in a quick greeting. She then beamed at me and excitedly, the two of us hugged.

“Oh!” I paused as we broke away and observed how she had changed over the past year. Her hair was a lot blonder than I remember, and was now longer, growing far past her shoulders. She seemed to be observing me as well, and Dirty cut between us.

“How long has it been?” he asked. Elizabeth looked to him and creased her eyebrows together in thought.

“A year, just about,” she turned back to me. “You saw me right before I popped,” I nodded in agreement, and Dirty sighed before grinning madly as Emily cooed awake, staring up at the three of us. He took her out of the car seat and I hesitated before letting him place her in my arms. Emily stared at me for a minute before grabbing at my shirt, holding on as I placed her on my hip. Elizabeth stood proudly next to Dirty and I couldn’t help but feel a little over-whelmed by their stares. Pete and Patrick seemed to jump out of nowhere and I turned when Pete neared me, a nervous smile gracing his lips.

“Aw man, you brought her?” he questioned, looking up at Elizabeth. She nodded once and I looked at her for approval before handing off Emily to him, a bright grin invading his face. “Oh man, I’m so excited now,” he mumbled and I had to think for a moment before remembering that Ashlee was pregnant now. Dirty laughed out.

“This is crazy, out kids are going to be best friends growing up,” he paused and eyed Pete suspiciously. “So… boy or girl? I know you know,” he muttered. Pete chuckled to himself and shook his head, wiggling a finger in Emily’s face to entertain her.

“I do know, but I’m not telling,” he insisted and glanced up to see Dirty pouting. “Ashlee and I are keeping it a secret from everybody,” he continued.

I sighed to myself, a little unsure of how to contribute to the conversation, I glanced to my left to see Patrick holding the same confused look, his mouth skewed to one side and hands half-way in his pockets. I smirked, catching his attention and we shared a silent knowing smile. The parents/parent-to-be started up another conversation, and knowing they wouldn’t necessarily miss me, I turned away and as I walked by Patrick I reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him to a different backstage area. He looked at me a little surprised and raised an eyebrow.

“Where are we going?” he asked. I shrugged.

“Anywhere, I just thought I should save you before they start talking about babies,” I laughed as he widened his eyes, looking a little frightened at that subject.

“Ok then,” Patrick agreed and quickly, the two of us ventured, walking past various rooms filled with instruments and random band members. “So,” he started and I looked over at him.

“What?” I offered and he smirked lightly.

“Pete explained to me finally that Gabe has been after you,” he paused and I nodded in agreement, letting a small smile come to my lips.

“Yeah, he’s been overly flirtatious and a little aggressive, but he does it in a way that is…” I trailed off and Patrick shrugged.

“Irresistible?” he offered. I laughed shortly and turned as I heard the music from the stage starting up, an obvious into that any fan in the crowd would have recognized as Cobra’s stage welcome.

“Something like that,” I mumbled. Patrick shook his head at me and nodded his head down the hall that went to the stage.

“Are you going to go watch?” he asked and I chewed on my lip a little nervously.

“Maybe, I just don’t want to get pulled up on stage,” I argued and Patrick nodded, but walked a little bit ahead of me towards the stage.

“I’ll protect you,” he joked. I followed him after that and soon found myself in a convenient spot, watching as Gabe danced around the front of the stage entertaining the surprised fans. The rest of the members were there too and I smiled at recognizing them but glanced back at Gabe as he turned towards the side and waved a little bit at me.

“See?” I hissed, looking back at Patrick. He grinned but rolled his eyes as Gabe pointed him out.

“Look at that stud,” The crowd that could see it was Patrick cheered out and Gabe laughed, pointing again, this time obviously for me. “…And that sexy senorita,” I rolled my eyes at this and crossed my arms, shaking my head slowly in his direction. Gabe turned back to the crowd and quickly the band went into their set. I stayed where I was the entire time and found myself dancing a bit, actually enjoying myself for once, backstage. The usual eight-song limit for opening band had been reached and I figured as Nate, Alex and Vicky exited the other side of the stage, Ryland and Gabe would follow. But instead, Gabe smiled back to me quickly, pushing back his sunglasses to glance at me. I raised a curious eyebrow but found a soft gasp escaping my lips as Gabe spoke into the microphone.

“Ok, last song,” he paused and adjusted the microphone to the stand, leaning against it. “This is for Billy Jean,” he spoke next. I widened my eyes and heard Patrick smirk once, but shook my head. While the crowd probably didn’t know what he was talking about, I did. Ryland started playing, and I let my breath go when I found it wasn’t the so-called ‘Cobra love song’. "You know I try to get close to you, you don’t realize what you’re puttin’ me through,” Gabe smiled, moving his head to halfway look back at me. “The things I do, yeah I do them for you, and I don’t mean to seem presumptuous, but I feel when you’re looking at me. Don’t hesitate if you like what you see. Don’t be afraid ‘cause I’m setting you free, is my philosophy,”

I gulped, feeling a little frazzled by what he had just sung. The funny part was that I knew the song and that it wasn’t necessarily a romantic song. I furthered my point with ‘Be, be my ho, ‘cause I’m your money maker'. The song continued and I sighed to myself, wondering even more what Gabe meant by singing this for me. As they took a final bow before exiting, I found myself retreating backstage, afraid of confrontation, but soon, I felt a long arm slither around my waist, my body being pulled towards another one. I glanced up at a breathless looking Gabe, an expectant wide grin on his face.

“So?” he questioned and my smile faltered, a little nervous.

“Yeah?” I asked back, finding Gabe smiling even more.

“You can’t ignore it, Aurélie,” I let another low breath go as he stopped our walking, letting various people walk past as he stared down at me, hands on my shoulders. “I’m trying to seduce you,” I sighed, finding a small smile forming.

“I hate saying it…” I mumbled and Gabe raised an eyebrow, curiously glancing down at me.

“What?” Gabe pressed and I rolled my eyes as he inched his head closer to my face.

“It’s working,” I spoke honestly, and shook my head slightly as a stupid grin appeared instantly on his face.

“Good,” Gabe glanced to his right and I followed his eyes to where everybody was grouped up.

“I should let you mingle,” I offered and stepped back, letting his hands fall, but found myself surprised as he shook his head and grabbed at my hand.

“I’d rather mingle with you,” I raised an eyebrow as he chuckled to himself after saying it. “As dirty as that sounds,” I shook my head at him, but allowed him to sneak us away from the group to an empty backstage room, where he settled onto a couch and grabbed at the laptop that was conveniently on the table in front of us.

“Uhm, is that yours?” I asked and Gabe shook his head but smiled.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hack it,” he reassured and brought up the iTunes, bringing a smile to my face as he double clicked ‘Billy Jean’. The song started and he placed the laptop back on the table before leaning back and looking at me. “So I have a question for you,” he started. I looked at him expectantly.

“And what is that exactly?” I asked. Gabe laughed shortly and scooted towards me a little more as he turned more to me.

“Well, I want you to go on tour with me,” he explained and I leaned back a little, surprised.

“Um,” I gulped, remembering. “Don’t you realize I’m already going to be there if I get the backstage manager job?” Gabe shrugged.

“I understand that,” he nodded a few times before grabbing at my hand and pressing it between his. “I’m saying that if, when, you come on tour with us, that instead of staying on the roadie bus or something you come stay on my bus,” I widened my eyes at this and breathed out, feeling overwhelmed by what he was asking.

“Gabe,” I paused, looking down at our hands. “What is up with you?” I laughed breathlessly and he softly smiled.

“I’m sorry if I’m too aggressive but I want you,”

I closed my eyes, my heart skipping a beat at his statement. Though, I had to admit that it was something that I didn’t mind hearing, especially from him. Regardless, I had to process the words and for a moment, I stayed silent until Gabe shifted his hands away from mine. I glanced at him momentarily, finding his ever persistent smile faltering.

“Sorry,” I breathed, but then smiled, gaining his back as well. “I’m just not used to anybody being so forward,” I explained. Gabe nodded and looked down at his phone, skewing his mouth to the side before glancing back at me.

“So do you want to get out of here?” he asked. I nodded once, realizing he was asking to spend time alone yet again. He pressed his phone to his ear and after a short ten minute wait, we were climbing into the back of a yellow taxi without telling the rest of the group backstage where we were off to. The moment we were sitting and the driver was heading back down towards the hotel, Gabe moved his hand towards mine, and just like he had done in Pete’s car, he hooked his pinky into mine.

*

Arriving at the hotel, Gabe explained to me to stay in the taxi as he ran inside to grab his luggage and I already had a feeling that he was planning on staying at my apartment instead of wasting money on a hotel room if he really didn’t need it. Even if he didn’t really ask, per se, I still didn’t mind at all if that was his intentions, because well, like I said to him before, his seducing was working. As soon as we got to my apartment, Gabe made himself at home by invading my couch, laughing as he observed my open lap-top, Twitter still open from when I left with Dirty. I had been making repeated posts from my phone, and he glanced up at me as he read one.

“@Gabriel _Saporta Is Billy Jean your lover?” he spoke. I laughed as I dumped my purse and keys on the kitchen counter before turning and after almost tripping over his luggage, made my over to the couch. I looked down at my laptop as well as he brought it to his lap and logged me out, logging in himself.

“When did you even get a Twitter?” I asked. “I had to find out from somebody I was following reposting you,” I explained. Gabe smirked.

“Tonight, Pete made me get one before I went on stage,” he clarified. I nodded once and watched as he typed up a short response to me.

@arueliejean Yeah, I’m her one

I smiled lightly at him and watched as he placed my laptop back on the desk before looking back at me.

“So you are going to stay here?” I asked. Gabe nodded, scooting closer to me like before.

“Yeah, just for tonight though,” he said, earning a confused glance from me. Gabe’s eyes flickered over my face and he offered a meek smile. “Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier but I’m leaving back for LA tomorrow to do some recording with the band for something Pete’s putting together,”

I nodded understandably before glancing down a little sheepish for automatically thinking earlier that he was here to stay, at least for a while. Gabe’s fingers pushed at my chin and I chewed on my bottom lip as he raised my head up so that he could lock eyes with me.

“It’s ok,” I reassured and Gabe raised an eyebrow, not convinced. I sighed and glanced away momentarily as I thought. “I got my hopes up, that’s all,” I let my face heat up and Gabe laughed before shifting closer and moving his hand to push my hair behind my ear.

“I’ll be back in two weeks for Pete’s birthday, don’t worry,” he assured.

I nodded once before smiling at him, still feeling the heat radiating off my face and neck. I felt stupid for being so nervous, knowing full well that I never usually was, but for some strange reason, Gabe seemed to have this power over me. He skewed his mouth to one side in a grin before leaning a little bit towards me and in a quick motion, raised a hand to my cheek before guiding his lips to my own in a small kiss. I exhaled through my nose at this, letting my eyes close and shoulders relax, moving my arms towards his shoulders as he brought me a little closer as the kiss slowly turned a little passionate. I smiled lightly as he slowly pulled away and found his eyes still closed as I looked up at him, a silly sideways grin still plastered to his face.

“What?” I whispered. Gabe shook his head once as he opened his eyes and grabbed at my hand as he stood up. I stood up with him and after kissing once again, albeit only pecking, Gabe smiled genuinely.

“I’ve wanted to kiss you for the last two months that I haven’t seen you,” he replied honestly. I let my eyes twitch and knew that the lust was probably now more apparent. Gabe pushed at me slightly and I turned around, letting his hands rest on my hips as I led us to my room, but found him only wanting to sit on my bed instead of taking our make-out sessions further. I observed him and he offered a small smile.

“I don’t feel right sleeping with you then leaving you,” he explained. I nodded once and turned, grabbing at my cloth shorts that were on top of my dresser before turning back to him, finding him already standing and picking at his shirt, hoodie already discarded and hanging from a bed-post. I hesitated to pull at my pants, but after watching him un-buckle his, figured he didn’t mind being half-naked in front of me, so I shouldn’t be either. After changing into my sleep clothes, I pushed back my blankets, watching as Gabe walked around to the other side in his boxers and wife-beater. He observed me as I climbed in and I glanced at him expectantly. He picked at the edge of his boxers.

“Ok, so I know that we’ve already uh… had sex, but is it appropriate that I wear just my boxers to bed?” he asked and I laughed right out loud at him before nodding. He climbed in excitedly, and after throwing an arm around me and bringing me to his chest, I found a content smile gracing my lips. Gabe pressed his lips to the spot below my ear before sighing.

“I’m sorry if you wake up to morning wood,” he joked. I chuckled lightly and shook my head into my pillow before closing my eyes and raising my hands up to rest near my head. Finding Gabe’s arm snaked around my neck as well, comfortably of course, I let his hand grab mine, lacing our hands together once again. I honestly could get used to this.