“Hello?” Her voice was tentative, as she didn’t recognise the number.
“It’s Gabriel.”
“Oh.” She sounded surprised but not displeased.
“I just wanted to know how you’re doing and to apologise for my dunderhead brother.”
“Thanks, Gabriel, that’s nice of you.”
Gabriel felt his heart contract, she sounded so low.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Studying in my room.”
“Come to the window?”
There was a long pause and then he saw a face appear at one of the upper windows. Keeping the phone pressed to his ear, he waved and smiled at her.
She opened the window, and waved back, a cautious smile on her face.
“What do you think, Rapunzel, fancy coming down from your tower? I’m with Ellie and Nate in the pub and we’d love it if you could come.”
She was quiet for a minute and then said, “Okay, I’ll see you there in ten minutes or so.”
He nodded and ended the call. But he didn’t go back to the pub; instead he sat down to wait for her.
She was startled to find him there. “You didn’t have to wait!”
“I know, but I wanted five minutes with you on my own, just to check you really are alright. I’m really sorry about Mike; you were his first serious girlfriend and he just isn’t very good at it yet.”
Flora gave a weak smile. “No, he wasn’t. But I get the feeling he won’t be short of offers anyway.”
“That isn’t the point. He should have treated you better. He’s a fool for letting you go.”
“Thanks, Gabriel. But you don’t need to say all that. He’s your brother, after all.”
“Which means I know exactly what he can be like, and he’s not perfect by a long shot. Anyway, I mean it. You’re a great girl, Flora.”
Flora blushed and went shy for a moment. Gabriel wanted to stroke the curls off the side of her face that had, as usual, fallen out of her neat plait. But he knew touching her would send off the wrong message. He also resisted the urge to take her hand as they walked.
She was my brother’s girlfriend, he reminded himself sternly. They’ve only just broken up.
Flora was walking while looking at the ground. “No,” she said at last.
“No, what?” Gabriel was lost.
“No, he wasn’t perfect.” Flora’s voice dropped almost to a whisper. “He never could measure up to you.”
Gabriel stopped walking. Oh, help. Had she really just said that?
He turned her to look at him. “I’m not perfect, Flora, far from it; I’m far worse for you.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Would you cheat on me?”
He threw caution to the wind and tucked a wisp of her hair behind her ear. “No, of course I wouldn’t. But I’m damaged, Flora. I’m grumpy and selfish; everyone knows I’m cold-hearted and find it hard to show emotion. You’re warmth and sunshine and goodness. And you’re bloody tempting, but I’d suck all that out of you. I’d bask in it and give nothing back. You’d be miserable with me.”
Flora sniffed, and swiped at her tears. “I don’t care.”
“You would in time. It wouldn’t be long before you’d start to resent me. You would hate me for not putting you first, for only seeing you once or twice a month at best, for forgetting to call when I say I’m going to because I’m working too hard. I’ll be over a hundred miles away most of the time, and it wouldn’t be fair on you. If you found another boyfriend here at school then you could be together all the time. Like Ellie and Nate; they seem pretty happy.”
Flora nodded miserably. “Yeah, they are.”
Flora did want what Ellie and Nate had, but she didn’t want it with anyone but Gabriel. Michael wasn’t a new model at all, he was just a pale imitation. It had always been Gabriel, and she had just convinced herself that Michael was the same thing, but really she knew that he wasn’t.
She fought the urge to get on her knees and beg. She knew that she would be happy with him, because she would be happy with everything he had just described. He said it all like it was a bad thing, but as far as she was concerned it would be the best relationship of her life. To simply know that Gabriel was hers would be enough; she didn’t care about having him dance attendance on her. She wanted to be his sunlight, to warm the dark corners of his soul – she couldn’t think of anything that would make her happier.
Gabriel clenched his jaw, knowing he was right and that Flora deserved someone much better than him.
They were soon at the pub and settled at the table with Ellie and Nate. The four of them were comfortable together, the group dynamic seemed to work, and Flora soon seemed more like her usual self.
Then Gabriel got another text from Michael. It was very apologetic, but basically said did Gabriel mind if they had lunch the next day instead of dinner that night, as he was having a good time and didn’t want to come back yet, but he hoped Gabriel would enjoy an evening with “the lads” instead.
Gabriel suddenly found that he wasn’t annoyed at all. He was even glad that Michael didn’t need any comforting over his recent break-up, and now Gabriel felt he could relax.
“Michael’s cancelled on me. Why don’t I take the four of us to dinner at my hotel?” Gabriel suggested.
Ellie shook her head. “You can’t do that, the restaurant in the hotel is really expensive. Why don’t we just eat here, then we could all chip in?”
“Oh, don’t worry about Gabriel paying,” Nate said blithely. “Do you know he’s a actually a Viscount? He’s Scrooge McDuck rich. I don’t mind at all if he wants to spoil us.” Nate and Gabriel shared a smile; in all the years they had been friends Nate had never once sponged off Gabriel or paid anything less than his share.
But Flora looked quite firm as she said, “Absolutely not! Ellie is right. Why should he pay just because he can afford to? We live in an age of equality now, men don’t pay for dinner anymore.”
Gabriel looked at Flora with dawning horror. “Are you saying that when my brother took you out he didn’t pay?”
Flora drew herself up proudly. “Of course not! I always paid half.”
Gabriel was totally speechless for the first time since he could remember. What the heck had Michael been thinking? That wasn’t the way they were brought up! If you took a girl on a date, then you darn well paid the bill. Anything else would be ungentlemanly. He felt positively sickened by it. Especially as it was Flora. If ever there was a girl it would be a pleasure to heap gifts on, then surely it was Flora.
Vanessa had always just taken his flowers and jewellery as though they were her due, but not Flora; she would be touched, she would treasure each rose. She wasn’t the kind of girl that would want expensive things, she was the kind of girl who would take pleasure in personal presents with thought behind them. And it would be the best gift he could get in return to see her happy face when he bought her something meaningful.
“Okay,” he said, “that settles it. We’ll eat here, but Nate and I are paying. You girls are our dates tonight, so no argument!”
Ellie and Nate shared a lovey-dovey look as Nate agreed with Gabriel, but Gabriel was watching Flora’s face. He could see her wondering about his comment about her being his date, and whether it meant something or not.
He knew he would have to go back to London the following day, and there was every chance that he would never even see Flora again now that she and Michael had broken up. But just for one night he was going to treat her like she deserved. Tonight she would be his date in every sense except in the one way he wanted most. It would be torture, but he wasn’t going to kiss her.
Chapter Nineteen
Byron moved moodily around the music room, trying to resist the urge to kick over a few music stands or throw around the sheet music.
It had been two weeks since Jessica had stopped her private tuition with him, and he missed her constantly.
She still had regular music classes with Miss Bracke
n and the other students, but Byron had never bothered to attend them before, and he wasn’t so lacking in pride that he was going to turn up to one just to see her.
He had started hanging out in the South Tower Common Room in the hopes of seeing her, but it was like she had literally vanished; she was never there, never even passing through. He supposed she was still spending every free second with David bloody Emery.
The stupid thing was that he was still sticking to his vow to stay away from girls. It wasn’t as though Jessica had even noticed; in fact she hadn’t believed him for a second when he’d said it. But some inner demon was making him see it through, as though it would make her realise how much she meant to him. And the truth was, he found he wasn’t missing all the hanky panky in the slightest; he didn’t want anyone but her. But she was in love with someone else. How utterly depressing was that?
He couldn’t concentrate on his music anymore; he had lost his mojo.
There was a tentative tap at the door, and he looked up to find Amy standing there.
“Hi,” he said, surprised; “are you looking for Jess?”
“No.” She came into the room. “Actually I wanted to check if you were alright.”
“That’s rather nice of you!” He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had cared enough to even notice if he was out of sorts.
“I know you miss Jessica,” Amy said, “and I’m worried about her, so I thought maybe we could, you know, talk?”
Byron flopped down at a desk and Amy pulled up a chair opposite him.
“Why are you worried about her?”
“I don’t know, she just doesn’t actually seem all that happy. She says she is, but I think she’s just pretending, maybe she’s too proud to say it isn’t working?” Amy shrugged.
“Do you think that’s true?” Byron clung to the idea. “That would be great!”
“Not so great for Jessica, but yeah, great for you, I suppose. You’re pretty down without her, huh?”
Byron ran his hand through his long hair. “Yeah, that’s an understatement. I’ve never felt like this about anyone before.”
Amy took his hands. “She’ll come round. Give her time. I’m sure this thing with David is a mistake.”
At that moment the door to the music room flew open, and Jessica stood there with a look on her face that would have cowered a dragon.
“What the hell?” she yelled, her voice echoing all around the room, as she took in the scene of Amy and Byron holding hands across the table.
Amy turned white. “It isn’t what it looks like, Jess, just listen…”
Byron put his hand on Amy’s arm. “Don’t. Can you leave it to me? We’ll see you later.”
Amy looked unsure, but she nodded and left the room.
Jessica put her hands on her hips, her face still filled with anger. “You twisted toad. You couldn’t leave just one of my friends alone, could you, not a single one…” she yelled.
Byron raised his hand to cut her off. He moved quickly to the piano and began to play “Don Giovanni”, just as he had the first time they met. Except this time he played the aria of Donna Elvira, the woman who had been seduced and then abandoned and was full of fury, wanting to cut out the heart of her lover.
“Sing!” Byron commanded as he bent his head to the piano and gave it everything.
The music thundered around the room and Jessica heard the words in her head. She totally identified with Donna Elvira at that moment. She too was consumed with anger, and without thinking she opened her mouth and let the familiar Italian words soar out of her.
For almost ten minutes, Byron played and Jessica sang. She vented at him through the medium of the opera. Her voice echoed and reverberated to the rafters as she let all her emotions loose.
When the song ended, they were both still for a moment in the sudden silence, almost in shock at the effect they had created.
“I knew that voice was in there.,” Byron said at last. “I knew you were holding back. But you’ve finally let it out. I guess you just needed to really hate me for it to happen!”
Jessica shook her head. All of her anger dissipated in a second.
“I don’t hate you. I came to apologise. I guess I just didn’t think you and Amy…”
“There is no me and Amy. We were talking about you, she was comforting me.”
Jessica looked at him sharply, as if she didn’t quite believe it. “Really? You’ve never…?”
“Never,” he said firmly. “Not anyone at all, actually, since you last shouted at me.”
Jessica sat down as if overcome. “My singing,” she said at last; “did you hear my voice?”
Byron grinned. “Yup, you nailed it. I knew you could do it – you just had to let go of the nice girl act and bring out the real diva you know you are.”
There was another long pause.
“I’ve left him,” she said eventually, looking down at her feet.
Byron’s heart jumped in his chest. This was the best news ever as far as he was concerned, but he could see on Jessica’s face that she wasn’t quite ready to celebrate.
He sat down next to her. “Why?” he said, gently.
“Because you were right. He was possessive. He didn’t want me to talk to any other boys, not even Reed. He didn’t want me to go to the Games Room with Ellie and Flora. He wanted constant updates on where I was. He kept turning up outside my classrooms like he was checking I was really there, and then he started to criticise my clothes, saying they were too tarty, and saying I shouldn’t wear heels because it was leading boys on. He was a total psycho. It just took me a while to realise it. Can you forgive me for the way I acted?
Byron tried to look serious and not leap up and punch the air. “Of course I can. Especially as it seems to have helped you with your music.”
“Oh, you! All you really care about is the music, isn’t it?” Jessica smiled at him.
Byron inwardly sighed. No, it wasn’t all he cared about, but he could see that Jessica was feeling emotionally bruised. Now wasn’t the time to say how much he cared about her above all.
Chapter Twenty
The autumn term drew to a close and all the pupils left Compass Court for the Christmas holidays.
Bianca made herself wait an entire day and a night before she sent Reed a message.
“Do you want to meet me at our barn around 2 p.m.?” she typed. The barn wouldn’t be all that warm, as it was a typical English December, but at least it was indoors and private.
“OK”
She smiled, anticipating an afternoon of rolling around in the hay with Reed.
When he arrived she thought how incredibly handsome he looked. His “Country Gent” look suited him far better than school uniform. Somehow he seemed older and more relaxed when they were at home.
She leaned forward to plant a kiss on his lips but he held her off.
“What?” she said.
“Sorry, Bea, but I can’t do this anymore.”
Her heart dropped like a stone. “Is there someone else?” She remembered those girls at his breakfast table whispering about him, and Amy and Jessica talking about what a good kisser he was, and how little she had seen of him recently.
“No. I just don’t want you on these terms anymore.”
Her heart lifted again. “Okay, fine.” She moved in for the kiss again.
He stepped back. “I don’t think you understood. I said I can’t do this, I don’t want to be your holiday boyfriend anymore.”
“I understood.” Bianca nodded; she had known this day would come eventually. Reed would make her choose, and she had made her choice. She chose him.
“I guess I’ll just have to live with being known as the geek’s girlfriend!” She grimaced.
“You’re serious? Then why haven’t you said anything before?” Reed looked at her in disbelief.
She shrugged. “Why haven’t you? It was always your call. Maybe I would have made the wrong choice in the past, but I’ve grown up a
lot this term, and so have you. So yes, if it’s what you want, then fine with me.” She puckered up to show she was still waiting for her kiss.
Reed laughed. “You are one difficult girl to love!”
“I know,” she agreed, “but you do anyway.”
“Yeah, I do.” He let her pull him down into the hay.
“I love you too,” she told him for the first time in years. Then she covered his mouth with hers before he could say another word.
***
Flora sat in the airport departure lounge waiting for her flight back to America. She was spending Christmas with her father in Napa, but she failed to raise any enthusiasm about going home for the holidays.
Eventually the tannoy called the gate number for San Francisco and Flora picked up her case and trundled it over to the relevant desk.
“Miss Kincaid. Thank you for travelling with us today. I see you’ve been upgraded to first class.”
“I have?” Flora blinked in surprise. “Thank you!”
“Don’t thank me, Miss Kincaid. Here you go.” The girl handed Flora her ticket, which had a note attached to it.
It read: “Happy Christmas – Love, Gabriel.”
Flora felt like passing out with shock. Gabriel had upgraded her? That must have cost him a fortune! Yet there was no way she could refuse it, since it was already paid for and he wasn’t there to undo it.
So instead Flora accepted the unexpected luxury of going into first class. She was led to a lovely seat by the window and given drinks and snacks. She played with all the different buttons, then leaned back and closed her eyes to think about Gabriel and why he might have done such a thing.
After a few minutes she couldn't bear not knowing any longer. She plucked her cell phone out of her bag and hoped she had long enough before take-off to make the call. She had Gabriel’s number because he had used his cell to ring her that one time in November when he had visited Compass Court, but she had never had the courage to ring him.
Good @ Games (Book Four, The Flirting Games Series) Page 9