The Bad Boy's Secret

Ch. 8

I waved goodbye to Pepper as she backed out of the driveway and hurried to close the door. I desperately needed ibuprofen or something for this awful headache! 

I rushed into the kitchen and searched the cabinets. Finally I found some Advil, that'll have to do. I noticed the TV was on in the living room, turned down extremely low. The whole living room was dark, the curtains closed, only the glow from the TV illuminating the area. I grabbed a glass of water so I could take the two pills and walked into the room. 

"Dad?" I called out, taking a swig of water and successfully swallowing the pills. The still body that was hunched over on the couch suddenly lurched to life and a very confused, homeless looking, shell of my dad sat up. 

"What time is it?" He asked, his voice scratchy and I noticed the empty whiskey bottle on the carpet a few feet away. Great, he was up all night drinking. 

"It's nine, but it's Saturday so you don't have work," I explained, taking another sip of my water before handing the cup to my dad who gladly took it. 

"Oh good, good," He slowly rubbed his head, wincing as soon as his palm made contact with his forehead. I bet my hangover didn't even compare to his. Without saying a word I made my way into the kitchen, grabbed two more Advil pills and handed them to my dad. "Thanks hun,"

I watched him take them and once he swallowed he sighed. A long, sad and hurt sigh. It looked like my dad had aged ten years over night, he hadn't trimmed his beard in a few days and usually he was clean shaven. Plus the dark circles under his eyes were definitely not his look. 

"You doing alright, dad?" I asked, sitting next to him on the sofa. My dad reached out and turned off the TV with the remote. 

"Just grown up stresses that you should feel lucky you're not dealing with yet," My dad muttered, continuing to rub his head. He stood up quickly, too quickly, and stumbled a bit before gaining his balance. "I'll be up in my room,"

He stumbled out of the room as fast as possible and I waited until I heard his bedroom door close before getting up. He couldn't actually believe that I didn't know what was going on between mom and him. Maybe if I was seven years old I'd be lost but it's clear as day. 

Mom obviously did something, something bad enough for dad to kick her out. My bet was cheating, but it definitely wasn't a good time to bring it up to dad. 

Meet you at Starbucks near school around 1?

I stared at the text from Gabe, my screen reading PAIN IN MY ASS instead of his name. Before I could reply, my phone buzzed with another text. 

I knew you couldn't stay away from me ;)

I scoffed out loud and began typing away. Even over text this kid manages to bring out the worst in me. 

I'll be there at 1 then. Don't flatter yourself, if it wasn't required you would never have my number :)

I slid my phone back into my back pocket and headed into the office. I needed to staple all of these papers together before meeting up with Gabe. My phone buzzed but I ignored it and began shuffling through all of the clutter on my dad's desk, looking for the stapler. In my hurry to find it I nearly skipped over a very important document, sitting in plain sight. 

I glanced over it and suddenly felt sick to my stomach. Forget the stapler. I turned and basically ran out of the office, making sure to close the door behind me. A divorce! Since when were my parents the type to get a divorce? Now I knew mom had cheated, that's the only thing my dad could never forgive her about. That's the only thing that would break my dad into a million pieces like he was right now. 

I pulled out my phone, ignoring Gabe's text's for the moment, and sent my sister a text telling her to call me as soon as she could. After getting to my room and having a moment to breathe I opened Gabe's texts. 

I would've gotten your number some way or another, don't you worry gorgeous

I'll see you there, drive safe and stuff.

It was only 9:30 in the morning and I didn't have to leave here until 12:45 to get to the Starbucks near our high school. I guess I could catch up on homework. 

I began to pull out my books from my backpack to get ahead on some reading but when I saw my laptop sitting lonely on my nightstand I couldn't resist. It's like my laptop needed me to watch Netflix, I think my laptop was beginning to feel neglected. I turned on an episode of Pretty Little Liars and got comfy on my bed, making sure to push my backpack off the edge so I wouldn't see it and feel guilty for not doing my homework. 

When 12:45 finally rolled around my dad still hadn't come out of his room so I left a note on the front door letting him know where I was. I still hadn't heard from Malia but I know she had classes most of the day. 

I made it to Starbucks around 12:58 and Gabe was nowhere to be found yet. Typical, if he's late to class why wouldn't he be late for this too? I ordered my usual, a venti white chocolate mocha, and claimed one of the tables outside. It was a rare beautiful and warm day with just a tiny nip of wind. It would be a waste to sit inside. 

I pulled out my English folder and grabbed all the papers I didn't get a chance to staple. Okay, false. I definitely had the chance to go back into the office and staple the papers but I didn't.  A loud motorcycle pulled into the parking lot and made it's way towards the front, next to the empty spot in front of my car. I had a gut feeling I knew exactly who was on the bike. 

Gabe swung off his parked bike and whipped off his helmet. He shot me a smile immediately and hurried over, his backpack slung over his shoulders. 

"Am I late?" He asked, throwing his helmet and backpack onto the chair next to me. I noticed his hands were filthy, his finger tips were almost black entirely. 

"Right on time," I replied, making sure not to stare at his hands for too long. Even though it was 1:03. He took the seat across from me and began pulling out his notebook. 

"Sorry about the, uh, hands," He grinned, his face turning a light shade of pink. "I just got off work at my cuz's shop and I couldn't get all of it off,"

"You should try this stuff that's in an orange bottle, my dad uses that every time he works on a car," Gabe's eyes brightened as I spoke and I couldn't help but glare at him. "What?"

"It's cool you dad likes to work on cars," He nodded, opening up the packet for English. 

We both glanced over the first part of the huge packet Mrs. Walker had handed out. 

"We have to write a biography basically," I finally spoke after I was done re-reading the instructions over and over again. Mrs. Walker was clinically insane. 

"So we're supposed to like interview each other and stuff?" Gabe asked, tossing the paper on the table and leaning back in his chair. "Those are some pretty personal questions in there,"

Mrs. Walker had a whole section of example questions to be able to get to know one another. The whole process would be like an interview, journaling our progress throughout these out of class meetings and eventually writing a reflection piece about it. 

"I feel like this is whack," Gabe furrowed his eyebrows and leaned forward onto his elbows. "We're not supposed to know each other's deepest darkest secrets,"

"We don't have to know everything about each other," I rolled my eyes and flipped to the next page, where we were supposed to begin writing the answers to these questions. "Quit acting like you have something to hide," 

"Like you don't," Gabe muttered before his phone began ringing. "Hang on a sec," 

He answered his phone and I immediately heard the rambling of a woman on the other end and even though it was all in Spanish I could tell she was upset about something. Gabe sprang out of his chair and began pacing back and forth, obviously not wanting me to hear this conversation. I sat awkwardly while Gabe muttered back and forth in Spanish for a few moments longer then finally hung up and sat back down. 

"Sorry, it was my ma," Gabe grinned, looking kinder than I had ever seen him look before. Usually he had a mean mug attitude around school. "Look I'm sorry to do this but my ma needs my help with my siblings," 

"Oh, you have siblings?" I asked, beginning to pack my things away along with Gabe. 

"Yeah, five younger ones," Gabe swung his back pack over his shoulders and grabbed my backpack before I could. We fell into step together, walking towards my car and his bike. "What about you?"

"It's just me and my older sister, she's away at college though so it kind of feels like I'm an only child," I was rambling. Gabe didn't need to know how I was feeling at home. I could tell him everything he needed to know for this project without telling him much about me at all. Not that I had anything to hide. 

"Lucky you, I bet your house is actually quiet," We finally made it to my car and Gabe continued to follow me to the drivers side door. I fished for my keys while Gabe stood quietly next to me, watching me. Why was he standing here? He could have just put my backpack down already. Just as I was about to tell Gabe to just set my bag down he started to chuckle. 

"You're cute when you're flustered," He commented and my cheeks became hot instantly. "Are you going to unlock your car so I can open your door for you?" 

I stood still for a few more moments, adding to my embarrassment as I wrapped my head around the fact the Gabe was just trying to be a gentleman and I was being a jerk. I clicked the unlock button on my keys and stepped away so Gabe could open the door. He waited until I was seated to hand me my bag and then even closed the door for me. 

"See you Monday!" He called out, jogging around to his bike and hopping on, not even buckling his helmet before taking off. 

There was one thing I knew for sure. I can not be blushing over Gabrio Romero!