CHAPTER 5: COMING CLEAN

                                    

                                          
Chapter Soundtrack - Chapter 5: "Fiction" by The XX
                          
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            "He calls you goddess!"  Gretchen exclaimed, her eyes wide as she sat on the front counter inside Robertson's.
                          
            "Shhhh!" I whispered.  "Gretchen, we're not at a Sparrow High sports game.  I'm working here," I chastised, walking past her to stock a new shipment of books on a shelf near the back wall. 
                          
            Gretchen had raced to Robertson's from cheerleading practice, probably causing a stream of near accidents just so she could interrogate me about my lunch with Gabe.  I was surprised she hadn't heard about it until her practice.  Lucky for me, the secret service was slacking. 
                          
            "Oh please, there aren't even any customers in the store right now.  Don't think you're getting out of telling me about this, Athena.  In fact, I'm a little hurt that once again, I had to hear about it from someone else instead of my own best friend.  What gives?"  Gretchen asked, raising her eyebrows at me as she crossed her arms.
                          
            Her question was valid, but I would have had a hard time explaining Gabe's invitation to Gretchen when I myself hadn't known what it meant.  Things were clearer now and I no longer had any - or at least not many- lingering doubts about Gabe's intentions.  He wanted to be in my life and I had decided I wanted the same thing as well.
                          
            I turned to face Gretchen, a stack of books in my hand.  "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it before.  If I had known we were going to be featured on Page Six the second we stepped out of the library, I promise I would have made sure you heard it from me first.  I can't believe this is such a big deal to everyone," I said.
                          
            "Athena, Gabriel Valente is the most sought after guy in Sparrow.  Not to mention he's gorgeous and he comes from a life of crime.  He asking you to lunch, hell, even just talking to you, is a big deal!"
                          
            "Gee thanks, Gretchen.  Should I bow down and thank him for gracing little old me with his presence?"
                          
            She sighed.  "That's not what I meant.  It's just that every girl at school has been going out of their way to get Gabe's attention.  They've tried switching into his classes, parking next to him, running into him in the hallways.  They keep fishing but he never bites.  Then, all of a sudden, you and he emerge from the library today.  From what I heard, you were looking very cozy," she said.
                          
            I waited, hoping she was finished.  She wasn't. 
                          
            "Oh, and he calls you goddess!"
                          
            "It's nothing," I explained.  "He knows it irritates me and so he does it on purpose."
                          
            "Of course, a guy gives you the nickname of goddess and you find it irritating."  She jumped off the counter and looked me in the eyes. "Who are you and when are you going to join me on planet Earth?"
                          
            I put down the books I was carrying and gave Gretchen my full attention.  "Okay, okay, I'll admit, Gabe is not anything I expected.  At first, I thought he was just talking to me for kicks.  You know, a way for him to pass the time.  But I was wrong about him, Gretchen.  We were all wrong about him.  He's not the stereotypical bad boy everyone in Sparrow was expecting.   There's more to him than you think.  He and I actually have some things in common." 
                          
            She seemed to relax a little now that I was giving her the information she craved.  But clearly I hadn't given her enough as she stood there, arms crossed, waiting for every single last detail.