Chapter 17: Drunken talks
POV: Zac
October 18, 2007
I was planning nothing today. Just chilling at home again playing video games. I really wanted to call Gabriella and just talk but I wasn’t really sure what she planned because I knew she had friends here. I’d slept kind of late but I’d gone to bed late, so that was kind of normal. I fixed cereal, cleaned a bit, and then showered before I settled down in front of the TV, controller in hand. Taylor was off with Stella, Isaac off with his girlfriend Nicole, Carrick and the other two had gone to Los Angeles to be with their family. So, what else was I going to do?
It was nearing noon and I’d been playing for well over an hour when my phone rang, it was Gabby’s ring tone. So I answered, of course I was going to answer.
“Hello?”
“Whatcha doing?”
“Playing video games and debating about calling for pizza. What are you doing?”
God, I hope she wasn’t calling to tell me she’d gotten out of the shower or something!
“I’m very bored and I kind of don’t want to be here alone.”
“Simon bothering you?”
“Yeah, but it’s not really him. He’s in California. I just…I’ve never been great alone.”
“Do you want me to come get you? We can do pizza and hang out.”
“Or you can tell me your address and I can get a cab, you can order pizza we should arrive at the same time.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind coming to you.”
She giggled. “I think I’ve had too many mimosas, I totally just heard you were coming for me.”
I nearly dropped the controller. “No, that’s not what I said.”
But I wouldn’t mind doing just that! Shit!
“I’ll get a cab, you get the pizza.”
“Deal. I’ll text the address.”
She did sound a little different but not too drunk. I text the address once we hung up and then I called for pizza and well, put clothes on. I could totally just stay naked but I wasn’t sure the pizza delivery guy or Gabby would approve. She was right, both she and the pizza guy arrived at the same time but I almost fainted. She was wearing my shirt and I didn’t see one under it, added I didn’t see shorts or anything, I was certain she had to have something under it. I let her in, paid him and we sat down for lunch.
“I kind of expected worse.”
“Worse?” I asked.
“Yeah, like..I expected dirty clothes everywhere, dirty dishes, tons of pizza boxes.”
“I actually cleaned a bit this morning. But I try not to be a slob.”
She’d opted for a beer, which was so odd for her. Yet, her phone vibrated four times in the thirty or so minutes we sat there eating, none of them warranted her attention so that meant it was probably Simon. She ate very well though, clearing half of it. Which was normal for me but not her.
“Gabriella, is everything okay?”
“Yeah. I just skipped breakfast this morning, choosing mimosas instead of eggs.”
I cleaned up after lunch and then we flopped onto the sofa, I could see shorts when she sat down, they were just very short and they were cut off. But she sat there a moment, clearly something was wrong. I slid over and moved her head to face me.
“What’s wrong? I haven’t seen you drink like this and it’s clear something is wrong. You know I will listen Gabs.”
She blinked and I could tell there was extra water in her eyes.
“I called the police yesterday and had an officer come out and I reported the messages and calls and they told me they weren’t threatening and there was no law against him sending me pictures of his dick or of us or whatever. There’s nothing they can do.”
“He still hadn’t stopped?”
“All he wants is another chance…”
“But that’s not what you want, is it?”
She shook her head. “No. I think Abby and Max would kick my ass if I even considered it.”
She finished the second beer and sat back.
“Do you mind me asking why you had me come pick you up from that house a few weeks ago?”
She looked confused at first. “You mean from Newton’s house?”
“Yes. I asked Isaac and you told him you were going and that he was bringing you back. But you called upset, you just never said why.”
She snorted. “Because I was an idiot, because I believed the lies he told me.”
I waited, wanting to know why she believed that.
“How did you meet Newton?”
She smiled some. “I met him when I was sixteen. I wasn’t in a great place and he was stable. He pulled me into the touring and roadie part, traveling with his band. He photographed me, made me feel like I mattered to him. I tested out of high school right after my 17 th birthday. Not that the bastards who adopted me cared. He showed me things…”
She got up and got another beer, fuck the stupid counter for being in the way of her bending over. She came back and sat down.
“Newton was kinky at best, he didn’t care where we were. Park slides, back of the tour bus, in the bunks. I thought he loved me and then I caught him with Mary. I couldn’t handle that so I just walked away. I hadn’t seen him in years when he showed up at the venue, told me he and Mary had a kid and they were separated. Found me at the hotel and asked me over, promise of a CD which he could have brought the next day.”
I remembered her having a CD in her hands that night, one I hadn’t seen since. I had said I would listen and this was the most open she’d been in months, so I wasn’t going to say anything stupid.
“It was fine at first, we had lunch and went to his house. We were going through photos and reminiscing when he said he hadn’t photographed anyone else since I left, that I had this devastated and pissed look. I told him to photograph me.”
My ears perked up some, there were photographs? Yet, I didn’t say anything about them. Just waited quietly for her to finish.
“I remembered you asking about the tattoo at some point I started to feel like I did then, like he wanted me there and like I mattered to him. I asked him to photograph the tattoo, knowing I’d have to be pretty close to naked for that. I should have known better, things were getting out of hand too fast and I was finding no impossible to say. Mary called, he claimed she had to bring their daughter over and when she arrived I kept waiting and then I went out and saw them. No kid. They weren’t separated and when she asked who I was he called me a client. He burned all of the photos to a disc for me and I told him I’d get a cab. They were all going to take an hour and his neighborhood, not that great.”
That warm spreading heat was anger, not that she had been weak and almost had sex with this guy but because he knew how to play her to get what he wanted. I was an asshole, I’d admit to that shit but I wouldn’t ever try to trick someone into sex.
“It sounds like maybe his call was good for you. Sorry I was just an ass. I saw you leave and I guess I overreacted to why you’d be leaving. Although, sounds like his plans were right up where I was thinking.”
“I didn’t go with the intention of sex.”
“I know. So, what about Simon? Was he worse than that?”
She laughed. “You need something stronger than this to open that can of worms.”
“Or…wager it. Your game is here. We’ll play individual races, one question per win.”
She looked at me and it was clear she was buzzed but not drunk. “and if we don’t want to answer the questions?”
I considered that one, she had a point that it’s possible I may ask something she really doesn’t want to elaborate on or she could ask me one. Yet, the idea was to get her to open up to me more, to talk about what bothers her.
“If you don’t want to answer the question, then a second question can be asked or a task given.”
“Are there any limits to the questions we ask?”
“No. No limits on anything.”
“Okay.”
I switched the games and we got signed in and she picked first and of course, curvy road and she won. I was totally expecting some random question about sex or games or anything, but I didn’t expect the one she asked.
“How did you really feel when you caught Priscilla?”
I considered passing but if I wanted her to open up to me then it was fair that I did the same thing to her.
“It hurt. I loved Crystal as well but she came to me and we talked it out. We were better as friends than we were a couple. I thought Priscilla wanted that long-term relationship that ends with the white picket fence and kids. I thought I was ready and when I caught her and realized most everything that bitch told me was a lie. It hurt like hell. It felt like she ripped my heart out. Which is basically what she did.”
She blinked and looked shocked, apparently she didn’t expect such openness maybe, I wasn’t sure. But she chose the next race and I just knew she did it on purpose, it was a drag race and she wasn’t the best with those so I knew I’d win, which I did.
“That was intentional on your behalf. Was having sex on slides with other people around, normal for you?”
“Hey, not fair if I ask them all. Depends on your definition of normal actually. Newton was the only one I did that with and for the most part he liked private settings over public, but sometimes we just didn’t want to wait. As for other people Simon was the same way.”
I detected something else in her phrase with Simon, just a dip in her voice. I would have to win to ask, but she won the next one.
“How old were you for your first time having sex?”
“I was sixteen and a half and it was my first girlfriend, Crystal.”
She took the next race too, fairly easy and I wondered if my assessment of her being drunk was a bit off. I would have assumed her ability to race would be compromised with the drinks.
“Exactly how many sexual partners have you had since Crystal?”
I mentally cursed ever suggesting this and yet, I knew passing would lower my chances.
“Including Crystal, seventeen. Although sixteen were after Priscilla.”
I expected some shocked reaction, fear or something that said she was totally disgusted with the number, instead she chose another drag race and I assumed it was for me, no, it was the one damn drag race she knew so I looked at her.
“Are you positive there are no mini-versions of you running around anywhere?”
“I am positive, Crystal was the only one that I didn’t use protection with and it was only twice.”
She tilted her head. “So you’re saying that no matter how badly you wanted it, you remembered the condom?”
“Yes. It wasn’t long after Crystal and I had sex that Taylor’s girlfriend said she was pregnant, false report but it was enough for me to know I didn’t want to be that person. That was two questions by the way.”
“Then ask two next time you win.”
I chose the next one and tried my hardest, barely winning by like a millisecond.
“How old were you the first time you had sex?”
“My fourteenth birthday.”
I waited to see if she’d tell me who, I was sure she remembered, when she didn’t I looked up.
“I’m sure you remember who he was.”
“I don’t think you want his name.”
“I wouldn’t have asked, if I didn’t. I volunteered the name.”
“My first time was with my neighbor, whose name is Maxwell.”
I couldn’t ask any more questions, so I chose the next race, she won but asked me what my favorite color was, which I said was blue. Her next question asked if I could cook or if take out was all I could do, I could cook but I didn’t often because it was usually just me. I finally managed to win!
“Did you and Max actually date?”
She finished the remainder of the can. “No, we didn’t.”
That made no sense to me, she’s just told me she had sex with him at fourteen and yet, they never dated?! Fuck I had another hundred questions to ask now. I guess it was good I won the next one.
“If you didn’t date him why did you have sex with him?”
“Because I wanted too? You didn’t date sixteen of your partners. It was..complicated.”
“So you wanted more than just that once but he didn’t, I guess I can understand that.”
She sighed. “It wasn’t just once Zac. We had sex until I was sixteen, until he decided to fucking leave me there with the jackass while he went off touring with some band. Don’t worry, he told me often that all we had was a friendship with benefits and I was the stupid one that didn’t believe that, up until he walked away.”
Yet, she called him near daily on the tour, it didn’t quite sound like that was all there was to it, but she won the next game and she sat there a moment thinking.
“I’m going to assume that while the number of sex partners is high, the ones that didn’t quite get that far is higher. Do you have any idea how many didn’t get that far?”
“You mean the ones that stopped at oral sex?”
“Yep.”
“I can’t answer it because I don’t know, a lot? It’s all Priscilla would do but often tours didn’t allow for much time so it was often quick.”
The next two she won, asking me again about just favorite, favorite band moment was obviously when the first record came out and childhood memory was just being with family. I was shocked when I won the next one because she’d completely spun out.
“What is your favorite childhood memory? Anything before 12.”
Her eyes seem to actually glaze over and she sat quietly for at least three minutes, surely it wasn’t that hard for her to find a moment that she found pleasant or overly happy.
“Being told that we were being adopted into a permanent family. No more switching, no more being taken back for some reason. No more group homes. I can’t even say that my last name being changed to Frost wasn’t pleasant to me. First time in my life where I had a real Mommy and a real Daddy.”
I let those words replay, she had said being that we were, we implied there was someone else with her and she had no siblings, Taylor had asked before. Yet, I couldn’t ask and there was something about the look on her face that said that memory was tainted somehow. She got up and got another drink, finishing most in the kitchen before she came back with the open one and an unopened one.
Yet, it was showing because she lost the next two races and I stuck to something simple, favorite color which was black, blue and sometimes red and favorite food which oddly was spaghetti. The next one she lost though, she’d turned down the wrong shortcut and got trapped. Clearly it was frustrating her that she was losing.
“When we played truth or dare, several weeks ago I helped you to bed. You asked me where Shawn was. Who is Shawn?”
The controller fell out of her hand and she just stared at me, fuck that was indeed the right question to ask but just based on her expression it was a subject that was even worse than Simon. Her eyes seem to focus on something behind me and what color was in her cheeks just drained away.
“Gabby?” I asked.
“Pass. I really don’t care what you ask for.”
I blinked, she’d passed and it sounded almost like she’d even entertain having sex to avoid that question. I’d definitely hit the jackpot but it was also very clear she wouldn’t be telling me who he was. I also knew that while she said she didn’t care, she would.
“That disc of pictures, where is it?”
“It’s at home in my bedroom put up. Why?”
“When we go find dinner we’ll stop by and get it, you said you didn’t care what I asked for. So it’s seeing the pictures on the disc.”
“Um…I don’t…There are pictures of me having sex on that disc Zac.”
It was my turn to be a little stunned. “As tempting as those sound, I’ll let you show the ones that have you covered in them.”
“Okay.”
I guess she feared me asking anything else about this Shawn person, because she tried extra hard and won the next one by minutes.
“Do you have a favorite sex position?”
That was a bit strange. “Depends on the situation really.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“If it’s random any position where I don’t see their face, if it’s like a relationship then I don’t have a favorite, they are all good.”
“No wonder Anna hates you.”
“Anna? Are you fucking serious?”
“What? You think I didn’t see those tweets? I saw the ones from September too, after Colorado.”
I didn’t even know she had twitter! But it was going for 5 now and I kind of was getting hungry.
“One more race and then we have some decent food?” I asked.
“Sounds fine to me.”
She won the race we played and I waited, she was thinking hard on the question too.
“Considering the number of partners and the lots of oral partners, why did you have problems with the blonde in her van? She was not quiet about that on Twitter at all.”
I blinked at her, how often did these women talk about shit?! I wasn’t quite sure that I wanted her to know that the entire reason was her.
“I’m not sure. Maybe you rejecting me hurt my ego too much. Trust me, no problems when I’m alone.”
She laid the controller on the coffee top and I saved and exited the game. She was still walking fine but I was pretty sure I needed to avoid places that had alcohol, so I chose Mexicali’s in town. She did order a soda which was good and she ate well, which was a good thing. She clearly didn’t think I was serious about the disc until I parked in front of the apartment.
“I’ll wait on you.”
She sighed and then went inside, she didn’t turn any lights on but I recalled the way it looked Tuesday. It was obvious that this was Maxwell’s apartment and not hers. Which made me wonder if they truly were just friends. She was taking forever but when she came back out I noticed she’d changed into pants.
“Were you getting cold?”
“Yeah, nippy at night.”
She had the disc in her hand and I drove back to my apartment. I had no idea how long she was planning to stay but she’d nearly finished my 12 pack which was fine I hadn’t liked the brand anyway. She wasted no time getting one and I got my laptop. She put the disc in.
“You can view any folder but number four, seven, fourteen, and twenty. The other’s I am covered somehow.”
She then sat the laptop in my lap, the folders numbered one to twenty-four. I just started with the first one, which were pretty simplistic. She was wearing longer shorts, long t-shirts and while her hair was pretty long it was the color it was now. The folder also included shots that were tour related, standing beside a drum set or at the keyboards. Yet the next folder showed a marked change, black mini skirt with a black bathing suit top, and thigh high heels, she was on a stage and it looked like he was down on the floor, fuck they were hot pictures. There were also groups photos, her with other members of the band I presumed, men and women. There was one where she was sitting in a girls lap, both of them had black hair. The next set was the ones on the tour bus, I’d seen a few but clearly not all and they were all very nicely done, that black hair looked so different. I started to click four and she cleared her throat, oh yeah…Four was porn picture. Set 5 was close to three, the topless ones.
I moved through them rather slow, most of them were very close to porn but set eight I stared.
“Leopard print?” I asked.
She leaned over. “It’s a Halloween set. It was done after we met but he said he had to have it. I was a leopard, it’s all I had.”
“You make a hot cat.”
As I moved there was some pretty nice ones and then a pink set of lingerie which I didn’t linger on those, I was certain if I did the laptop wouldn’t sit very steady in my lap.
I liked the set she had on the beach, a white pair of boy shorts, no shoes and a striped shirt that barely was long enough but they were sensual without being porn. I lingered on those because while she smiled and seemed happy, there was clearly something she missed and wanted. The next set was pretty much the same but a blue bathing suit set and no shirt, there were rings 0n the sides. Fourteen I skipped and the next few were kind of playful a girl next door theme with a long sleeve grey shirt and socks and I would assume boy shorts or normal panties. The next was like a denim skirt with a white tube top and black vest, these were nice photos of her.
“Really? School girl?”
“His idea, not mine.”
Seventeen and eighteen were fairly sexy ones, mostly lingerie type suit in seventeen and nineteen was a black skirt, with knee high boots and a white t-shirt with Love across the front in red. Twenty was a no go set so I went to 21 and she got up to go to the bathroom, 21 was Halloween themes with a police outfit. She was however holding a real gun and that was kind of hot. I paused a moment and when I opened twenty-two I nearly spit my Dr. Pepper all over the keyboard. The first picture that came up wasn’t bad, she had on a pair of black leather boy shorts and a black bathing suit top, not a big deal, but the third picture showed her hands tied up behind her and the farther I went the more tied up she was. I had to adjust myself and the laptop. I was just sitting completely dumbfounded and confused when I heard her gasp. The last picture showed her tied up pretty damn well.
“Shit! I forgot about those.”
“You…I…”
“Sorry…”
“I…didn’t…”
She moved to the next folder which showed her completely dressed in blue jeans and a tan jacket, she was outside and it was snowing. Yet, I couldn’t erase the images of her tied up. The twenty-forth set was clearly the new ones, her hair was much shorter and the color it was now. But she had a lollipop and that didn’t help. The last set she took the laptop and I was confused.
“There are some nudes, but he got a good one of just the tattoo.”
She turned it around and it really was a good shot of the tattoo, which looked awesome. But she didn’t show me any others in that folder and she then removed the disc.
“So..Um…I’m going to assume Newton was the one who tied you up in those picture?”
“Yeah, he was more adventurous.”
She somehow found a bottle of vodka that I didn’t even know existed in my kitchen and she settled down on the other end of the sofa, Simon hadn’t laid off today but she just wasn’t checking. She was flipping through now and I blinked when she just drank straight from the bottle. I wanted to ask, but I didn’t. She was just sitting there.
“You want to watch a movie or something?”
“You can do whatever you want, just let me know when you’re tired.”
“Do you want to just play?”
“I can.”
We played for a few hours but while I wasn’t staring I noticed when she got a little too drunk because her racing ability just dropped to nothing. I looked at her and she was watching and racing just not well.
“Mi ablty drove shit…”
Yep, she was beyond just drunk. I got the controller and finished quickly.
“You can just watch.”
I didn’t think she could move that well drunk, but I moved to take the bottle from her and then I was laying back and her lips were firmly attached to mine. I could taste the vodka on her lips and she was aggressive, running her tongue across my lips before biting. I couldn’t deny that this was what I wanted, her body was pressed against mine, warm and soft. Her hands were in my hair and yet despite the fact that she was here and clearly wanting more I couldn’t.
“Gabriella.”
Her hands moved and she pushed herself up, which basically caused her hips to grind into mine, god damn my luck!
“This is not what you want.”
“Woldnt bee here if not.”
I moved her hair and I really wanted to take this and run, she may never say yes any other way but she was clearly very drunk and I knew that even if she wanted too, it would be wrong. I wasn’t drunk and I know she was adamant that she didn’t do one night stands.
“Gabby, it’s not what you want.”
She pouted at me! “I do.”
“You’re drunk.”
It took sheer willpower to sit up on my own, it was the last thing I wanted to do but I knew it was the right thing. Yet she was the one that slid away and back to the corner seat, but I didn’t let her take the bottle with her. She’d had more than enough to drink. Her phone went off as she sat up and she looked at it but didn’t make any movement to get it.
I reset the game, intended to play a bit longer and to give her some time to sober up before sending her home, of which I would take her myself. I heard her phone twice more and when I glanced she was just staring at it but her hands were shaking.
I turned the game off and the television, she didn’t even move and I slid over next to her.
“What did he send you?”
“Why bother? You’re like Shawn, you don’t want me around either.”
I really wasn’t like this Shawn person, she didn’t want to talk about him at all and that’s the second time she’d mentioned his name and it implied that he simply left. Who the hell could he be? I was going to regret this, I was so sure I would but she looked so down. It was early for bed for me but I hadn’t slept well anyway and clearly she wasn’t either because of Simon. I pulled the phone from her hand and she looked at me.
“I think it’s bedtime.”
“I’ll call the cab.”
“No, you’re staying here. My bed is plenty big enough and you are way too drunk to be left alone right now.”
She didn’t seem to understand but I got up and got her hand. She was very unstable but I left her phone on the counter and guided her to my room. Yes, I was going to regret this. I was just glad I cleaned up and had clean sheets on the bed. My intention was to lay here until she was asleep and then go to the living room, but as soon as the lights were off she moved beside me. I laid there waiting, listening until her breathing was deep but the quietness was too much for me as well. The last thing I remember was her hand moving across my abdomen and the slight pinch as she got a hold of my shirt.