Balconial Conversations

interlude \\ 85

my best friend is obsessed with the UniTaughtMe twitter acct and she sent me this (about physics) and i kind of died.
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"So then he threw the cards out the window," Alex tells me between sips of coffee. "And I made macaroni and cheese."

"Was it the box kind?"

"Maybe?"

"Ew."

"Hey, we like it."

"Your poor, poor brother." I tell him in mock dismay; he laughs with crinkly eyes and lots of teeth.

"Want to come over to my house tomorrow? I've got Netflix and lots DVDs." He asks, propping his head on his hand on his elbow on the bistro table. We sit in Starbucks near the window watching it rain faster and messier as the minutes go on.

"I suppose." I suppose I could spend time at your house. I suppose I could try to forget the pretending.

Because it was pretending... Cam and I. Even if I can't stop thinking about it. Even if, when he walked out, he murmured so soft I barely caught it: I could never pretend.

It had been a lapse in judgement. If I don't want to date him or let him kiss me, I shouldn't do it myself. Stupid. But nice, very nice. I also shouldn't have crawled into bed with him without a bra on. I shouldn't have stayed lying down with him when he (accidentally) touched my chest.

"Cool," Alex says with a grin. "I can show you my bedroom," he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and I snort.

*

Gabriel hijacks me on my way home with a soccer ball, literally.

I walk with my head down and hood up, attempting feebly to avoid the sweeping showers when a soccer ball smacks into my foot and I go reeling.

"Kat, you were supposed to stop it!" Gabriel yells, sprinting into the street from his place in the park. His dark, thick hair plastered to his face and his smile shining. No rain jacket, either. Just a Barcelona FC t-shirt.

"You could've warned me!" I yell back, and he jogs up onto the sidewalk beside me, dribbling the ball between his feet with ease.

"Aw, that's for amateurs. You walking home?"

"Yeah."

"I'll come. I'm staying at Cam's tonight."

"He won't let you in like that." I tell him, my lips quirking. He grins.

"I know."

He dribbles the black and white ball in front of him smoothly the entire walk, giving it a funny little kick every time we step up onto another sidewalk. The rain is so thick the world is wet, warped and thoroughly blurry. I don't know how people are driving.

"So, have you been watching hockey?" He asks, breaking the wet silence. I look up at him with an arched eyebrow. "Well if you're curious, Montreal is doing splendidly."

"What about the Mooseheads?" That's the Halifax team, I'm pretty sure.

"Oh, Kat." He drops an arm around my shoulders and it's nice because he's like a furnace and it's freezing. "I do pity you, sometimes."

We walk, dripping and soaking and shivering, down my hallway and I wait at my door to see Cam's reaction. Gabriel stands on the navy carpet in a small puddle of his own making.

"Hey, Cambriel."

"... Are you kidding, me?"

"No."

"Where's your coat?"

"Alyssa Pendergast's bedroom."

"Just wait a second..." His footsteps wander away before returning, and he throws mustard-coloured towel over his brother's head and tosses another into his hands. "Do you have to behave like dog? I'm pretty sure I can lose my deposit over water-damage."

"I love you too, man."

"C'mon, I ordered pizza." Gabriel disappears with a little wave in my direction. I let myself in with laugh.

***

hi (i wrote a rantish thing but it was kind of offensive so i erased it); i need new books so pls pm me links (not your own, i s2g pls don't promote others ok) to some sexy books!!