Gabriella Ch. 09

"Nice to meet you all," Ella said, hoping to break the obvious tension. "And thank you for letting me join you."

"Of course! The more the merrier," Courtney said.

No one else mirrored her sentiments as the table grew uncomfortably quiet again.

"Well, we've already ordered but I'm sure you two can catch up," Robert said with a smile Ella no longer trusted.

She glanced at Nolan's profile. His jaw was set tightly and his body rigid, making her even more uneasy. She wished he would relax. She squeezed his hand beneath the table but he didn't acknowledge it.

The table remained silent as everyone sipped their expensive champagne and shifted in their seats. Ella realized she hadn't even glanced at the menu yet when the heavily accented waiter stopped by to take their order. She took Dr. Reynolds's suggestion of the lamb, which he claimed was the best he'd ever had.

"Well I've never had lamb, so it's very promising to know I'll at least be having the best," Ella said.

Dr. Reynolds and Courtney just smiled and nodded their head, not picking up on her joke.

"So Ella..." Robert began, his booming voice jolted everyone back to Earth, "...how long have you and my son been dating?" He looked to Nolan. "I mean, if that's what this is."

Nolan shifted in his chair. "We've been dating—"

"If it's alright with you son, I'd like to hear from Ella." Although spoken as a question, the tone and glare Robert delivered to Nolan was undoubtedly a command.

Once his point had been made, Robert looked back to her and smiled. "So...how long?"

Ella glanced at Nolan but his eyes were focused on the table. "Um, just a few weeks. But we also dated for a while last year too."

Robert leaned back. "Ah! So you're the girl behind the infamous bus scuffle?"

Despite the chilly glares, her skin warmed beneath her cheeks.

"Dad..." Nolan's mouth formed a hard line.

Robert ignored the warning tone in his son's voice. "You see, Ella, I'm good friends with Alan, the athletic director for Darby. He and I were fraternity brothers, so there isn't much that goes on that doesn't get back to me, especially when my son tries to beat his best friend to a pulp in front of half the booster club."

"None of that was her fault," Nolan explained softly.

"Oh, I know. It was your fault. And being suspended from that game...a game where scouts were in attendance was your fault as well."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know that," Ella whispered to Nolan.

His eyes softened as he looked down at her. "It's okay."

Ella was grateful for the distraction when their food came, but she still felt Robert's eyes on her as she stared down at the golden rack of lamb on her plate.

"Well, this looks delicious," Courtney added, ever chipper and trying to lighten the mood. "Ella, let us know if you like it."

"I will, thank you." But she couldn't swallow anything now if her life depended on it.

Robert sliced through his steak and placed a thick pink chunk in his mouth. "So, what was the fight about?"

Heat flushed through Ella as Nolan spoke up.

"Dad, I don't want to talk about this now."

"Why not? We're amongst family and friends." He turned to her. "Care to enlighten us?"

"It was just a misunderstanding." Ella mentally kicked herself for persuading Nolan to go to dinner instead of staying in and having sex.

Robert stared at her, before his eyes fell on Nolan. "Must have been quite a misunderstanding."

"So how did you two meet?" Courtney asked loudly, breaking into Robert's interrogation. Her smile was the only genuine one present.

"We bumped into each other in the library. I mean, I had seen him around campus, but that was the first time we spoke."

"Aww, that sounds romantic," she added. "I met Sam in college too. I was the innocent freshman corrupted by the senior." She smiled up at Sam and he kissed her cheek.

Ella nodded and smiled, but her head hurt too much to really process the conversation.

"So, Ella, do you like football?" Robert asked.

"Well, not at first, but it's growing on me."

"Well then, if this...relationship...is still going strong by the next season, you should join us in our luxury box. Best seats in the house."

"Actually darling," Karen said, her smooth southern drawl slicing through the conversation, "...we don't really have any room."

A moment passed as husband and wife stared at each other, a small understanding brewing in their silence. Ella's stomach turned. She needed a cigarette. Or alcohol. Something to help her survive what was shaping up to be the longest night ever.

"Ah, you're right, K. I forgot. Sorry Ella."

"It's fine. I usually can't make it to the games anyway."

Robert leaned back in his chair and finished off another glass of champagne. "Well, a beautiful girl like you, I have no doubt you support my son in other ways."

Ella's entire face erupted in flames as she quickly looked away.

"Dad..." Nolan warned.

Robert nosily dropped the glass to the table. "Son," he said in the same tone before turning to Dr. Reynolds. "What time is our tee off tomorrow?"

"Seven thirty."

"That's an interesting dress you chose to wear." Their heads all turned to Karen. "Did Nolan pick it out?"

Ella's blood heated as she chose her words carefully and delivered them slowly. "No. I did."

Karent cut into her salmon. "Hmm."

"Well, I think that color looks really pretty on you," Courtney added. "When I was your age, I never could pull off red, so I mainly stuck to plain old yellow."

"And you look beautiful in yellow," Dr. Reynolds said before kissing her hand.

The universe would be in a better place if they had been Nolan's parents.

"So Ella, what do your folks do?" Robert asked.

"My mom works in market research."

"And your father?" Karen asked.

Ella exhaled noisily, not liking where this line of questioning was going. "Don't know. We're not close."

Karen set down her fork. "So you were raised by a single mother?" The judgment and disapproval in her words hung over the table.

"But her stepdad is a Professor at Darby," Nolan quickly added.

Ella shot him a dirty look before she turned back to Karen. "Yes, I was raised by a single mother."

"Must have been difficult," Courtney chimed in.

"Some days."

"I think it's so bad for children to be raised in that type of environment. They come out with so many problems," Karen said before she took another bite.

A searing heat ripped through Ella and traveled up her spine, settling at the base of her head. She took a few sips of ice cold water but it couldn't quell the heat flushing through her body.

She thought of the cop that Simon told to go fuck himself and she knew that would have been his next response to Robert and Karen Jefferies. Go. Fuck. Yourself...in a slightly northern tinged accent. She shook her head and gave a small laugh at the thought.

"Something funny?" Karen asked.

"Yes, it is actually," Ella said as she rested her elbows on the table and leveled her glare on Karen.

Nolan squeezed her thigh beneath the table.

"Well..." Courtney said with a nervous laugh. "I read this article a while ago, and it was really interesting. With all the struggles single mothers face, you'd be surprised how many of their children go on to do all sorts of amazing things. Presidents, Nobel Prize recipients, even Leonardo Da Vinci was raised by a single mom. So she must have done something right," she added with a smile.

Why couldn't she have been Nolan's mother?

"Oh no, sweetheart, I think you're mistaken," Sam interjected. "Da Vinci was raised by his father's family."

"Oh really? I thought—"

"Either way," Karen butted in, "...most kids today aren't Da Vinci."

"Yeah," Ella said, pushing Nolan's hand from her thigh. "But then I think about how awful it would have been had my mother been one of those lazy, useless women who rely on their husband and nanny to make their lives easier. I mean, thank God she wasn't that pathetic, right?"

Karen's eyes narrowed. Everyone else looked stunned.

Ella sipped her water and wondered if her mother had ever endured judgmental looks and comments from women like Karen.

"So Ella, where do you live?" Robert asked after an awkward silence.

She felt on trial, as if everything she said was somehow going to be used against her.

"I live—" she looked to Nolan for her cue, but he didn't say anything. "—with Nolan."

"What?" Karen looked back and forth between them, before turning to her husband in disbelief.

"It's okay, darling." Robert pulled his eyes from his wife and back to Nolan. "Nolan's been really forgetful lately."

"It all happened so fast, dad. I was going to tell you."

Robert ignored him and turned to her, flashing a menacing grin. "You know Ella, I got that place away from campus so he wouldn't have any distractions...but it looks like he found you anyway."

"She's not a distraction, dad."

"Of course she is!" He poured another glass, more than likely his sixth or seventh since she'd been at the table. "Women always are. Your mother was for me." He winked at Karen.

She scoffed. "I wasn't the same kind of distraction." She sipped and mumbled, "Maybe you should teach your son the difference."

Ella turned her entire upper body towards her. "Excuse me?"

Karen looked past her to Nolan. "I still don't understand why you never mentioned you had a girlfriend living with you."

"Karen..." Courtney's beauty queen smile bordered on painful as she patted Karen's hand.

"I haven't really had the time, mom."

"Yes you did. Last weekend when you stopped by for dinner. Or the Wednesday before that."

Ella remembered. She had worked both those days, but Nolan hadn't offered.

Nolan's face flushed. "I was going to invite Ella over."

"When?"

"I'm always busy, so Nolan was probably waiting for something to clear up for me," Ella said, more than sick of Karen and her bullshit.

She cut her eyes to Ella. "Busy doing what?"

Fucking your son, you stuck-up nosey bitch!

It was right there...on the tip of her tongue. Every ounce of will power she had left kept the reply buried deep at the back of her throat, choking her.

"She works and goes to school full time, mom. So, she doesn't have a lot of free time."

"Well, I still feel like—" Karen started. Ella rose quickly, her chair screeching against the floor.

"Excuse me," she said dryly then fled.

In the bathroom, Ella splashed cold water over her neck, her body still shaking from adrenaline as it trickled down her back creating dark blotches beneath the tight blood red material. She wanted to scream until her throat bled. She wanted to break something. Anything for some satisfaction of keeping her temper in check.

She inhaled as much air as her body would allow and exited. The bar caught her eye and she made her way over to a young guy drying out a shot glass.

She leaned over the counter, treating him to a nice view of her assets.

"Any specials you could give me?"

He smiled. "I can give you anything you want...as long as I see some ID."

"No purse."

"Then no drink."

"I'm twenty."

"I'm twenty-seven. Looks like only one of us is legal to drink."

"Have pity on me. I just met my boyfriend's family and it's not going so well. They're carved out of cream cheese. Expensive cream cheese...and I'm more...well, Cheese Wiz."

His eyes teased her. "I prefer cheese wiz."

Ella smiled. "So...?"

"So...you're still not twenty-one, sweetheart." His eyes briefly glanced downward. "No matter how delicious."

"Pretty please...with sugar on top?"

He shook his head and looked around. "What do you want?"

"Double Vodka on the rocks."

He glanced back at her. "You trying to get shitfaced?"

"No. Just trying to get...okay."

He quickly poured her drink.

There was a slight burn when she tossed it back, but she refused to stop. Something needed to squelch the anger and nausea the Jeffries' had evoked.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and breathed heavily. "One more?"

He glanced around again before quickly re-filling her glass. "If you get me fired, I will come looking for you."

"Promise?"

He shook his head and grinned. "You are trouble." But then the grin slid off his face. "And looks like you're in trouble."

"What?"

He nodded over her head and moved further down the bar to check on another customer. Ella glanced over her shoulder to find Nolan in the distance, his eyes burning a hole through her. But then her own anger began to burn all over again. He had no right to be mad after what his parents just put her through.

"Fuck it." She turned back around and chugged down the rest of her drink, letting the ice rest against her burning tongue.

**********

Patricia

The strange noises grew louder as she approached their master bedroom. Not strange, because the steady give and take of the bed was a familiar rhythm, but strange that she was hearing it from the other side of the door. Her heartbeat thumped in unison with the beat when she gripped the door knob, her hand trembling over the brass handle. Her throat constricted when she heard a faint but definite feminine moan. Her fingers remained frozen around the knob. She didn't want to know what was on the other side, but was unable to turn away. Then she heard him. Simon. His intimate grunts of satisfaction were discernible even in her sleep...sleep...this was a dream. The moans grew louder as the constant thump of the headboard against the wall made her nauseated. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

Patricia's eyes flew open and her body jerked. "No!"

She sat up in bed and gripped her chest. Hair stuck to the sweat on her forehead and her stomach felt queasy. When the foggy haze finally disappeared, she glanced around the room and took in her surroundings.

The space beside her was empty and cold.

She kicked the covers off and walked into the bathroom. In the dark, she splashed cold water over her face and neck. She pulled on a pair of old jeans, grabbed a light blanket from the hallway closet and made her way to the door.

Even beneath the blanket, Patricia couldn't feel her fingertips and her rear remained frozen to the steps as she waited for Simon.

She caught sight of him rounding the corner onto their street in full speed. She loved to watch him run. When they first dated, she would go jogging with him, but usually ended up bent over or sitting on the ground thinking she was dying of an asthma attack while he stood over her halfway between a laugh and pity.

She lifted her hand in a wave and he came jogging up to her.

"Hey. Did I wake you again?" He pulled off his ski cap and plopped down beside her. His cheeks and nose appeared crimson against his creamy tanned skin. He pushed a hand through his damp hair.

"No." She looked out into the night. "Just had a bad dream."

"About what?"

She turned to him. "What's going on?"

Simon's brows arched. "What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "It's just...I don't want to feel like an idiot this time. I don't want to miss any signs like I obviously did the first time."

"Honey, hold on...what are you talking about? What signs?"

"Are you...are you still having an affair?"

"What? No...no. I...why would you even ask that?"

"Because you leave every night around the same time."

"I'm jogging, you know that."

"But why? I mean, at first I thought it was just because we weren't having sex, but we are now, so I don't understand."

He exhaled loudly. "Honey, nothing is going on. I just take them to clear my head. That's all. But if it upsets you, I don't have to do it."

"No, I don't want that. If it helps you then you should keep doing it. I guess...I just thought...I don't know."

The smell of snow was in the air as the cold burned her nose. She glanced at Simon as he stared off into the distance. There was sadness in his eyes and shadows beneath them, the latter courtesy of several sleepless nights like tonight. Why?

Suddenly she felt ashamed for doubting him. She couldn't regress and let her fears and insecurities trickle back into their home.

She slipped her arm through his and leaned her head against him. "I'm sorry. Forget I said anything."

Several moments passed before he spoke.

"I know my word isn't as good as it once was, but you don't ever have to worry about that again." He shook his head and exhaled. "I...I fucked up, Patricia. And I'm beyond sorry."

"I know," she whispered and pressed her lips to his shoulder. "I know."

He wrapped his arm around her and leaned his cheek against the top of her head. "Wanna go for a walk?"

"Simon, it's freezing."

"I'll keep you warm."

"And it's two in the morning."

"I know," he answered softly. "This is when it's the most beautiful. All you hear are your own footsteps."

The sincerity in his words, his wanting to include her, made her heart melt. So before she could stop herself with the many reasons why they shouldn't be walking around in the cold past midnight, Patricia whispered, "Okay."

They held hands and slowly made their way down the empty street, their footsteps lightly sounding on the wet pavement as the world around them slept.

***

Hey all, sorry it took so long but hope you enjoyed the latest chapter. More than likely there will be 11 total chapters, but I hope to have Ch.10 out very soon. No more yearlong gaps! Please make sure to check my Lit and Tumblr page for updates. And a big shout out to the wonderful August Bouvier for editing! And please don't forget to vote and comment! - Soular