Chapter Thirty-Five
Caliegh's POV
"Nous sommes trop près d'amis ..." I could hear Matthew's voice from where I was standing at the refreshments table to pour tea into my little teacup. I smiled a little to myself. It was cute that he knew French. Often, he, Francis, and Gabby would have little conversations like this in French. I didn't usually understand more than a few words.
"Qu'est-ce que vous allez faire, Mathieu?" I glanced over. There was slight concern in Francis's voice as he said this.
"Allez-vous rompre avec elle?" Gabby muttered, chewing slowly on the end of a French fry.
"Oui…Je dois le faire." I frowned to myself as I listened, not noticing Yao had shown up beside me. He noticed my expression, though, and immediately prodded my shoulder with his finger.
"Why do you look so upset, aru? Is there a problem?" I shook my head, standing straight and stirring the sugar into my tea.
"Just, my friends over there sound concerned. I probably shouldn't be listening, but still…" I leaned against the counter, slowly sipping the hot liquid. "Anything new with you?" Yao paused.
"Yes, actually. There's this girl…Ivan is obsessed with her. I don't understand!" He frowned in annoyance, crossing his arms. "I don't get it, what's so great about her?! Am I not cute enough, aru?!" He complained. "I hate losing…" I laughed lightly.
"Well what's the girl's name, do you know?"
"Gabby." He said it like she was some new disgusting disease. I froze whilst sipping my tea, slowly turning to face him.
"My sister Gabby, or…?" He flapped his hand (well, sleeve; his hands were completely hidden with his sleeves).
"No, some other one. She has brown hair." He huffed to himself. We sat in silence until his eyes widened. "Look, right there, aru! At your table!" I gazed over to see a girl laughing alongside Gabby (but not sitting next to her). Her hair was indeed a dark brown, thick and cut into layers to fall to her shoulders. Her skin was pale, yet she looked a little Italian…I had to see who she was.
"Sorry…Yao. I need to see who this girl is. And why she's intruding on you and Ivan's love life." I gave him a little wink, then took my teacup along with me as I stepped up to the girl. "Pardon…who is this?" I motioned to her with one hand. My sister whipped her head around to face me, then hugged the other protectively.
"My new friend Gabby. Don't steal her." I stared at her blankly.
"And why would I." I sighed, taking my seat in-between Matthew and Gilbert.
"Because you alwa-"
"So can I call you Gabrielle? This would get confusing." I nodded at the new Gabby. She nodded a quick and curt nod.
"Yeah, of course. If it makes it easier." She paused for a moment, studying my face, it seemed. "Hey, Gabby…is this your sister? The one that has sex with Mr. Edelstein?" My eyes widened and I choked on my tea, shaking my head rapidly.
"I do not…!" Gilbert made a sort of snorting sound in attempt to not laugh, but gave in. He leaned his head on my shoulder, laughing like a lunatic.
"Oh, mein gott, so that's where you go every afternoon after dinner!" I kicked him in the ankles, feeling my cheeks flush deep red.
"Nein, I take showers in the afternoon!" I glanced away, hand over my mouth to at least hide some of the blush.
"Ooh, using my language!" He moved his lips right next to my ear. "I love it when you do that."
"Those two dating?" Gabrielle spoke up, pointing to the two of us.
"No!"
"I wish~!" I crossed my arms, smirking playfully.
"It will never happen. I'm dating Matthew, anyway." I glanced at Matthew, who gave an uncomfortable smile. I tilted my head to one side, giving him a concerned look. He bit his lip, then slowly stood.
"Come with me, Caliegh. We need to talk." Well shit. I knew what was coming, based on the tone of his voice…and you never want to hear "we need to talk" come from your boyfriend's mouth. He dragged me off to the side, away from the others. He nervously rang his hands together, staring at his feet. "Kay, we're best friends, eh…b-but, I…I think that's why I can't, date you." I paused, nodding slowly. My heart sank a little, but not too much.
Because surprisingly, I didn't care.
"I understand, Mattie." I smiled up at him. And I meant it. I really understood why he was breaking up with me. "Honestly, I think we'd be better off as just friends, wouldn't you say?" Matthew's eyes widened.
"You understand? You aren't…upset?" I shook my head.
"Not really." I smirked softly to myself. "I mean, I'm sure gonna miss that maple syrup taste your lips always had, but…you know. I'll get over it." A flustered blush crossed his cheeks. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. He gently put his hands on my shoulders. Honestly, I was kinda confused. What was he-?
He pressed his lips gently to mine, causing my eyes to widen. What was he doing?! I pulled away after a couple seconds, staring up at him, hoping for an explanation.
"It was one last kiss to remember." He simply said with a shrug of his shoulders. I smiled to myself, kissing two of my fingers and patting them to his cheek.
"You're adorable, Matthew. I'm glad we're still friends." I smiled, going back to the table and taking my place beside Gilbert. He was kinda smiling softly to himself. "What, Gilly?"
"Well…I knew it wouldn't last. You two were so close, I knew it wouldn't." He laughed under his breath, and I smiled, nudging his ankle with my foot.
"You're funny, you have no faith."
O~O~O~O~O~O
It was dark, damp, and hauntingly quiet. My footsteps echoed off the brick walls, coated with wet, sticky moss. My shoes were off, the murky and turbid water coating my feet with uncomforting goo. I scowled with disgust, reaching my hands out to the mossy walls surrounding me in order to stay balanced upright. I could feel my clothes were ripped in too many places to count; I was only wearing loose cotton pants with a tunic of the same material.
What was this place?
In the distance, I saw light. Next to the light tunnel was a tunnel as dark as the latter was bright. Neither looked better than the other; one was too bright, the other was too dark. I frowned to myself, raising a hand to my head. I was dizzy, and my head was pounding. I felt sick. I knew I was about to blackout, so I stopped walking for a moment. I felt the water around my ankles become still, not moving. A liquid dripped onto my hand from the walls, and I immediately pulled away.
That was an awful choice. I stumbled back a step, pulling both hands to my head. I felt tears burning my eyes. I coughed, the awful stench of the place making me gag. I was wobbling, unbalanced. Both of my hands found their way back to the wall. No, wait. Not the wall. Someone was there with me, someone familiar…
He wrapped his arms around my waist, holding me up. My legs felt totally useless, and all of my only support was coming from this person. I felt like I could die any second, but this person here was helping me live…like he was keeping me from letting go of my life.
That ended when gunshots were heard in the distance, echoing throughout the maze. The person froze, kissed my head, then set me gently on my knees in the water. I didn't last long in that position, for moments later I had fallen over, lying in the dirty water. I painfully raised my head to see the person run off. He glanced back at me, eyes widening when he heard shouts from the other end of the tunnel. From the light of the bright entrance, I managed to see his face a little.
Bright red eyes.
"Gil…?" My voice came out as nothing more than a raspy whisper. He gave me a sad look, mouthing, "I love you," then disappeared into the light tunnel. I coughed, gagging on the taste of the water at my lips. Tears ran down my face.
"I found her." A gruff voice said. I was soon picked up and thrown over someone's shoulder, frail and limp. As they carried me off in the dark tunnel, the opposite of the one Gilbert ran into, I couldn't do anything but convince myself that this was Hell.
O~O~O~O~O~O
I woke up sweating, my dirty-blonde curls sticking to my forehead. I wrinkled my nose in disgust, slipping out of bed and going to the bathroom, muttering under my breath.
"What an odd dream."