THE B TEAM // Pretty Little Liars #WATTYS2014 #FANFICTION

Chapter 32: Before He Went

THREE MONTH BEFORE HE LEFT RAVENSWOOD:

  

“You promised me you would stop seeing her.”

I lost the grip on my house keys as they tumbled to the floor.

I hadn’t noticed Gabe leaning against the door when I got out of Alison’s car. All I could think about was how Leslie Douglas managed to have a nasty fall that I had let Alison orchestrate for the first time. She’s was standing one moment and in the next, she was on the floor crying out for help. Of course, I went to help her straight away. I had to eliminate me as a suspect as soon as possible and Alison had eliminated herself just by being at the other side of the room.

She was becoming fantastic.

So I guess that’s why I wasn’t prepared to see him just standing there. A silent fury running across his face and down his body. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Alison flick an annoyed glance at him and then drove off.

“No, hello Alice, How’s your day?” I said, as I picked up my keys in one big sweep. Then I moved my way towards the front porch but I knew it wasn’t the end of it. He wouldn’t let me just walk away. It was Gabriel after all. You could see the amount of discomfort he was in just by the outline of his arm muscles, which stretched his t shirt.

A part of me wanted to reach out and touch him. To touch his hair and his cheeks and his mouth with my mouth. But instead, I moved next to him where the wooden porch chair was situated and made myself comfortable in it.

“You’re mad at me,” I said, once I had settled in. It was a statement. The tension was radiating off him.

He was always the silent fighter. He wouldn’t throw a tantrum and take the whole world with him whenever he got angry. He would stay put and just wait. That was eerie but it was why I cared for him.

We weren’t the type of people to fight. Normal couples had their ongoing quarrels and we had none of that. We were just what we were and it was liberating. But in his silences, it felt like I had been thrown against a wall.

Like now.

Out of the corner of my eye I watched him slowly move his head towards me. “I heard about Leslie Douglas.”

Did it suddenly get cold? I wrapped my arms around me and tucked my legs underneath me.

I sighed, “I don’t know why you blame her, you know, Alison. It was my idea.”

His voice was hard, “That’s not hard to guess Alice. I’ve known you too long to understand you. But I’ve also known you long enough to know that she’s changing you.”

Changing me? Why was it that everyone in my entire life criticised me about changing? I have always ever been who I was. Always.

I guess that’s why the mood started to get darker. I stood up abruptly and spoke, “What difference does that make from you trying to change me?”