Gabriella Ch. 07

And then she saw it.

The blue polo shirt.

Ella lifted it from the rack and held it up. He had worn it the night their affair began. His hands shook as he removed the blue shirt and dropped it on her bedroom floor. His facial expression held equal parts of lust and fear, a look she would never forget because she never thought she'd have that effect on a man like him. He dressed right after they had sex and sat on her bed with a bewildered look. She reached to hug him, to soothe away the shame in his eyes but he kept her at arms length. The warning signs were there from the beginning. But she paid no attention. She believed she could handle it, that he'd be no different from the others.

Then her heart took over.

"What are you doing in here?"

Ella jumped and dropped the shirt. Simon stood with his arms folded, looking pissed. She picked his shirt up from the floor and hung it back on the rack, praying her caramel skin tone blocked out the embarrassment that heated her cheeks.

"Looking for something," she said as she thumbed through her mother's clothes.

"For what exactly?"

She held up a burgundy wrap. "Any other questions?"

"Where are you guys going?"

"Some place in the city. I don't know the name." Nolan would offer Simon a play-by-play of their plans when he arrived. It always bugged her because she knew what Simon would think.

Ella rushed to the bedroom door but his forearm stopped her. She looked up at his eyes, which held the same stormy gray she'd encountered the last time they were this close. They flickered over her face. Her skin burned. His scent drifted over her. Memories flashed. Laughter in the shower. Sword fights with chopsticks. The way she felt when Simon held her close and touched her with gentle, loving hands.

She closed her eyes. This was crazy. She had to be crazy for still feeling this way about him, even for a second.

Ella opened her eyes again.

She wasn't crazy.

His unreadable mask was gone. He felt the same way she did, she was sure of it.

All she had to do now was stand and wait. Wait for him to crush her body against his. Wait for him to kiss her. Wait for him to shower her with the pleasure she craved.

"Gabriella..."

"What?" she whispered. Her heart raced with hope.

Simon dropped his hands on top of his head. He hadn't even touched her and he already regretted it. And she was a pathetic fool for almost playing along.

"What were you going to say? 'Cause I think I've heard it all before." She tamped down her anger enough to mimic the icy tone he used with her. "We won't be together. I'm not going to be your boyfriend, husband, or whoever you've pictured me as."

The door bell rang.

"That would be my boyfriend. And that's all we need to talk about."

She ran to the front and swung open the door. Nolan appeared bearing red roses and a fresh hair cut. "Look at you in a suit!"

His smile disappeared as his eyes lowered down her body. "Whoa, you look...I mean...wow."

"Thanks," she said, her heart still racing for all the wrong reasons. She tried to focus on the flowers when Simon approached. "These for me?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah," Nolan said, handing her the large bouquet. "Do you like?"

"They're beautiful. Thank you. I'm going to put them in water." She left the two men in her life together while she entered the kitchen. She closed her eyes and leaned against the counter, hoping her heartbeat would steady again.

Once her breathing mellowed, she walked back out. Nolan stood outside as Simon rested against the door.

"You ready?" she asked.

"Yep." He smiled brightly, although Simon's body blocked them.

"Wait," Simon told her as he handed her a lavender colored envelope. "I wanted to give this to you earlier, but you ducked out on me." She reached for the card, but he held onto it a moment longer. "Don't toss it aside, because the real gift is in the card. Happy Birthday, Gabriella."

"Thank you." The words sounded generic but Ella had to blink away her tears.

All the roses in the world couldn't measure up to Simon remembering her birthday.

***

"Wow," Ella said as she scanned over the menu. No prices were listed and the text was in Italian. She had never been to a restaurant this fancy before. When they first pulled up to valet in front of Piacenza, she knew her mother's wrap would do nothing to make her dress fit in. The rustic, Venetian plastered walls mimicked old Italian architecture that she had seen in movies and history books.

She pulled at the hem of her dress, which had already received a mix of judgment and humor when she first arrived. The women looked like they had stepped out of a Saks Fifth Avenue catalogue. Nolan assured her that she was "stunning" but she still felt out of place.

She set her menu down and smiled at Nolan. "You come here often?"

"Sometimes with my folks. But it's nice though, right?"

Ella nodded.

He stared at her for a moment. "What's inside the card Professor Graham gave you?"

Ella removed the envelope from her purse. Inside was a generic card but her eyes zoned in on two tickets. Excitement raced over her skin. Two concert tickets to see the only band she had memorized every lyric for every one of their songs. The concert had sold out within minutes, leaving her disappointed that she hadn't gotten tickets in time. Why would Simon do something like this for her?

"What is it?" Nolan asked as he leaned closer.

Ella shrugged. "Some concert tickets."

"Oh cool. What band?"

"Fool The World."

"I like their new song."

Ella nodded, still in disbelief that Simon had given her the best birthday gift ever.

"So, I guess it's my turn to give you a gift...or three."

Ella glanced around. "Um, hello, is this not your gift?"

Nolan shook his head and reached below the table. He pulled out a small box. "Okay, I know you're not a jewelry girl, but I saw this and thought of you."

She opened the velvet box and found a necklace. Diamonds flanked an amethyst to create a flower.

"Oh, my God, Nolan." He lifted the necklace from the box and stood to drape it around her neck. The pendant fell an inch above her cleavage. "I know I'm supposed to say, 'you shouldn't have' but it's beautiful. Thank you. "

He sat back down. "You're beautiful."

She gave him a devilish grin. "Now I have to do something really special to you tonight."

"Well, in that case..." He reached below the table again and pulled out two pink striped Victoria's Secret boxes.

"Naughty boy," she said, shaking the contents of the box.

He rubbed his hands together and flexed his eyebrows. "Sorry, I guess that's more of a gift for me to unwrap later tonight."

She laughed and set the boxes on the floor beside her. But the card she tucked away safely in her purse.

After their entrees arrived, Nolan brought up his big game the next day. The Clemson Tigers, the opponent, had a flawless record.

"They're going to kick our ass. Their defense is just better than ours," he said, chomping into more bread.

She pushed the mysterious meat around on her plate. "But you're hotter."

He laughed. "If only it worked that way."

She bit into a green bean with red sauce drizzled on top. It wasn't half bad.

"Can I ask you a question?"

She looked up at him. "Sure."

"We never really talked about that night. You know, when things got kinda bad and I left."

"What about it?" she asked. Events of that night weren't what she wanted to rehash on her birthday.

"I guess I was wondering why you don't get along with your mom. I mean, she seems really nice."

Ella cut her meat and took a bite. "Next question."

Nolan chuckled. "Okay, okay. What about Graham. You cool with him?"

"Some days he's my biggest ally and then others I want to stab him in the chest and watch him bleed to death."

Nolan's eyes widened with shock. "What?"

"You asked. But enough about them, what about your family?"

He drew his brows together. "Hmm. Well, my family is kinda traditional. Mom and dad married right out of college and have been together ever since. And I have an older brother who's in medical school."

"That's sweet. Your parents still being together and all."

He shifted in his seat. Ella waited for him to say more, but he didn't.

"Do they know about me?"

"N-no, not yet." Ella fidgeted with her necklace, trying to ignore the uncertainty on his face. "But I'm going to tell them," he rushed on to say. "I just haven't done it yet. I mean, it's hard to explain, but my mom and dad aren't the easiest people to talk to if you're not just like them. Conservative type people."

Ella arched a brow, wondering what Nolan really meant.

"Not that they wouldn't love you," he continued, his tone higher than normal. "It's just that, well, you know, before my brother got married, my mom made his girlfriend break out into hives. So, see they're not the easiest people to deal with. I swear, my mom thinks we're the Kennedy's reincarnated. She wanted to build her own Camelot, but thought it was trashy to have more than two kids."

"Oh."

"Yeah," he said defeated. "So, I want you to meet them, I just don't think we should rush it, you know."

"Okay," she said, not sure of how she felt about it.

The subject moved back to football and Nolan's eyes lit up as he explained why Tom Brady was a better quarterback than Peyton Manning. Ella didn't know either player, but she tried to listen. She started seeing Nolan in a new light.

Whether intentional or not, people were deceiving. Almost everyone in her life fit the bill. Nolan hid his tenderness and uncertainty behind the façade of a rough and confident Darby Devil football jersey. Her mother masked the distant, detached parts of herself with a gentle demeanor and sweet smile.

And Simon...

The lovable, kind act that he presented to her mom and others was nothing like the intense, passionate and sometimes brutal man she knew whose soul was just as restless as her own. None of them were what they presented to the world.

But she was. There was no pretense. And though some rumors were completely made up, many weren't, so she didn't fault people for their assumptions about her. But what you saw was what you got.

Nolan wrapped his arms around her as they waited for valet to return with his SUV. "So, what do you want to do next? We can take in a movie or something. Or we could go straight to my place and let you model some lingerie before I take it off you."

"That sounds like fun," she said, trying to muster up as much enthusiasm as she could. But her thoughts drifted to Simon at home. Alone.

"Mmm, I can't wait," he whispered, nipping her ear.

In the car, she leaned her head against the window, feeling guilty for the lie she was about to tell.

"Nolan?"

"Yeah, baby?"

"Actually, I'm not feeling so hot," she said, avoiding his eyes.

"Really? What's wrong?"

"I don't know. My head hurts. Would it be terrible if you just took me home?"

He placed his hand on her thigh. "You sure you don't want to come to my place? I can take care of you. We wouldn't have to do anything."

Ella turned and gave him a weak smile. "I wouldn't be much fun. Think I just need sleep. Can I make everything up to you tomorrow morning before your game?"

"Sure." Nolan turned his attention back to the road, but not before she saw the disappointment in his face. She hurt him all because of her crazy weakness for a romantically bipolar man who was married to her mother.

Ella kissed him goodnight and watched him drive off. It took everything in her to keep her composure and not run to the door. But once she got to the porch, Ella hesitated. She questioned her decision as Nolan's headlights faded from view. Her doubts vanished as quickly as they came.

"Simon?" she called out the instant she entered the house.

The lights were off and the house was still. She rushed down the hall to his bedroom only to find the bed made up and empty. She raced to the kitchen and looked into the garage. His car was gone. More than likely he was at Steven's. Well, he would just have to deal with her tonight, because she needed to see him.

She pulled out her phone and dialed his number. It rang once when she noticed the money sitting on the table with a note beside it. She scanned the note, once, twice, before she ended the call.

Gone to see Patricia. Will be back on Sunday. Hope you had a good birthday. SG

After reading it for the third time, Ella balled the note up and tossed it in the trash. She sat down on the couch in the living room. Moonlight shined through the windows and lit up the magazines on sprawled across the table. The latest Hollywood 'it girl' on the cover of Glamour magazine wore a carefree laugh that was the opposite of everything Ella felt at that moment.

Had Simon come into her life and swept her off her feet before disappearing all together, then maybe she could have written him off. Over time she would have seen her mistakes and moved on. Instead, he entered her life, then heart, slowly, almost calculating in a way, though she knew it wasn't his plan. She never imagined herself loving someone the way she loved him and it hurt that she had to conceal it, like it was a dirty secret never worth mentioning.

Over the last four years, Simon's presence and attention had slowly woven around her heart like a tightly spun web. Love kept her trapped in hope while his indifference and outright heartlessness chipped away at her soul. Love made her lie to Nolan, who truly cared about her. It kept her from caring about him the way he deserved. Now love had brought Ella to where she was tonight: hurt and alone and with no more hope while Simon and her mother enjoyed the romantic weekend together.

She picked up the magazine and studied the cover. Another disappointing birthday in the books. It was almost enough to make Ella cry. She allowed herself one tear.

**********

Patricia

Patricia studied the movie menu on the hotel TV. None of them sounded familiar. She hesitated a moment before she clicked the adult tab. She scrolled through the crass titles until she reached The Pussy Whisperer.

"What does that even mean?"

Her eyes shifted to the ceiling as she dropped back onto the bed. She wondered if Ella and Simon were doing okay or about to kill each other. But for as much as they fought, they got along much better than she and Ella did. There were several times they shared an inside joke or just seemed relaxed in each other's presence. Patricia couldn't remember the last time she and Ella just had a pleasant conversation.

But that night still bothered her. It wasn't Ella's outburst as much as what followed that gnawed at the back of her mind. Simon's actions seemed routine—from how he got a belligerent Ella back in the car until he carried her into her room. He remained calm throughout as though he had done it numerous times. Something about that night felt strange, but she still couldn't pinpoint the source of it. She was growing tired of chasing a mystery only to come up with no answers. Maybe it was all in her head.

Ella had turned twenty and Patricia hadn't a clue on how to fix their fractured relationship. A bothersome tear rolled from the corner of her eye into her hairline. She remembered a movie where a mother pleaded with her husband to be more present in their children's lives. The mother had said that there was only a small window of time when children begged for their parents' attention. Once that was gone, it was the parents who would spend the rest of their lives chasing their children for a moment of their time.

Patricia was now in that space where she realized how many opportunities she had missed to be close to Ella. Now she was fighting every day to hold on while Ella made it very apparent that she wanted her to let go. In the past, she had sought solace behind these foreign hotel walls but now they reminded her of every mistake she'd made. And Simon wasn't here to block out the hopelessness that sometimes eased its way into her mind.

She refused to lie there and drive herself crazy. She dressed and made her way down to the empty lobby. "Is there a movie theater nearby? Something within walking distance?" she asked the desk agent.

He looked up from his magazine. "Yes ma'am. About four blocks down, there's a theater on the right."

"Thank you."

It was definitely further than four blocks, but the trek past different store fronts downtown helped clear her head. She searched the electronic board at the theater for a show time, but they were all blank. "Any good romance movies out?" she asked the ticket teller.

The young girl smacked her gum and continued to press buttons on her phone. "We have a Hugh Grant marathon tonight. Tickets are half price. Sense and Sensibility starts in two minutes."

"Perfect. Two—one ticket."

Patricia bought a drink and popcorn from concessions and settled in the middle row of her screening. There were only five other people in the theater, all women. Two young girls sat giggling in the front row, two thirty-somethings sat behind her and a stout older woman occupied a seat in the far right corner. Patricia smiled in her direction, understanding the loneliness.

How she wished Simon was here with her. He would wrap his arms around her and whisper loving things in her ear while the movie played on. They even made out in a theater once, although public displays of affection made her uncomfortable. Back in college, Patricia used to be openly affectionate with Rodney until it made her the butt of campus jokes. She had been the clueless girlfriend seen hugging and kissing on the guy who'd been with another girl the weekend before.

Patricia slid down into her seat as the lights dimmed and the credits rolled. Ella passed through her mind again. She prayed her relationship with Nolan was on the up and up and that Ella wouldn't have to repeat her mistakes by choosing the wrong man at a young age. She had been through enough already. They both paid the price.

Midway through the second movie, Notting Hill, she heard the seat behind her squeak.

"Excuse me," a male voice whispered behind her. "I think you dropped this?"

"What?"

Patricia turned and squealed. She wrapped her arms around Simon's neck and kissed him. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" she asked between kisses.

"I needed to see you. A guy at the hotel said you had gone to a theater near here." Simon glanced up at the screen. "Hugh Grant...I should have known."

"Shh," the older woman chided from a few rows down. Simon glanced at her before hopping over the seat and settling beside Patricia.

She brushed away the tear that threatened to fall. "I can't believe you're here. I'm so happy to see you."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her again.

"We can leave if you want."

He pushed his hands through her hair and studied her face. "You sure?"

"Yeah. I'd rather spend this time alone with you."

***

They walked under the sparkling city lights of Asheville. Patricia had only been here once before for a wedding over fifteen years ago, but remembered how enchanting it was, especially now that Simon was with her.

"We should move here," she said.

"And leave our small little dingy country town...never."

He pulled her over to a large stone bench that overlooked a fishpond and lowered her down on his lap. The shimmering stars reflected off the dark water.

She snuggled closer to him. "How was Ella when you left?"

"Fine, I guess. She went out with Nolan."

"Good. I really like him. What did she think about the tickets?"

"She didn't open the card."

"You sure she likes that group? I've never heard of them."

Simon scoffed. "Well, that's not hard. You thought Lady Gaga was a Royal."