A/N: This is long. Really long. Also has an illustration attached. Please check out my profile for details. Inspired partially by DotCiki and all her amazing works – go and read her stories, people. They are lovely~
: A Step in Time :
GabrielOlivia; He's a concert pianist without work and she's a top film actress and they haven't seen each other in five years.
Gabriel struck the keys of the piano softly, relishing in the sound the music made as it echoed around the concert hall. He started with a few scales and arpeggios, pausing every so often to brush his floppy hair out of his eyes. After about the fifth or sixth time he had to pause to do so, he lamented his decision not to get it cut a few weeks ago when he had actually had the chance to. Now it would be a good few weeks, or even a month or two before he managed to go in and see the only hairdresser that wouldn't mess up his hair. But, he thought quietly to himself, that was the price he had to pay for actually having work that paid. And Gabriel was glad of it. The work, that was.
Being a concert pianist, he should have been able to get work easily. People with his sort of talent didn't come along very often. But he had managed to get a reputation for being unapproachable and difficult to work with; and a reputation in the music world could go a long way to not getting work. Part of it was because of his endowment; it had got stronger over the years, to the point where he could read people's emotions simply by touching their clothing. It freaked him and often the other person out. It was for these reasons that he preferred to stay away from other people, busy environments.
And yet here he was, back in the busiest city in England, preparing for the next few weeks recording in a studio with far too many people for his comfort. Which was why he had come to the studio a day early, to get a feel for the piano, the room and the music before having to deal with his nerves. Though Gabriel wasn't a particular fan of film recordings, they paid him well for the work he did. Better than the concert work anyway. He supposed he ought to thank Fidelio for setting him up with the company who contracted him again and again – he didn't know what he'd do without the regular work.
At first when Gabriel was working on films, he'd research a bit about who was in it, what it was about, trying to get a feel for how the music was supposed to be played. Now, he could be barely bothered to look at the title of the film that he was recording for, and just went with what the music and conductor said about how it should be played. That way, he could put the minimum effort into these recordings, still get paid, and then get back to his own music, the personal stuff.
It was probably sad that a single, attractive young man living in England's capital city couldn't find anything to do apart from play the piano and look after his gerbils. His fingers started playing something completely on their own, and as he listened he realised it was the song he'd composed in a fit of anger at the world several years back. Gabriel sunk back into the music, losing himself in it for the first time in ages. When he'd briefly seen Fidelio almost six months ago at a concert, Fidelio had said that Gabriel had lost his spark, his passion since he was younger. And maybe that was true. He simply didn't care about the music as much as he used to.
He ran through the film's repertoire quickly enough; there was nothing that was particularly complex about it, and certainly nothing he hadn't seen before. All this music was starting to sound the same to him – he hadn't seen any decent, original film soundtracks for years. Glancing at his watch and seeing that it was getting late – it was half five, and the studio shut at six unless anyone was recording, Gabriel decided to grab his music and go. He closed the lid of the piano gently, taking the music off the stand and placing it back into a case any-old how, before reaching for his coat and scarf. It was rather cold that day – winter was well on its way, and there was a cold breeze in the air that day even though there was no rain. Which was probably a good thing, seeing as Gabriel didn't have an umbrella with him.
Just as he was about to leave, he heard someone knock on the door. "Come in," he yelled, hoping that whoever was outside was able to hear him. It appeared that they had, seeing as the door had opened, revealing a young woman, around Gabriel's age, with blue and red streaks in the dyed purple hair, dark shades that he thought were designer, and six inch platforms that made Gabriel wonder at how she could walk in them. He had only known one woman who could pull off heals quite as spectacularly, and he hadn't seen her in years. "Can I help you with anything?"
The woman nodded as she looked around. "I was supposed to meet the director and the conductor of "Those that Fly Free" here around now, I think?" she told him. Gabriel looked confused at her for a second. "The film that the music's being recorded here tomorrow," she clarified for Gabriel's sake, and he nodded.
"I don't think they're here at the moment," he replied. "I'm the pianist for tomorrow's recording, and as far as I know, no one else has been here all day. We're not on 'til tomorrow morning, so I expect that they're putting the last minute touches on the score." The young woman sighed at this. "Why were you supposed to meet with them anyway?" he asked, very slightly intrigued by the young woman. She was attractive, and reminded him (just a little bit too much) of the girl he'd loved and lost all those years back.
She sighed again, and replied to his question. "I'm the lead actress in the film. There was some talk about me needing to do something in the recordings, sing or some nonsense, or perhaps they just wanted me to be there. I don't know. The meeting was supposed to be to finalise the details of when I was needed tomorrow, so I didn't mess up or something like that. I suppose I'm just going to have to show up at the start of rehearsals tomorrow. What time do they start anyway?" This last part was aimed at Gabe, who was still standing over by the Grand Piano.
"Nine O'clock sharp. Woe betide you if you're a musician and you're late," he told her, trying to insert a little humour into the conversation. Surprisingly, it worked, and the woman gave a little smile at his words.
"Thank you, Mr..." she quipped, before trailing off as she realised she had no idea of his name.
Gabriel took a few steps closer towards her, well prepared to make for the door if this went badly wrong. Most of his attempts to be romantic ended that way; he wasn't going to be caught out this time. "Silk," he replied, quietly.
The woman whipped her sunglasses off her face (honestly, why was she wearing them anyway? It was almost December, for goodness sake) and exclaimed, "Gabriel!" She moved closer to him. " Oh my god, it is you. I haven't seen you in ages!"
"Olivia?" Gabriel questioned, half in shock at seeing one of his old school friends. True, she looked a heck of a lot like her – the hair was decidedly her, and he had already made the connection with the heels, even if the sunglasses were decided un-Olivia like. She had probably changed a bit in the seven years since their school-days, and it had been five-odd years since he had seen her in person.
"Of course it's me, silly." She bounded over to him in those six inch platforms of hers. No doubt it was her, Gabriel was certain that there was no one else in the world who could do that movement in heels. "What, was the hair not enough of a giveaway? I'd have thought that the lead pianist would do a bit of research into the film he's recording for." She pouted at him, disappointed that he hadn't known.
"Actually Liv, it was the heels," he replied hesitantly to her comment. She was so close to him, and smelled delectably of something he thought was perfume, and he'd forgotten how little respect she had for other people's body space, and how good it felt to have her near him. "I used to look, but now it's a bit more of a turn up and play sort of thing. It pays well," he confessed to the young woman who was currently very in his face. "Look, Liv, do you think you could..."
Olivia got the message. "Sorry, Gabe. Just get a little over excited there," she apologised to him. "It's just, none of us have really heard from you in years. I mean, the last we heard of you was that dashed email to Lysander a few months ago, and no one's seen you in the flesh since Fidelio saw you at the concert six months back. And it was lucky that he did – he told us that he saw you trying to sneak away. I haven't seen you in at least five years. It's getting ridiculous Gabriel."
Gabriel was taken aback by Olivia's words (he'd also forgotten how talkative the girl was when she got going) "I'm sorry..." He didn't really know what to say. She had missed him? It was almost too good to be true. "I guess I just didn't know that everyone cared so much," he confessed to her.
"Well, they do," she said, placing her hands on her hips and looking straight at him. "You got any plans for tonight?"
"Not really, I mean I was just going to go home and play some more, maybe have a look at how the gerbils are doing..." he trailed off. Why was he confessing to this absolutely stunning woman that he had no life? He should have spun some tale about having something dreadfully important to do, or something along those lines. Maybe he should go back to watching romance movies for inspiration.
"Good, cause you are coming with me and we are having a good catch up as to what you've been doing all these years without me," Olivia told him. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him with her, getting out her cell phone and calling a cab, as Gabriel flailed and tried to escape her grasp. "Yeah, hello. Can I get a cab to come to Phoenix Studios, Wembley. Yes I want one now, why would I be calling otherwise. Thank you."
Gabriel knew that trying to protest once Olivia got something into her head was absolutely useless. He had seen many people try and fail during their school years together. Still, it surprised him when he found himself standing outside the studios with Olivia, waiting for the cab that she had called. Her hand was now linked in his, and she seemed to be shivering slightly, even though she had materialised a scarf from her handbag and wrapped it loosely around her shoulders. She has also managed to lose the sunglasses at Gabriel's suggestion, seeing as it was fairly dark by then and she really did look ridiculous with them on.
"You got any preferences to where we go?" Olivia asked, stamping her feet impatiently in an attempt to warm herself up a bit.
"I don't generally hang about anywhere much. Most of my time is either spent in my apartment, the coffee shop about twenty metres down from my apartment, or whichever studio I'm recording in that week," Gabriel told Olivia. "Do you want my coat or something, you look cold," he offered.
Olivia shook her head, teeth chattering as she did so. "I'll be fine without it. I guess I'm kinda used to the cold," she said to him, as a particularly strong wind gusted past them, the cold hitting her right in the bones. "Brrrrrrr," she let out before she could stop herself.
Gabriel took his coat off instantly and draped it round Olivia's shoulders. The girl protested quietly, but Gabriel insisted. "I don't want you going down with hypothermia or something. Charlie would kill me I'm sure," he told her. He was distracted by looking for the cab so he didn't notice the look on Olivia's face at the mention of Charlie's name. If he had, he'd have kicked himself for making her look so sad.
"Look, Gabe. The cab will be here soon. I don't need your coat. And besides, I'll just infect it with my emotions or something and then you won't be able to wear it again," Olivia said quietly. He shook his head, indicating for her to keep the coat, though he knew she spoke the truth that about her emotions and the coat. She sighed. It bothered her that he was being so nice and protective of her even though it had been years since she had seen him. He had been like that at school as well, though no one had really noticed it back then. Everyone had noticed Gabe too late; it wasn't until he was gone that they all realised how big a part he had been of the group. "Look, here's the cab," she said as it pulled up to the curb. "You can have your coat back now."
"Keep it," Gabriel insisted, as he opened the cab door for her before following her into it. They both got settled into the back seats, and the taxi driver asked them where they wanted to go. Olivia replied with the name of the some place which Gabe had never heard of, though it sounded fairly hip and trendy. Exactly the sort of place Olivia would visit and he wouldn't. Just something else highlighting the differences between the two of them.
The taxi ride there was fairly uneventful, with Olivia just randomly chatting about the movie she was working on now, while Gabriel stared out the window wondering just quite how he'd managed to get himself stuck in a cab going out for a night with an old school friend who just happened to be his old best friend's girlfriend, who was also extremely attractive (and Gabriel admitted it readily. He'd known it for years. Known it all too well.) and she was sticking to him like glue. Anyone else would have likely been glad of the attention, especially in Gabriel's position (he'd got nowhere better than a second date for years. He knew his love life was in a state; he didn't need someone else to tell him, though Sander tried to at any opportunity he got), and knowing of the past between them, Gabriel was surprised that no one had turned up as a cheerleader yet. Gabriel shut off all thoughts of this. He was just going to go and have a chat with an old school friend. That was it. Nothing was going to happen. Never mind how pretty she looked in the knee-length dress which co-ordinated so perfectly with her hair and those skyscraper heels which made her legs look impossibly long. She was his friend's girlfriend.
Gabriel was still deep in thought when the taxi driver pulled up to the curb and said, "Here we go Miss," asking Olivia politely for the money for the ride. She poked Gabriel in the side when she saw that he made no response to the fact that they were there, earning an "Ouch, what did you do that for," from him as she pulled him from the cab. He looked out to where she had brought him, half expecting a night club or some freaky drama place (Olivia may have been his friend back in school, but that didn't mean that the drama lot didn't scare him half to death sometimes).
Instead, he saw a quaint-looking old fashioned pub, and breathed a sigh of relief. A pub he could deal with. No fancy drinks whose names changed every time someone new came along, no girls dressed in practically nothing wanting to know how old he was, but a good old fashioned pub. Like the one's they hit after the concerts for a bit of surreptitious drinking that the organisers didn't know about.
"You look shocked," Olivia commented, as they stood outside.
Gabriel looked at her like she was crazy. "I expected you to bring me to some fancy chic nightclub or something, with girls and loud music I don't know how anyone stands and people who have far too much to drink, not this..." He gestured with his hand towards the building. Olivia chuckled at this. "I don't know, it's just I'd have taken you for someone who'd go somewhere a bit more modern, not a pub which has been around since..." He looked for a sign that might give him an age.
"1903," Olivia supplied, as she dragged him inside the pub. "A fellow actor brought me here on another shoot a few years back. I've loved the place ever since. Okay, you're right I don't usually go for pubs, but for this one I make an exception," she explained, quickly finding a small table near the bar and sitting down. "Look, drinks are on me tonight. So what do you want?" She looked at him expectantly.
Gabriel just stared back at her with a blank expression. "Huh?" he said, as Olivia looked at him curiously. "It's not even seven yet, and I've got work tomorrow. Early. As I explained to you earlier. You expect me to drink?"
Olivia nodded her head. "It's not a proper reminiscence if we're not half drunk while doing it. And you're forgetting that I know you far too well for your own good. You're not going to tell me anything really without any alcohol in your bloodstream. It's not like you're a bad drunk, like some I could mention." Gabe could have a stab at guessing who she was talking about, remembering back to one party where Tancred had had a little too much to drink. Not only had he tried to snog everyone there, he'd also managed to snow them in. In the middle of June. At night. It had mystified all the local residents completely.
"Alright, fine, I give in," Gabriel said as he put his hands up, knowing when he was beaten. "You'd better order though, I have no idea what to get. I don't drink much."
Olivia giggled, and Gabriel immediately knew that he'd probably made the wrong decision to let her choose drinks for that evening. He prepared himself for the killer headache he knew he was going to get come morning. He watched her stand at the bar as she casually chatted to the bartender. He supposed that if she came in here regularly she would know the staff. Before he had time to absorb the details, she'd come back over to him with two large looking pints of orangey-brown looking liquid.
"Beer?" Gabriel questioned as she came back to the table.
"Thought I'd get you started on something simple to see how you do before getting you so hammered I don't manage to get anything out of you," she replied as she took a swig of the liquid. "Come on, it's not poison I swear. You're twenty five Gabe, you can't tell me that you don't go out drinking now and again, even if you don't get yourself drunk."
Gabriel anxiously sniffed the surface of the liquid, before taking a sip. He pulled back as he mulled over the drink, before proclaiming, "I suppose it's okay. And I don't really have anyone to go drinking with. I feel stupid going drinking by myself. Occasionally after a concert there'll be a lot of us will go and raid the local pub for as much alcohol as possible, but I always find it's more interesting to remain sober and watch the antics of the rest of them instead." He brushed his hair away from his eyes, once again becoming conscious of how long it was.
"So come on. What have you been up to since I saw you last?" Olivia asked, taking another long slug of beer. At this rate, Gabriel thought, she'll drain the glass in no time.
"You do realise that's a good five years, don't you Liv?" he asked her, and she nodded. "I can't remember everything that's happened in the past five years."
Olivia leaned over to him, unwinding the scarf that was still around his neck and taking it and placing it with his coat and her scarf which she had discarded earlier. Gabriel blushed as her hands brushed over his neck and shoulders. "It's barely seven Gabe, as you pointed out yourself. There is plenty of time for us to get drunk, for you to spill your entire life story, and for both of us to make it into work tomorrow morning. Time," she said with just a hint of seduction in her voice, "is not an issue here, Gabriel."
Gabriel's eyes widened at the close physical contact with the woman. He could feel her clothes brushing against him, enabling him to sense her emotions. It didn't help him much. It was what he always had got off her; happiness, with a hint of joy and mischievousness. There was a hint of melancholy added to it that night as well, but Gabriel put that down as his own feelings. Olivia wasn't above doing anything to get what she wanted, so he better try and tell her at least something about what had been going on. She had drawn back a bit, so he at least had his own personal space as he began to talk. "To be honest, nothing interesting has really happened. I've played concerts in most countries in the modern world, spent a year in Japan performing across the country with various different acts."
"Tell me about Japan," Olivia interrupted. "I've always wanted to go, yet I've never found time to."
Gabe smiled at this confession of Olivia's. "I think you'd fit right in there Liv. I spent a month in Tokyo, and the street fashion there is outrageous. If you hadn't worn what you did back at school I would have thought I'd been hallucinating. Some of your stuff was much more creative than what I saw there." Olivia returned Gabe's smile at the point. She did like a good compliment. "A lot of the people who turned up to my concerts were oddly dressed as well. I even did some performances with some Japanese rock bands. Eventually, after about a year I had just had enough. The Red King's bloodline isn't very prevalent in Japan, so no one really got my talent. I just wanted to be back on English soil. So I left."
"Sounds like you had a pretty decent deal out there," Olivia said. She tried to take a swig of her empty glass. "Wait a minute, I need another drink," she told him as she jumped off the chair and ran to the bar to get something else. Gabriel just stared at her, having nothing better to do. He realised how much she had really grown up since he had seen her last. The Olivia from five years back had always been rather striking (it was hard not to be when you had multicoloured hair and were taller than boys who were five years older than you were), but there was more depth to this one. A look again sort of beauty, something that made her not just pretty, but beautiful.
He was only aware that she had come back when he heard the clink of a glass sit on the table. "You seem to be staring rather a bit there," she mentioned. Gabriel's cheeks tinted themselves a light red. It was bad enough that he was staring at her in the first place, let alone he got caught. "Don't worry about it. Everyone else is doing it too," she told him in an attempt to make him feel better.
Gabriel took a glance around, and saw that what Olivia had said was right. There were an awful lot of people staring at their table, mainly Olivia, but some also at him. "They're probably just jealous," Olivia told him, when he mentioned it. "I mean, some of them might recognise me, and I doubt any of them pay attention to classical musicians, so you're practically an unknown to them."
"I'm an unknown to the classical world as well," Gabriel sighed. He gave up trying to stay sober and took a good long draught of the beer glass sat before him. "Since I came back from Japan no one wants to hire me; which is why I've been reduced to recording for film in order to get money. They think I'm good, but the classical music scene obviously doesn't see the attraction of me. As if concerts weren't hard enough to get anyway, I have a reputation for being unco-operative and difficult to work with."
Olivia moved her chair closer to him, looking at him. There was a sense of despair in his eyes which hadn't been there earlier. She felt sorry for making him bring the topic up. "But you're amazing Gabriel. Couldn't you ask Fidelio to put you in touch with some people. I'm sure he'd be happy to do if you asked him too. I mean, I could try and pass your name onto some people, but I don't often meet many people with a demand for classical pianists," she said, gently for the first time really that evening.
"It's okay Liv," he smiled at her, knowing she was concerned about his well being. "Fidelio put me in contact with the company who are hiring me at the moment. So you can thank him next time you see him for this chance meeting, by the way." He finished off his beer as he finished talking. "I think I might need another drink here, Liv," he told her as he surveyed the empty beer glass. She herself was just finishing the dregs of her second drink. "And I think you might want to steady yourself. I'm not carrying you home, I hope you realise."
"Gabe, I know how much alcohol I can handle. Two drinks is not anything to start worrying about." She beckoned a young man standing by the bar over, and for a moment Gabe wondered what she was doing, as they had started whispering to each other, but before he could wonder too long the man spoke.
"So Liv tells me you're not much of a drinker, eh? I've got just the thing. Guaranteed to make anyone into an alcoholic in one go." He ran back to the bar, preparing drinks for the pair.
"Do I want to know what I'm drinking?" Gabriel asked. "It sounds like one of the Onimous's concoctions. And I'm not convinced that's a good thing." He sighed.
Olivia placed a reassuring arm on his shoulder. "I can assure you it'll be fine."
"I know that look. And that voice. It was always when either you or Charlie had some mad plan for us to rescue someone. Generally involved at least half of us getting detention and everyone in trouble. If not life-threatening danger," Gabe said. "I can assure you that I am not reassured by your statement at all," he stated, looking at her. Her head was lopsided as she stared at him.
"Are you trying to be philosophical or just plain funny," she said, and Gabriel just stared at her. "'Cause I can't decide which one."
Luckily, he was saved from having to answer Olivia's question by the fact that the drinks arrived just then. Both of them sipped carefully at them, Gabe giving his a bit of a poke first to try and make sure that it was actually drinkable. They sat there in silence for a few minutes, giving everything a chance to sink in. Gabriel took the chance to have a good look round the old pub; he kinda got now why Olivia liked it so much. Movie posters littered the walls, some fairly old, yet others very new – Gabriel didn't recognise the titles of most of them. He hadn't been near a cinema in years, and the only contact he got with films was in the local media store when he went and got music. There was a girl who looked a lot like Olivia in a few of them, but Gabe didn't want to ask unless he was wrong and she yelled at him some more. Instead, he went for the much more placid question of, "So, what have you been up to? I've spilled my life story, so you can spill yours."
"Gabriel, what you just told me was nowhere near a life story. More of a quick rough and tumble summary. I've read movie synopses more detailed," the girl said. "Nonetheless, I suppose I ought to spill as well. As soon as I got out of Bloor's I started auditioning for parts. Mum and Dad helped put me in contact with the right people, but it wasn't for a few years until I managed to get myself a break. I did some shooting for a movie which I didn't think would be very big at the time – I was called in as a last minute replacement, and suddenly it became a hit. Completely unexpected. After that the jobs and contracts started to come in."
"I'm glad for you Livvy. Sounds like you've had a much better deal of it," Gabriel told her.
"I suppose I have," Olivia replied. "Anyway, I've just spent a few weeks in Germany doing some stuff, and soon I'll have all the promotion for the movie coming up. I can't complain that I'll be short of work any time soon. Leaves no time for a social life, I tell you. I try and go back and see the guys as often as I can, but it's already been a month – before I went off to Germany, now I think about it. Once I'd got the recording stuff out the way I was thinking of going back for a few weeks, providing I can arrange the time off with my agent. You should come with," she told him. Gabriel noticed the sparkle in her eyes as she thought about the prospect.
"I mean, you're going to have to come back sooner or later anyway. Lysander was going to send you an invite to the wedding, and him and Tancred are fully prepared to hunt you down and kill you if you don't agree to come," Olivia added.
"Wait a minute, Lysander's getting married? To who? I haven't heard anything about this." Gabe was mystified.
Olivia looked at him, it was more of a glare really. "See, this is why you need to keep in contact more often. Anyway, it's Sander and Lauren's big day. I don't know if they've set a date yet. Sometime in the middle of June I think. Lauren really wants a summer wedding. Seems to think there's less chance of Tancred making it rain if there's not rain already."
Both of them chuckled at this. "Lauren really should have learnt by now that the weather has no effect on Tanc's weather. I'm surprised they've stuck together though, it's got to be almost ten years now," Gabe remarked. This was probably why Lysander was almost teasing him about commitment issues. His lousy two date standard was rubbish compared to a ten year relationship.
"Nah, not ten years in a row. They broke up in the summer after their first year of Uni; they had a big argument about something and lost contact. Lysander was kicking himself for years, trying to track her down and apologise, but never managed it. It's quite cute actually."
Gabriel could tell that Olivia was enjoying this. "Well, they're obviously back together now, so what happened?" he asked.
"Now this is really cute as well, and really coincidental. It sounds like something out of a movie or something, it's that ridiculous. One of Tanc's Uni friends was getting married, and him and Lysander had become good friends through Tancred, so both Tanc and Sander got themselves invites to the wedding. Turns out the bride was one of Lauren's old uni friends. Lysander and Lauren got talking, found that both of them missed the relationship they had had back in their teens and that neither had held down a solid relationship since and decided to get back together. Sander proposed last year, and as I said, they're getting married sometime in June-ish." Olivia even managed to aww at her own tale.
"Figure's Lysander would be the one to get the happy-ever-after-ending out of all of us, doesn't it," Gabriel said wistfully. "How many girls hearts has Tancred broken by now anyway? I imagine that would be quite a sizeable record." He thought of his friend's track record at school, it hadn't been pretty. Him and Lysander had spent countless hours dealing with Tancred's relationship problems. Suffice to say, Gabriel had become quite good at comforting girls, even if he didn't know how to do anything else with them.
Olivia smiled at this. "Surprisingly, not as many as you'd think. Him and Emma have been doing some sort of on and off thing for years. Tanc's proposed twice, they've almost made it up the aisle once, and Emma's even accepted someone else's proposal between then and now. They're back together now, though no one has a clue how. It's quite amusing though; Lysander and me keep lists on how many others there have been between the relationships, and Emma's closing in on Tancred. I think he's starting to realise how much Em actually means to him; her accepting Asa's proposal was a big wake up call for him."
"Wait one moment. Emma Tolly accepted Asa Pike's proposal?" Gabriel stared at Olivia incredulously. "God, how screwed up has the world got since I left it?" he pondered, more to himself than to anyone else.
Olivia replied anyway. "Oi," she said, poking him rather hard in the shoulder. "You're still here. And I told you, she broke it off after Tancred came after he rather chivalrously came and demanded to know what Asa was doing with, and I quote, "His Woman". I don't think I've seen Tanc that angry for ages."
Both of them laughed at the thought of Tancred violently protecting Emma. The conversation was momentarily halted when the Bartender brought over some drinks to their table. Curious, Olivia said, "We didn't order anything."
"From someone over there." The Barman roughly pointed in the direction. "Says they're a fan of your work," he gestured to Olivia, "and wanted to buy you and your companion some drinks. Also wanted you to autograph this if you're not too busy," the barman finished and held out an autograph book.
Olivia grabbed a pen out of one of her pockets and dashed off an autograph. "Tell them thanks for me," she said with one of those dazzling smiles of hers. Gabriel momentarily wished she had aimed it at him, and then shook his head at the thought. It was never going to happen. She handed to book back to the bartender before she turned back to face Gabriel, taking a sip of her drink as she did so, and exclaimed, "This is some good stuff! Whoever ordered it knew what they were doing."
Gabriel took a mouthful of the liquid as well and agreed with her. "So, how about you and Charlie?" he asked, quietly, not quite sure if he wanted to know the answer to the question he had asked.
Olivia stiffened slightly. She hadn't wanted this to come up. "Charlie and I broke up a few years back, Gabe," she confessed, after a momentary pause.
"Liv," he moved closer to her, not quite sure what to do. He might have been good at this comfort business back at school, but he was fairly certain he had lost his touch. "I'm sorry. I know how much you loved him." Gabriel really had no idea what to say. What did you say after something like that? The emotions he was getting off her just served to confuse him further. He couldn't read anything solid.
Olivia leaned into the vague embrace Gabriel was offering. "It's okay. I broke it off in the first place. Thing's just weren't the same after..." Gabriel knew what she was talking about. He had left the city after it had happened, too ashamed to face up to the facts. He had assumed that both of them had just carried on with their lives, without a care in the world for the horrible impulsive decision which he had made that could (and now had, he knew) have wrecked everything.
He had kissed Olivia. Stupidly, impulsively. He still regretted the decision to this day. Gabriel had been renting the spare room in the Bone's house, spending most of his time on the piano with Lyell, trying to get somewhere with his music. He had graduated from Bloor's, while both Charlie and Olivia had still been there. Olivia had begun to look more and more attractive as the years went on, and he had found himself falling for her, against his will. Seeing her with one of his best friends had started to push him over the edge.
One day, he had just lost it. Olivia had been all made up for a date with Charlie, looking even more beautiful that she usually did, and she had stepped inside the piano room and just stood there listening to him play and Gabriel just couldn't help himself when she had come so close he could smell her perfume, and he had kissed her. He had sworn afterwards that it had meant nothing, and she had agreed. He'd spent another few months in the house before guilt finally got the better of him and he told everyone he was moving someplace else. Gabriel hadn't been back since.
"I mean," Olivia continued. "Okay, I suppose I was a bit broken after it. But that's to be expected, right?" She gulped down the rest of the drink in front of her. "I even went out with Manfred of all people for two weeks before Fidelio and Ben came and knocked some sense into me. Thinking back on it, I was probably a wreck. But it's been a good few years, Gabriel. I got over it." She sighed. "I think I need another drink," she stated, moving off towards the bar.
She stumbled slightly on the way, he noticed. Admittedly, this would be her fifth drink, and he had no idea what the alcohol content was in any of them. Glancing down at his watch, he saw it was almost nine o'clock. It didn't seem like they'd been in there that long at all. But looking round the pub and seeing how much more crowded it was than when they came in, he was forced to admit that it was probably getting late.
In the flickering light of the pub's gentle lights (he admitted that that was one thing he enjoyed about pubs. The lighting was just so much nicer), he looked at Olivia, standing there as someone came up to her and asked her for her autograph – that was the second time that night – and is forced to admit that he is still attracted to the beautiful young woman who had haunted him through sixth form and beyond. For the first time that night, he wished that someone else was there with them, someone he could talk to about whether it was totally and completely wrong to have these feelings for her, or now that he knew that she no longer had a boyfriend whether she was open game for him to go for.
As she wandered back, drink in hand (Gabriel wondered if she'd actually paid for this one or not), he let out a sigh. It was not the time to be dreaming and contemplating. No matter the fact that he'd been back in her life barely a few hours and wanted her very badly.
Olivia settled herself down in her chair, placing her drink down carefully on the table. She eyed Gabe's half finished glass with an air of displeasure, and Gabriel took a mouthful of it before she could comment. "That's enough about my love life. You got anyone special?" she asked.
Gabriel dared himself to dream that there was just a hint of something (jealousy, longing, he just plain did not care anymore) in that question. "No one. Can't hold a girl down for more than a week or two. Not since Japan at least. I had something that lasted three months, but broke it off when I came back to England," he answered her.
The relief in Olivia's eyes was immediate, but was replaced all too quick with something that looked more like concern. "Oh, Gabe. You're so sweet, irresistibly cute, a complete gentleman through and through. Why don't you have women falling over their feet to go out with you?" she asked. Gabriel knew from her tone that she was addressing this comment as much to herself and the world as she was to him. He answered it nonetheless.
"They think I'm weird. Don't get the endowment. Most of them are freaked out that I know what they're feeling just by touching their clothes," Gabriel tried to explain. Olivia just moved closer to him, facing him.
"But Gabe," she said as she ran her fingers through his hair, letting them dance over his scalp. Her other hand was rested softly on his arm. "You're not odd in the slightest."
Gabriel could smell the alcohol on her breath. It intoxicated him to have her this close, the knowledge that he could just reach out and she would be his. "Olivia, you're drunk," he told her as he tried to stand up. "We should go home." He attempted to reach for his coat.
No sooner as he did so, he found Olivia's lips on his, kissing him passionately. Gabriel's arms dropped from reaching for his coat, instead relishing in her taste and how her fingers delicately curled in his hair. He wound one arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him, and the other in that beautiful dyed hair of hers, and lent into the kiss even more, giving himself completely to the girl. He was glad of the fact that somehow he was still taller than the girl even though she was wearing those six inch heels.
Olivia tasted decidedly of alcohol, he thought. It was to be expected. But he was far too busy with how her body felt next to his, the emotions that were radiating off her clothing – by Jove, was that actual love or just infatuation and lust – too even start to think about how drunk they both were. Gabriel was intoxicated by her, and knew that he had been for years. This was just a reminder of what they had shared all those years ago, only this time it tasted even sweeter with the knowledge that they were hurting no one with their actions.
They broke apart breathing heavily. Olivia's arms came to rest round his neck, toying with his shirt collar absent-mindedly, while his found themselves a comfortable spot just above her hips. "Olivia," he said heavily. "You're drunk. You have absolutely no idea what you're doing. If you did you wouldn't be doing it."
Olivia looked at him, drawing herself closer to the young man. "You really have no idea how attractive you are, do you?" she said as she pulled his head down into another kiss which he responded to gladly.
Much as Gabriel enjoyed the lavish attention Olivia was pouring on him, he knew that they needed to stop. He pulled out of the kiss, kissing her swiftly on the cheek when she pouted because of it, and told her that they needed to get the bill before moving somewhere else so that they could continue this somewhere a bit more private, somewhere that it didn't matter if they conked out at 2:00 in the morning. Olivia still pouted, but saw the rationality of his decision. She put on her scarf, draping his coat round her shoulders as she gave him the money from her purse to pay for the drinks, and waited patiently for him to return, marvelling in how his coat smelled so much like him.
He came back to the table quickly enough, and Olivia reached up to drape the scarf around his neck, giggling as she did so. Gabriel got out his mobile and called a taxi, mainly as he didn't really have a clue where they were, and they moved to stand outside the pub. It was a different atmosphere to how they had waited earlier; now, Olivia wrapped herself round Gabe, finding comfort in the fact that he was warm – what was it with guys and managing to remain warm in the coldest of temperatures, she found herself questioning – and Gabriel's arm draped round her shoulders, holding her close to him, feeling her emotions seep through. Warmth, happiness and love surrounded the young woman, and he was glad of it.
When the cab came, both of them slipped quietly into it. Gabriel asked Olivia quietly "Your place or mine?".
"Yours," Olivia replied. "Mine's a hotel room with no originality or personality to speak of. I'd much rather see your place." With this Gabriel gave his address to the taxi driver, who silently set off towards the destination, while Olivia snuggled up to Gabe in an attempt to make herself more comfortable. This was how they stayed, comfortably content in the cab until Gabriel started recognising streets and they passed that o-so-familiar coffee shop and he realised that he was home.
The taxi stopped outside the block of apartments he called home, and he paid the driver with money taken from Olivia's purse (she'd thrown it at him before they'd got in the taxi and told him to pay with it). Noticing that Olivia was asleep, or at least looking like she was, he gently shook her by the shoulders to wake her up. She moaned lightly, but opened her eyes as Gabriel whispered in her ear, "Livvy, we're here."
They exited the taxi gently, Olivia still stumbling a bit. Gabriel put an arm around her to gently steady her as he guided her up the stairs to his apartment. He fished in his coat pocket for his keys, fingers brushing the coat that Olivia was still wearing as he did so. The keys were inserted into the door and the door flung open as Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief that what he was feeling off Liv was still good and she didn't seem to mind this at all.
He placed Olivia down on his sofa, minding out for the Gerbil cages – he'd rounded them all up and placed them in the cages before he went out, but that didn't mean he'd tidied up the cages – and was about to move to go and get some water for the pair of them, when he felt her hand grasp around his wrist, pulling him down with her. "Stay with me," she whispered in his ear, as she kissed him again, hands roaming around his waist and untucking his shirt from his trousers, loosening the buttons and running her hands across his chest. He kissed her back, mouth mercilessly attacking hers, hands roaming down by her legs, hitching up the skirt of her dress as he pushed her back against the couch.
She moaned under him, and they were both completely intoxicated, both with each other and the alcohol that they had consumed that night, and it felt so right to be together. The rest of the world just melted away and was inconsequential and screw that they both had work – the same work – tomorrow morning, but that was a whole new day and neither of them really cared about what happened then. Never mind that the Gabriel's couch was old and worn and not particularly comfortable, or that there were gerbils chirping all around them. They were together, and in that moment, they felt complete.
When they turned up together at Lysander's wedding six months later, hand in hand, arm in arm, everyone pretended to be surprised. Watching Gabriel's fingers dance up her back, confident of the young woman's emotions, and as she laughed openly and they saw her smile and realised they hadn't seen her truly happy in years, it was obvious to them that there was something special between the two of them. Most had known it for a few years, ever since Charlie had confessed down at Pub night about what he had seen.
Lysander and Tancred clapped Gabriel heartily on the back for scoring such a pretty girl, Fidelio sent a smile in Olivia's direction as Emma offered congratulations to her friend. Charlie went up to both and apologised, while Billy told them that the Gerbils were happy for them.
Privately, they all laughed at how long it had taken and how obvious it had been.
But the pair were happy, and that was all that mattered.