, every little thing .

[na'ima vanderbilt.]

Fruitless wasn't the proper explanation for her trip back home, long and a little depressing maybe, but not entierly fruitless. Coming back had felt so weird, she'd avoided coming back to South Africa as much as she could, but she figured it would be inevitable. She just hadn't realized how soon inevitable would come and that Gabriel would be the vehicle and driving force behind that inevitably, he inevitably brought a smile to her and she twirled the ring around her finger. Dropping her gaze from the airplane window she looked down at the ring, it sparkled in the sunlight that fell in through the window and even now it still gave her stomach a flutter, she was such a seventh grader. Smiles and tears had been her first reaction when he had asked her, the same reaction her mom had when she had seen Nai walk through the door of the tiny house that hadn't changed a bit in the last year and a half, though when her eyes had finally landed on the ring that Nai had been trying to hide with her hand in her lap or under her hair, the smiles were gone. Her mothers' opinions on marriage had not changed at all in the past year and a half and her opinions on getting married at only 18 seemed to have increased two fold in the time Nai was gone. Most of the warm feelings her mother had held when Na'ima had stepped through the door seemed to have dissipated – and rapidly. There wasn't any yelling but the tone and look and pretty much everything about the succeeding words might as well have been her raging and throwing things around. Then there was the matter of refusing to look at her for the rest of the day and the only comments she got was "You can stay for as long as you need." Plus plenty of staring at the ring on Nai's finger and shaking her head, tears glittering her eyes before the end of the day. Of course her grandmother was worried she was pregnant, that Nai had become too much of her mom and had given herself up to a pretty man and now was being forced into some kind of patched up marriage.

Kelia and her best friend Nya had been the only ones who had given her the reaction she wanted, there was plenty of giggling and ooh's and ahh's. Nya and Kelia both agreed to be present for the wedding, but at that point whether or not her mother would be in attendance was debateable. Her dad wouldn't be there, of course, he hadn't been home in awhile and her mom didn't think he'd be home in time. That didn't really vex her much, her father had never been there for anything else why on Earth would he want to attend her wedding? The bitter edge that took her thoughts made her sigh and she looked back out the window, trying to focus on the city landscape below her where she was going to meet Gabe in a few minutes when this plane finally landed. He was happy that he'd finally mended the rift between Na'ima and her mother that had formed when she had left South Africa, he was also a little smug, especially when he saw her off from Sea-Tac. The trip had mostly yielded the results he wanted, but when she delivered the verdict her mom had handed to her the day she left, moments before Kelia was driving her back into the airport he'd no doubt be upset. She had been, she'd cried pretty much the whole way back to the airport, so much she wasn't sure how she'd been able to hold that much water. Kelia had done her best to comfort her but it did little to sooth her. By all accounts Nai shouldn't have been surprised that her mom would refuse to show up, she was just hoping her mom would surprise her like she had when she was happy to see Nai instead of hating her for leaving in the middle of the night and staying gone for over a year. Maybe this was her punishment instead, her mom would still love her but she wouldn't attend the wedding. Tears began to sting in her eyes again and she sighed brushing away a tear or two that had escaped. This was not the time to be thinking about depressing things like that.

The wedding was less then three weeks away, she had a beautiful perfect dress thanks to Briar and her two best friends in the whole wide world would be there. It had also meant that she'd had to call Briar to see if she could swing two more dresses, which she was pretty sure the younger girl had not been looking forward to but had agreed to do anyways. Tables turned Na'ima wasn't sure if she would have been as understanding, especially given that the girl couldn't really get her hands on Nya and Kelia like she could Nai and Leah. Though, really, Na'ima wasn't a very patient person, she generally tried to be nice to everyone but she was given to an attitude at times. Something she assumed had only gotten worse having to deal with the other girls at the agency most of which – like Elsa – seemed to have a stick eternally shoved up there ass. A sentiment which she passed on to Kelia who applauded it as one of the meanest things she'd even heard Nai say. Na'ima still wasn't sure whether that had been a good or bad thing. Yawning, she turned her attention to her watch, she was eager to get off the plane; one, because she really disliked flying and two, she was as always dying to see Gabriel. They would pick a career that sometimes made it impossible to hangout. Originally she was scheduled to head back to Hollow Creek, until Gabriel had to fly to Boston for a shoot. Both of them were impatient when it came to seeing each other.

The southern drawl of the pilot finally came through the speakers announcing their landing and she hooked the seatbelt back into place with less difficulty then she normally did, she was finally get used to the stupid things. Going for her luggage now she was glad to find that it had not been lost like the last time she had flown in to Logan, dragging a hand through her slightly mussed blonde curls she set off down to the lower level of the airport. She had about two hours before she had to board a flight into Sea-Tac and she wished she could have checked in a dropped off her luggage now, but she was thankful it wasn't more then one suitcase and her purse. Yawning she pulled the thick Blackberry from her pocket and scrolled through her messages, looking for the one Gabriel had sent to tell her where to meet. Hurrying to Terminal A, she smiled seeing the large "Fuddrucker's" sign. She quickened her pace nearly running into an old women in her hast and stepped through the doors searching the restaurant before her eyes finally fell on Gabriel eyes trained on a book. "Gabe," She breathed out dropping her suitcase and purse to the floor when she reached the table, pulled into a hug she turned her face into his shoulder and sighed. "I was wrong," she said, "but so were you..." Her words were muffled but she didn't want to see her eyes watering. She had tried to act like she understood when she was with her mom but with Gabriel, she didn't have to pretend. With him she could cry as much as she wanted.

TAGGED: gabriel dante van buren
STATUS: complete.
WORDS: thirteen hundred, on the nose. =]
LYRICS: lady antebellum "i run to you"
THREADS: clickkk it.
LOCATION: fuddrucker's, logan international airport, boston
MUSIC: john mayer "slow dancing in a burning room"
NOTES: only one more to go! woot, how did i get this far behind? O.o

[gabriel van buren.]

h

[/size]e didn't like boston. well, really, that was too much of a blanket statement. gabriel didn't like boston when he was wondering the dingy streets without nai at his side. a voice that sounded oddly like his older brothers told him he was beyond whipped, about ready to tattoo her name on his ass kind of whipped. it was something similar to a conversation they had had when him and nai hadn't even been engaged yet. sure, he did whatever he could to make her happy, but he wouldn't go as far as whipped. nai didn't have him completely at her beck and call, close but not quite there. whipped also suggested a fair amount of exploitation on nai's part and a lack of balls on his, both of which were far from the truth. na'ima was hardly mean enough and gabriel wasn't that e kind of guy to really let that happen. then again maybe he was, everything was so different for him now, maybe this was what it was like to be whipped... this thought didn't make the dismal morning any better, the only saving grace for the day was he was getting to see na'ima today. he was eager to hear about how her trip home went, he was almost positive it was going to go just fine, he thought the fears that na'ima was harboring was ridiculous. of course he hadn't put his sentiments so harshly to na'ima, because she was genuinely concerned her mother was going to hater her or never forgive her for leaving. na'ima was positive her mother was going to be upset about the wedding and refuse to attend. maybe his everything is about family upbringing was tainting his opinion because he found it hard to believe how a mother could miss her daughters wedding, no matter how upset she was about said daughter running off to the states to become a model. gabriel had learned over the years that his ideas on families and the way they should be were actually not all that common, at least not here in america. his beliefs weren't questioned when he was at home in italy or abroad at work, but here things were different. he always had to marvel at the cultural divide all the time. still from what na'ima had spoken of her family they had close to the same values, there was no way her mom was going to hate her for leaving or being engaged at only eighteen. though, even his mother had raised eyebrows at the news when she heard. she was happy for them, she had expected it, nai wore the ring that his father had given his mother, but she was expecting a long engagement. when she found out they were getting married in less then six months, she had allowed a little bit of shock to leak into her features. still, her enthusiasm never dimmed. she was eagerly helping na'ima, briar and leah with all the plans. he was hoping that nai's mom and the aunt she always spoke so dearly of would soon be joining the others in the planning. a part of him hoped that they would have so much help that leah might not be needed anymore, bri was the only reason she was there, he felt a horrible man for thinking it but it was weird, having his ex help plan his wedding. especially when his fiancé didn't even know that the two had once dated. it felt a little wrong, and he knew he was going to have to chare that information soon.

h[/size]im and nai rarely ever fought and he didn't want to start, especially when the person it was about was planning the wedding and getting along quite well with na'ima. the topic of leah had never really come up, she never specifically talked about leah, from what he got from briar and nai, leah wasn't an integral part of the wedding, she helped bri with measurements, cutting and stuff but when it came to the major stuff bri, gabe's mom and nai were working on she only sat and watched, giving an opinion here and there. nai had commented often that both bri and leah were really sweet, but she never lingered on leah. talking about ex's was uncomfortable and since it was so long ago it didn't really seem like a big deal to him, they never talked about nai's ex's, not in depth. a relationship with her best friends brother was briefly touched on before they were engaged during one of the many nights she had forced him to watch skins with her, but further then that they had never delved into their love lives. it was a subject he figured he was going to have to bring up soon though, even though his and leah's relationship was kept pretty quite he didn't need her finding out from someone else. that would land him in a pretty spot of trouble, deserving trouble too. no doubt he didn't have much to fear from nai, she was slight and lacked any of the power as the other female friends in his life, but her friendship with bri posed a problem, briar wouldn't hesitate to kill him. even thursday, who was his best friend, would no doubt punish him for nai, talk about loyalty. however he had to admit he liked the idea, no matter how much it might have felt like disloyalty it was also a little cool. sirens pulled him from his thoughts and he looked up from the dirty, cracked pavement to see an ambulance coming through the intersection and an older business man pulling a distracted young mother back from stepping into the cross walk. yeah, that's why he hated the big, big cities. hollow creek may not have been the size of seattle but it was a university town, it was semi-busy but you were never having to worry about getting run over by anything.... nor did you have to worry about getting mugged in broad daylight, something which he had witnessed only the afternoon before. what was more horrifying to the young man was that people just watched and no one bothered to help the poor woman, some kept walking until gabe and a couple boys who looked like they were greek at the university tried to tackle the guy. then people screamed and seemed to be interested pulling out their camers not to call for help but to take pictures. it put a sickening feeling in his stomach. he was glad that nai wasn't interested in moving into the city, though he had told her that they could move anywhere after the wedding. they didn't want to stay in their apartment anymore, they had plenty of money to rent or even buy a house anyways and though they had never talked directly about kids it was something they had both thought of. they weren't ready now, no, they were both too young still, nai to new to her career to be able to afford taking a break. now was as good a time as any to move into a house, somehow that thought was more dizzying to him then getting married at only nineteen was. owning a home seemed so much more huge, the silliness made him chuckle. crazy thing was people would have thought it more rational for him and nai to buy a house together then them getting married. he'd heard plenty of this talk since family and friends had heard of the engagement.

m[/size]ost of the older adults in his life spent as much of their time congratulating him as they did telling him he was too young and being stupid getting married at this age, nai reported the same kind of nay saying. he didn't see the trouble of getting married this young, they were both in love, he was more in love then he had ever thought possible, he didn't look at other girls anymore like he looked at nai. the thought of being with only her for the rest of his life didn't seem horrible to him, he didn't even think twice about it. he was ready to be married to her. still the constant lecturing had nettled into his brain and sometimes he briefly wondered if it was right, but then she'd smile at him or a memory of the whisper of her lips against his collar bone or jaw would quickly quash the thought. he had probably never been more ready for anything in his life, and as much as he hated to admit to it he had even referred to the day of their wedding as the day he'd be the luckiest man alive. it was the kind of cheese he'd always made fun of in the romantic movies na'ima sometimes forced him to watch but he totally got it now, he understood it fully. his older brother of course had tried to burst this bubble on many occasions, warning him that eventually the new would wear off and once the glamor had worn off he'd be sorry he had gotten married so young. marcello – his eldest brother – who was married younger then gabriel told him not to listen and that he still wanted to spend all of his time with adele, that there still weren't enough hours in the day to satisfy the need to be near each other. something he and nai understood fully, with their busy schedules time was hard to come by. he was sure it was worse for him and nai, her coming to boston today instead of waiting to talk on the phone or when gabriel was back in hollow creek was because they couldn't wait to be with each other. her time today was short – he checked his watch again, glad that he'd be a little early – there wasn't much they could do with it, but dinner in the airport and talking was fine enough for him. he prayed the rest of his walk that her flight into boston would not be delayed and she'd be able to get off quickly so they could have the maximum amount of time, and while he felt bad for the other passengers who would have her flight into sea-tac he also prayed that it would cancelled or delayed. pretty much anything to gain more time with his fiance. jogging the last block he ducked into the airport, met with a glare from a security, he slowed his pace and shoved his hands into his pocket. he navigated the crown of people fairly easily, smashed between people at all times the noise deafening and he hoped that once he got to the restaurant it would be quieter.

s[/size]potting the place they were supposed to meet – fuddruckers where they had had one of their first dates – a bit of relief flooded him. he became antsy as he took his seat and watched the door pretty intently for ten minutes until he stole a glance at the clock on the wall and realized it was about ten minutes until her plane would even land. that's what he gets for being punctual, that's why he was always late. this was the very reason he didn't mind being late, he didn't have to wait, and waiting for her seemed to be the worse, waiting for her made time go doubly slow. sighing, he pulled the rolled up and much abused copy of the divine comedy from his jacket pocket and set out to spend his remaining time by reading, generally it helped make time go faster. it helped only marginally, mostly because he kept having to reread what he had already read because he spent to much time stealing glances at the clock. finally making it through a page, he stooped and turned his eyes to the door which nai had just walked through, the familiar electricity buzzing through him as she entered the room. he smiled wide, concern flickering across his features as he caught something dark in her eyes, still he pulled her eagerly into her arms, tilting his face to her hair and kissing her just above her ear and breathing in deeply; freesia, vanilla and currant. he frowned a little at her words and squeezed tighter as he felt her quiver just a little, leaning his face back for a moment he could identify the sadness and see tears beginning to form in her eyes. guilt for making her go on the trip hit him and kissed her softly, i'm sorry, he said, tilting his forehead to hers for a moment before he placed his lips to her forehead and hugged her to him tightly again, rubbing her back lightly, i shouldn't have made you go... seeing her upset couldn't make him smug for being half right like she'd said, what happened? he asked pulling back so he could see her face, or do you not want to talk about it now? he asked, leaning in and kissing the tear that had fallen down her face.

tagged to

[/size] na'ima aria vanderbilt (soon to be van buren) word count[/size] two thousand one hundred and eighty five clothes[/size] right here status[/size] completecredits[/size] your template, my text, jason mraz's lyrics notes[/size] this is why we don't mini thread. i'll get a banner up later, but for now the lyrics will suffice. [/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify][/sub]

[na'ima vanderbilt.]

Na'ima wished she could have been a little more enthusiastic, their time lately was limited and she didn't want to drag it down with her sadness, she wanted to be able to laugh and make out with him, do the normal things they were used to. Neither of them handled sad very well, both tried to hard to appear to be as strong as they could at all times, the only time she had ever seen him breakdown was when he had returned from Italy after his uncles death, even then he had a good proper cry and the next day he was almost normal, his grieving had been done. Put in his situation no matter how tough she wanted to appear she would not have been able to bounce back so quickly. Thankfully she hadn't yet had to experience the death of any family members, probably due to the fact that her grandmother was still so young and she had never met her father's parents. It felt like she had really barely met her father for all the time he spent with them. Thinking about him always served to make her more depressed it was pulling her in exactly the wrong direction. Being in Gabriel's arms helped calm the erratic emotions, but it also gave them permission to flood out of her. She could feel the sting of tears as he pulled her tighter to him and she tried to bury her face deeper into the scarf he wore but he pulled away from her, which hurt her before she realized what he was doing. She tilted her face closer to his barely deepening the soft kiss it was his answer to the guilt she found in his eyes, she barely traced his jaw with a long finger before she returned her arms around his neck and shook her head at his words, her eyes tilted up to his, "Don't be..." She said, her eyes shutting as his lips pressed to her forehead, it gave her butterflies in her stomach in a way that made her feel silly. This was normal he was her fiancé, and even though she had finally made the trip that made the whole thing more real to her it was still amazing to her. The hardest part of telling her mom was done but it all seemed like a dream, Nai had never imagined that they would get married. Never imagined they'd be anything more then friends and roommates, not with the way he had always managed to amuse himself with other girls. It was something they joked about, they double dated and made fun of each others dates when they weren't. It had hardly seemed like a foundation for a serious relationship like an engagement. She didn't ever see herself getting married this young period, her mother had made her promise she wouldn't even think about marriage until she'd hit twenty-five. At the time though Na'ima had probably been only about six and she was pretty much still convinced boys had cooties, making a promise like that was no problem, something she was pretty sure her mom was exploiting, or at least taking advantage of her impressionable age.

It was harder for Na'ima to keep her tears back as she leaned against Gabe, had they not be in public she was pretty sure she would have burst into tears, not caring if thought she was some crazy emotional wreck or that she was going to ruin make up or that even though her mother didn't hate her she pretty much refused to acknowledged that Na'ima was getting married. It was almost as bad as her mother refusing to see her or spitting in her face, thinking about it only made it harder to not cry. Not crying in front of her mom was no problem, her mom never showed any kind of sympathy for that stuff, she'd been the one to teach her never let anyone see you weak. Knowing her mother crying there would have probably only made things that much worse, with Gabriel there was no concerns, sure he seemed to be allergic to emotions as any man is, but he'd let her just cry. He wouldn't chastise her for it or look disgusted... At his words the blonde shook her head, finally willingly remove her face from his shoulder, "You didn't make me..." He'd told her he didn't want to get married until she had made the trip, but she could have refused, there wasn't much he really could have done, "I wanted to go." She admitted dropping her gaze and shaking her head, "I knew, knew that it wasn't going to turn out well, but I hoped. Really, really hoped that maybe she'd have..." She quickly returned her face to his shoulder, trying to steady her breath and calm herself, this was not the place to be having a break down. She sighed, and pulled away after a moment, wiping her eyes, ignoring the curious looks from the other people gathered in the restaurant, "I'm sorry, I'm being silly." She said shaking her head and running a hand through her hair, looking up at him and trying to fix him with a smile, "Let's eat a little before we talk about? Please?" She asked, absently pushing some hair from his eyes and putting a better effort into the small smile she had, giggling a little as he kissed away a traitor tear. "Nya and my aunt are coming. I booked them a flight the week before the wedding..." This thought at least added some excitement back in her eyes, true she couldn't think about them without being reminded of her mom but her excitement about having her two best friends coming helped her ignore that pain. She squeezed his hand and gave him a better kiss, one that helped her almost push away the sting of her mothers reproof away, she pulled away picking up her purse and setting it into the chair next to hers and kicking the suitcase under the able and out of the aisle, no need for her to be tripping innocent bystanders.

She looked up at where he still stood, "Please sit..." She said brightening her smile again, "I'm fine, baby, really. I'm just hungry now." She reached for his hand again, giving it a light reassuring squeeze, and caressed it again before she pulled away as he sat. he picked up one of the table displays, "I want that.." She said waving the picture of a huge greasy burger at him, "I missed mealie soup and my Kelia's bobotie, but nothing compares to a good old fashion burger..." She said with a slight laugh, "You are going to love Kelia, and Nya too. They are both so wonderful..." She said, excitement returning again, "Nya will tease you to no end, and no doubt try to intimidate you, she's kind of like Thursday, but really she's harmless." Nyw was really all bark and no bite, she had been in only one fight her whole life and had won only by accident, but her triumph was spread industriously by her brother hoping that it would keep Nya out of trouble and boys away from her. It had worked quite well, especially for Nai who was so hopeless in defending herself. People rarely messed with her because of Nya's reputation and if that didn't deter them the protection of Nya's older brother did. "Nya's brother would come too but he recently got in trouble with some girl from one of the villages, they want to get married too, but the girls father says no." She shook her head a little at the trouble, "It really was great to be back..." She couldn't deny that, she had missed everyone dearly, she'd had an enjoyable visit, it was only bad the last day. Had her mother told Na'ima she refused to attend the wedding on the second or thrd day of her trip, things would have been much different.

Looking up at the waitress she ordered quickly, waiting for Gabriel to finish and the woman to leave before she smiled again, "How are our friends here, though?" She asked, shaking a hand through her hair and pulling it over her shoulder, "I feel like I've been gone ages...." It had felt more like seven years then a week, mostly because she had been away from him. In all honesty this is not the kind of reunion she had wanted, she would have much preferred they had more time or that she was at least meeting him at home. They couldn't wait though, not when meeting her was so easy. Kelia had found that teasing her about this attachment was funny, taking any chance to make fun of her when she thought Nai was thinking of him, and it was often. She couldn't lie, the majority of her time that wasn't spent being dragged around by Nya reintroducing her to the dramas of her old friends was eaten up by wishing she was at home. Yes, she had missed South Africa and it was her home to but Washington was more her home too, she was fairly certain that had it not held Gabriel she wouldn't have been so sick for it.

TAGGED: gabriel dante van buren
STATUS: done.
WORDS: fifteen fifty three.
LYRICS: lady antebellum "i run to you"
THREADS: clickkk it.
LOCATION: fuddrucker's, logan international airport, boston
MUSIC: john mayer "slow dancing in a burning room"
NOTES: haha seriously!

[gabriel van buren.]

t

[/size]his was the part of nai he had a hard time figuring out. the girl was hardly a martyr but she had a horrible habit of playing things down, to make herself seem strong and to take from the other person. she didn't like seeing people upset but he'd noticed that she'd sometimes end up making herself upset in the process, his gold flecked eyes caught hers, gazing into them intently trying to find deceit in them. a million thoughts passed between them, he could clearly see that she was upset by the outcome of the trip, who wouldn't have been, he didn't see blame in them, like it was his fault she was feeling this way, but he saw something the brought him infinite joy. the sadness he'd always seen in her eyes, even when her light was shining the brightest and the air around her was bristling with her energy he'd always caught her sadness, fleeting and easily buried but it was always there. it was gone now, a smile took over his face and he leaned forward and pressed another soft kiss to her mouth, lingering longer then they normally did when they were in public. he may not have been entirely convinced that there wasn't a little bit of her that resented him making her go, but it was great to see that returning home had helped her out a little. no matter what the situation, even when his brothers had been the cruelest to him, he'd never liked to be away from the for too long. or any part of his family, from the ones he shared blood with to the wines where they had only shared the same town or the fact that they both knew once you got past what was in the genovese that it was the greatest food known to man. na'ima had been apart from her family for almost two years, only occasionally speaking to her aunt - who she'd described to him on many occasions as a girl who she considered her old sister - that kind of separation for him would have been unbearable. even when marcello had essentially turned his back on the family after their mother remarried, his mother and himself couldn't stand it, he was still fairly certain his other brothers were only more upset that they couldn't join him, completely ignoring all that there step father had done for them, going above and beyond the call of duty he was sure it was called. i feel like i did. he admitted, his brows furrowing slightly, as she laced his fingers with hers, i put you between a rock and hard spot, i insisted you go. sure, he'd picked a pretty low tactic to have her go, telling her he wouldn't marry her until she went back to see them, it was a cocky move on his part, hoping that she was in love with him enough to try it or at least he was relying on the fact she had more faith in her family then she let on. you don't seem like it... up until he had seen her off at the terminal she was low key complaining about having to make the trip, running him through millions of scenarios that all featured her mother refusing to see her and not allowing her in the house and having her spending her time at nya's while her aunt snuck out to see her. it was a pretty desperate picture for him to envision, something he was pretty sure she couldn't really actually see happening, then again his views of family and what he had been thought his whole life always seemed to stain these opinions.

g[/size]uilt washed over him as she stumbled over her words and returned her face to his shoulder, he was such a fucker. it may have been her moms actions that was upsetting her but without him insisting she go, this wouldn't have happened. she might have lived with the what if for a while but time heals everything. she was such a strong, resilient little thing another few months and he was sure she would have been over it, perfectly content in the knowledge that had her mother wanted to see her she could have made the effort. now he wasn't so sure how long it would take for her be okay with her decisions again, at this point he wasn't even sure what all had occurred back home, even these words were cryptic in their abruptness. was her mother not speaking to her? had she turned her away? or was she just refusing to come to the wedding? still, he couldn't let his curiosity push her into something she didn't want to talk about. this wasn't something he felt he could go barreling into, judging by her actions now he wasn't even sure it was something he wanted to cautiously explore. it was one of those with time things, slowly the details would be offered up to him and he would have to be content with it. let his head try to damper down the poorly contained self-control and make sure he wasn't forcing things out of her too quickly. that wouldn't help, in fact it might actually make her resent his insistence she go, maybe he'd feel a little better if she were to be mad at him. not to mad but he felt like he deserved some sort of admonishment for insisting she go try to sort things out even if she didn't feel regret about it at that point. he tilted his head down to hers, bringing his face to her hair and kissing the top of her head, muttering his apologies again even though the blonde would not accept them. gabriel shook his head at her words, his brows set in defiance, no, baby no. he said his tone taking on a harder edge, you have every right to be upset. he was almost a little irritated with her for thinking it, then trying to put on a show for him like nothing was long, he gave her a chastising look, but again reminded himself "don't push." he caught her hand once she was done with his hair and kissed her knuckles, then her palm and then her wrist, sounds great, i'm starved. he said, which was only half true, he wasn't all that hungry but at the time they had made their plans meeting at a restaurant seemed practical and he probably would have met her anywhere just to see her. despite his words he didn't want to let her go, yeah, meeting in public was pretty uninspired, they should have met at his hotel, where he could have kissed her fiercely or she could have cried all she wanted without worry of embarrassing herself or looking crazy for sobbing in the middle of an airport restaurant.

a[/size]t least, they knew better now for next time. his smile returned full force as she quickly buried any sadness from her face, the only evidence were her damp eyelashes overshadowed by the joy that filled her crystal blue eyes. good, that's great. are we putting them up? he asked, trying to imagine fitting the two in the room that used to belong to nai's, there had barely been enough room for her with al her stuff. it wasn't for want of money that they'd lack a bigger apartment it was mostly out of their own desire to be located near the beach, they're had been a bigger apartment a little further inland, but their want of a view had won out over the practicality. he returned her kiss eagerly, trying to remember that they were in public and as much as he wanted it not to be so he was stuck with a chaste - for them - kiss, even though it had been better then the earlier ones. most of him was still unconvinced, especially knowing how good a talent she had at hiding her own misery so others could lay bare theirs, and the look on his face still scream that he was incredulous, but he squeezed her hand back and sat. he smiled as he leaned back a little to properly see what she was showing him, on of their famous burgers, probably their biggest one too and he smiled. he trie to control his expression at the weird foods she named, the names didn't make them sound at all appealing, it was an exchange they were used to she gushed about her favorite foods from home and he raised his eyebrows at the names, trying to block out the pictures that had formed. not that he had much room to talk since one of his favorite foods actually contained brain. i think i'll stick to my burgers... she said with a chuckle, looking over the menu briefly, smiling as she gushed, he was feeling less guilty now to know that some good had come from the trip, that she was obviously more excited then she was upset - at least for right now. they sound wonderful. he said, grinning, flickig his eyes from the menu to her, a little worried at the comparison between tizz and nai's best friend, if she is like thursday i can hardly see how she'd be harmless! he said with a laugh, thursday had been one of his closest friends, a girl he'd frequently flirted with and was abused by, he was glad that the decrease of the former hadn't encourage the latter anymore then he already did enough by himself. i hope she isn't too much like tizz, i have enough bruises to last me forever already. his tone might have been teasing but it really was true, he couldn't lie and say he didn't deserve it sometimes but he hardly saw the need for the reprimand all the time, and so hard too.

g[/size]abriel raised a brow at her next statement, the brother you.... he let the statement trail off, it was one of the few tidbits of information he had from her love life, he knew they dated secretly and briefly and that she had lost her virginity to him, but other then that they didn't touch on the subject much, of him or anyone else. there was a bit of himself relieve that he wouldn't be able to come, who just wanted the guy your fiancé lost their virginity to showing up at your wedding. why won't the dad let them get married? she was obviously more amused by the trouble then concerned, though concern for the boy dropped away at his words and he smiled, i'm glad, will you go back very soon? he wondered, trying to act like either way it didn't matter to him. gabriel smiled up at the waitress when she arrived, ordering he handed back the menus to her, before devoting his attention to nai again, oh, good, good. he said with a quick nod, turns out, briar and her mom don't get along as perfectly as rebecca led me to believe. bri was less then pleased to hear her mom was coming... he said shaking his head a little, feeling bad for the teenager. what was it with these families? i offered to rescind the invitation but she said she was fine with it, i was just hoping that you could change up the seating, maybe you two could figure out how to keep then on opposites side of the room. he said with a laugh, i wish i had more entertaining news to offer you... he said, with a grin, before taking his eyes away from hers as the waitress brought them their drinks, it did feel like forever. longer, really. and he wished he could say he was exaggerating, his brother might have been right about him being whipped. too much longer and i would have had to come after you... he teased with a grin though, there was some serious consideration going to see her, though he knew first time around it should just be her.

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[/size] na'ima aria vanderbilt (soon to be van buren) word count[/size] two thousand and twenty three. clothes[/size] completeee status[/size] right here credits[/size] your template, my text, jason mraz's lyrics notes[/size] i am so so so so sorry this took so long. i fail. :[ [/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote][/justify][/sub]