Ready for more, guys? FF.net being down seemed to mess with everything LOL
Oh. just a warning. there will be a jump in rating in a while, ok? Keep
an eye open for it!
"Come on, Sara, we're gonna be late!"
"Gabriel, we're going to get there at least a half-an-hour early. Even if we stop for breakfast, we won't be late. I don't see why we can't use that time for waking up properly. Or even going back to sleep?" she ventured, the remark more of a hopeful question.
"Nope," he shook his head adamantly. "I've been to these things before; the serious people always show up early."
"But I'm not serious about it," she offered a bit petulantly.
"I am. Now finish your coffee and let's go, let's go, let's go!"
Sara shook her head as she smiled a bit indulgently at him before finishing the black liquid in her cup. It was still dark outside and the lights inside were on low, throwing the room into shadows. "I still can't believe that you want to go to something like this."
"Hey, you can find a lot of good stuff. I usually find a few things that're great for the shop, plus I find stuff for me personally or as presents for others."
"Gabriel, you're an insomniac. Why would anyone - but especially an insomniac - voluntarily get up when it's still dark outside?" She gestured to the darkened placed along one of her long walls.
"I grew up being dragged to things like this by my mom. I hated getting up early, complained even more than you are. But later I found out that I liked it. Getting up at oh-dark-thirty was worth it for the stuff I could find." He watched impatiently as she finished the cup of coffee and took the ceramic vessel when she was done and rinsed it out in the sink, putting it open-side-down in the drainer that was next to the sink. "Ready now?"
"I still haven't figured out why you want me to go."
"For the company, of course," he gave her a quick kiss, glad when she didn't stop him or pull away. "Besides, you might find some stuff for your friends."
"What types of stuff do they have there?" she asked as she put on her leather jacket to ward off the early morning chill and was hustled out of her apartment.
"Everything."
"Nothing has everything," she protested.
"You're right. How about: pretty much everything?"
"Gabriel."
He shrugged and held the door of his mint green VW Bug open for her. "Sara, it's a combination flea market cum arts and crafts fair. There'll be lots of fun stuff to look at, but we have to get there first!"
"Alright, alright already!" She held up her hands in defeat and folded herself into the passenger seat of the car. "I should have known you'd have a bug," she told him as he got into the driver's side.
"Hey, it's a classic!"
She ignored the defense. "You know, if most people woke me up this early, they'd be dead."
Starting the car, he glanced over at her before looking behind them to pull out of the parking spot. "Good thing I'm so cute, eh?"
"Being cute isn't what saved you. Danny knows a little about you and if some guy named 'Gabriel' turns up dead, he's gonna come asking questions," she explained.
"He's your partner; wouldn't he cover your back?"
She didn't answer the question because, in her mind, it needed none.
"So, you really think I'm cute?"
She shook her head in exasperation. Gabriel trying to ferret out information was like a pit bull gnawing on a bone. Better make that a terrier. Not too small, not too large; perpetually tousled hair; inquisitive; and hyper. Hoping to distract him, she looked out the window at the lit store signs. "Are you going to feed me?"
"Sure. Food soothes the savage beast and all that." He looked around and pulled into a McDonald's drive through. The only drive through that had a wait that early in the morning.
Another terrier characteristic: he could be really annoying sometimes. Just like those little yapping dogs that Sara always felt like punting across the room because they never got quiet.
Gabe ordered a selection from the breakfast menu for both of them and pulled around to the side window to pay. "I've got it," he told her when Sara reached for her wallet to give him some of the money.
"Gabriel, you've paid for everything," she protested.
"I'm the guy; I'm supposed to. Just sit back and let me shower you with gifts," he mock ordered her.
"Gabriel."
"I get breakfast, you get lunch," he bargained, not wanting even a small fight this early in the morning.
"Fine," she finally agreed, seeing he wouldn't budge.
"Why don't you ever bring a truck for the stuff you buy?" Sara asked as she sat down across from Gabe at a shade covered picnic table.
"Well, for starters, I don't have a truck," he told her, gratefully accepting one of the hotdogs. "Besides, I'd have to drag everything around. It's easier for me just to arrange delivery for the big stuff and take the small stuff," he explained as he opened a large bag of chips that he had bought last night to eat with lunch today. He had gotten it from the car when he'd gone to stash their purchases in the trunk.
"What was that. table you got? Weasel something or other?"
Gabe laughed and took a bite of his hotdog. "Close. Possum belly bins. Basically, it's a baker's table and the bins held flour and stuff. My mom's gonna get a kick out of it; she loves baking."
"Aw, you're a Mama's boy, aren't you?" was asked in a saccharine voice.
"Not really. but if you say 'come to mama' I can pretty much promise I'll obey." He waggled his brows at her to show he was teasing.
She blinked as a mental picture of Gabriel as a slave boy, dressed in rather skimpy leather and sheer fabric floated into her mind. She blinked again to clear the image and disregarded his flirting.
"What made you get that stuff?"
Sara laughed and took a sip of her soda. "Danny's daughter is a Barbie freak. Absolutely adores her. Jenny probably has close too a hundred dolls in all, if not more. I think Danny's scared of counting them out," she confided with a laugh.
"Danny your partner scared of counting dolls?"
"Not so much the dolls," she explained, "but what would happen after he did the counting. See, Lee, his wife, absolutely hates clutter and she's on a really big donation kick right now." she trailed off, letting Gabe's agile mind fill in the blanks.
"So, Danny counts the dolls, she thinks there's too many, and Jenny has a tantrum when some get donated?"
"Exactly," she nodded, pleased he'd caught on so quick.
"So.?"
"The suitcase is full of Barbie clothes for Jenny's dolls. The whole thing was $5, and I figure we can go through and toss any of the outfits that're unsalvageable."
"We?"
"Well, yeah. You're the one who brought me here, right?"
He gestured to the throng of people around them, indignation coloring his tone. "But, but you've enjoyed the flea market!"
"Yeah. Doesn't mean you're gonna go unpunished, Gabe." She reached out and patted his hand.
"A Barbie doll fashion show. You know," he said mournfully, "when I think of you, me, and fashion shows, you're usually in something skimpy with lots of lace and silk or satin. Black, white, light blue. jewel tones featured pretty heavily too."
Sara reached across the table and lightly cuffed him on the side of his head before finishing her hot dog and stood up. "Keep dreaming, Bowman."
"Oh, I do," he assured her. "Every night." He stood up too and collected the trash from their lunch to throw it away. "You ready for the next part?"
Sara groaned. "You mean we aren't done yet?"
"Um, no. Flea market cum arts and crafts show? We've done the flea market. Now it's time to do the arts and crafts show."
"Can't we just come back tomorrow?"
"No," he answered in a stern voice. "If I'm already getting punished for waking you up as early as I did, I'm only gonna do it once."
"Fine." Sara walked over to the small building that housed the food and got a couple bottles of water for them. Returning to his side, she handed him one and gestured. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah. Oh, and we need to make a stop at the fresh fruits and vegetables too," he warned her before darting away.
She followed him, muttering under her breath about guys who drank too much caffeine.
After a few feet, he stopped and waited for her, automatically linking hands with her. Pleased that she didn't pull away, they started to tour the stands on the opposite side of the food building. They stopped in at whatever looked interesting, smiling and starting conversations with the people who not only made what they were looking at, but others who were there to buy the goods being sold.
A small handful of people recognized and greeted Gabriel, obviously having either done business with him before or meeting him when his mother had dragged him to these years ago. Long memories, unless he still came here with family or alone. Or on dates.
Gabriel pointed out some of the more humorous sculptures and odds-and-ends as they walked and occasionally stopped to look through a booth in depth. Black and white photographs were perused, with Sara buying one to be a Christmas present for Danny and Lee. Gabe found a stand with black iron sculptures and bought a small lizard one for his brother.
They both bypassed most of the jewelry stands, only venturing near when something caught the attention of one or the other. Which is what happened at one of the stands, an original work silversmith. Sara looked carefully through the silver jewelry, her wanting to buy something obviously battling with her practicality. In the end, her practicality won and they moved away from the booth, but not before Gabe surreptitiously pocketed one of the business cards with a nod to the owner.
They stopped at the booth of an artist who did impressionist work that vaguely reminded Sara of Claude Monet. The work was beautiful, not particularly her style, but beautiful nonetheless. The paintings looked like watercolors, but with bolder colors being used. While Gabriel went through the paintings one by one, Sara touched his arm and gestured without words to let him know that she was wandering down the row a bit more. He nodded and continued on his search.
Fifteen minutes later, he rejoined her with a large, flat brown paper- wrapped package under one arm.
"Going to show me what you bought?"
"Sure," he answered before starting to look through a table that held glass paperweights.
"Today?" she prodded.
"Nope." He set down a cobalt blue and white bubbled oval carefully and grabbed her free hand to pull her away from the table. "Come on, there's only one more row."
Sara shook her head and followed him; the man did know his arts and craft shows. Not that she was any judge, of course. A handmade white teddy bear wearing a dark royal purple boa as a tutu, matching ribbon on top of her head, and an iridescent butterfly on her nose later, they were to the last handful of tables.
One of them held carved wood sculptures that were magnificent in the amount of detail that the artist had obviously put into them. Sara picked up a tiny bride and groom cause in an eternal dance and gently stroked the bride's skirts with one finger as Gabriel looked at a woman's face. Without even thinking about it, he pulled out his wallet and picked up one of the wooden sculptures and paid for it before Sara could even protest.
Turning to her, he handed the carved cherry wood rose to her as he gave her a quick kiss. "For you."
She blinked at the intricately carved flower and ran one finger along a satiny smooth petal. "Thanks," she whispered, stepping closer to him to give him another kiss.
"That's what I like to see, romance!" broke in the man who had carved the flower, causing Sara to pull away a bit. Gabe just grinned and pulled her back to press a hard kiss on her lips that mellowed until they we no longer kissing, but standing with their lips pressed together. Gabe flicked out his tongue and ran it across her bottom lip before pulling away. "You're welcome, Sara."
TBC
Okay. that teddy bear? It's a real teddy bear, handmade. I have one only she's wearing pink instead of purple.
"Come on, Sara, we're gonna be late!"
"Gabriel, we're going to get there at least a half-an-hour early. Even if we stop for breakfast, we won't be late. I don't see why we can't use that time for waking up properly. Or even going back to sleep?" she ventured, the remark more of a hopeful question.
"Nope," he shook his head adamantly. "I've been to these things before; the serious people always show up early."
"But I'm not serious about it," she offered a bit petulantly.
"I am. Now finish your coffee and let's go, let's go, let's go!"
Sara shook her head as she smiled a bit indulgently at him before finishing the black liquid in her cup. It was still dark outside and the lights inside were on low, throwing the room into shadows. "I still can't believe that you want to go to something like this."
"Hey, you can find a lot of good stuff. I usually find a few things that're great for the shop, plus I find stuff for me personally or as presents for others."
"Gabriel, you're an insomniac. Why would anyone - but especially an insomniac - voluntarily get up when it's still dark outside?" She gestured to the darkened placed along one of her long walls.
"I grew up being dragged to things like this by my mom. I hated getting up early, complained even more than you are. But later I found out that I liked it. Getting up at oh-dark-thirty was worth it for the stuff I could find." He watched impatiently as she finished the cup of coffee and took the ceramic vessel when she was done and rinsed it out in the sink, putting it open-side-down in the drainer that was next to the sink. "Ready now?"
"I still haven't figured out why you want me to go."
"For the company, of course," he gave her a quick kiss, glad when she didn't stop him or pull away. "Besides, you might find some stuff for your friends."
"What types of stuff do they have there?" she asked as she put on her leather jacket to ward off the early morning chill and was hustled out of her apartment.
"Everything."
"Nothing has everything," she protested.
"You're right. How about: pretty much everything?"
"Gabriel."
He shrugged and held the door of his mint green VW Bug open for her. "Sara, it's a combination flea market cum arts and crafts fair. There'll be lots of fun stuff to look at, but we have to get there first!"
"Alright, alright already!" She held up her hands in defeat and folded herself into the passenger seat of the car. "I should have known you'd have a bug," she told him as he got into the driver's side.
"Hey, it's a classic!"
She ignored the defense. "You know, if most people woke me up this early, they'd be dead."
Starting the car, he glanced over at her before looking behind them to pull out of the parking spot. "Good thing I'm so cute, eh?"
"Being cute isn't what saved you. Danny knows a little about you and if some guy named 'Gabriel' turns up dead, he's gonna come asking questions," she explained.
"He's your partner; wouldn't he cover your back?"
She didn't answer the question because, in her mind, it needed none.
"So, you really think I'm cute?"
She shook her head in exasperation. Gabriel trying to ferret out information was like a pit bull gnawing on a bone. Better make that a terrier. Not too small, not too large; perpetually tousled hair; inquisitive; and hyper. Hoping to distract him, she looked out the window at the lit store signs. "Are you going to feed me?"
"Sure. Food soothes the savage beast and all that." He looked around and pulled into a McDonald's drive through. The only drive through that had a wait that early in the morning.
Another terrier characteristic: he could be really annoying sometimes. Just like those little yapping dogs that Sara always felt like punting across the room because they never got quiet.
Gabe ordered a selection from the breakfast menu for both of them and pulled around to the side window to pay. "I've got it," he told her when Sara reached for her wallet to give him some of the money.
"Gabriel, you've paid for everything," she protested.
"I'm the guy; I'm supposed to. Just sit back and let me shower you with gifts," he mock ordered her.
"Gabriel."
"I get breakfast, you get lunch," he bargained, not wanting even a small fight this early in the morning.
"Fine," she finally agreed, seeing he wouldn't budge.
"Why don't you ever bring a truck for the stuff you buy?" Sara asked as she sat down across from Gabe at a shade covered picnic table.
"Well, for starters, I don't have a truck," he told her, gratefully accepting one of the hotdogs. "Besides, I'd have to drag everything around. It's easier for me just to arrange delivery for the big stuff and take the small stuff," he explained as he opened a large bag of chips that he had bought last night to eat with lunch today. He had gotten it from the car when he'd gone to stash their purchases in the trunk.
"What was that. table you got? Weasel something or other?"
Gabe laughed and took a bite of his hotdog. "Close. Possum belly bins. Basically, it's a baker's table and the bins held flour and stuff. My mom's gonna get a kick out of it; she loves baking."
"Aw, you're a Mama's boy, aren't you?" was asked in a saccharine voice.
"Not really. but if you say 'come to mama' I can pretty much promise I'll obey." He waggled his brows at her to show he was teasing.
She blinked as a mental picture of Gabriel as a slave boy, dressed in rather skimpy leather and sheer fabric floated into her mind. She blinked again to clear the image and disregarded his flirting.
"What made you get that stuff?"
Sara laughed and took a sip of her soda. "Danny's daughter is a Barbie freak. Absolutely adores her. Jenny probably has close too a hundred dolls in all, if not more. I think Danny's scared of counting them out," she confided with a laugh.
"Danny your partner scared of counting dolls?"
"Not so much the dolls," she explained, "but what would happen after he did the counting. See, Lee, his wife, absolutely hates clutter and she's on a really big donation kick right now." she trailed off, letting Gabe's agile mind fill in the blanks.
"So, Danny counts the dolls, she thinks there's too many, and Jenny has a tantrum when some get donated?"
"Exactly," she nodded, pleased he'd caught on so quick.
"So.?"
"The suitcase is full of Barbie clothes for Jenny's dolls. The whole thing was $5, and I figure we can go through and toss any of the outfits that're unsalvageable."
"We?"
"Well, yeah. You're the one who brought me here, right?"
He gestured to the throng of people around them, indignation coloring his tone. "But, but you've enjoyed the flea market!"
"Yeah. Doesn't mean you're gonna go unpunished, Gabe." She reached out and patted his hand.
"A Barbie doll fashion show. You know," he said mournfully, "when I think of you, me, and fashion shows, you're usually in something skimpy with lots of lace and silk or satin. Black, white, light blue. jewel tones featured pretty heavily too."
Sara reached across the table and lightly cuffed him on the side of his head before finishing her hot dog and stood up. "Keep dreaming, Bowman."
"Oh, I do," he assured her. "Every night." He stood up too and collected the trash from their lunch to throw it away. "You ready for the next part?"
Sara groaned. "You mean we aren't done yet?"
"Um, no. Flea market cum arts and crafts show? We've done the flea market. Now it's time to do the arts and crafts show."
"Can't we just come back tomorrow?"
"No," he answered in a stern voice. "If I'm already getting punished for waking you up as early as I did, I'm only gonna do it once."
"Fine." Sara walked over to the small building that housed the food and got a couple bottles of water for them. Returning to his side, she handed him one and gestured. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah. Oh, and we need to make a stop at the fresh fruits and vegetables too," he warned her before darting away.
She followed him, muttering under her breath about guys who drank too much caffeine.
After a few feet, he stopped and waited for her, automatically linking hands with her. Pleased that she didn't pull away, they started to tour the stands on the opposite side of the food building. They stopped in at whatever looked interesting, smiling and starting conversations with the people who not only made what they were looking at, but others who were there to buy the goods being sold.
A small handful of people recognized and greeted Gabriel, obviously having either done business with him before or meeting him when his mother had dragged him to these years ago. Long memories, unless he still came here with family or alone. Or on dates.
Gabriel pointed out some of the more humorous sculptures and odds-and-ends as they walked and occasionally stopped to look through a booth in depth. Black and white photographs were perused, with Sara buying one to be a Christmas present for Danny and Lee. Gabe found a stand with black iron sculptures and bought a small lizard one for his brother.
They both bypassed most of the jewelry stands, only venturing near when something caught the attention of one or the other. Which is what happened at one of the stands, an original work silversmith. Sara looked carefully through the silver jewelry, her wanting to buy something obviously battling with her practicality. In the end, her practicality won and they moved away from the booth, but not before Gabe surreptitiously pocketed one of the business cards with a nod to the owner.
They stopped at the booth of an artist who did impressionist work that vaguely reminded Sara of Claude Monet. The work was beautiful, not particularly her style, but beautiful nonetheless. The paintings looked like watercolors, but with bolder colors being used. While Gabriel went through the paintings one by one, Sara touched his arm and gestured without words to let him know that she was wandering down the row a bit more. He nodded and continued on his search.
Fifteen minutes later, he rejoined her with a large, flat brown paper- wrapped package under one arm.
"Going to show me what you bought?"
"Sure," he answered before starting to look through a table that held glass paperweights.
"Today?" she prodded.
"Nope." He set down a cobalt blue and white bubbled oval carefully and grabbed her free hand to pull her away from the table. "Come on, there's only one more row."
Sara shook her head and followed him; the man did know his arts and craft shows. Not that she was any judge, of course. A handmade white teddy bear wearing a dark royal purple boa as a tutu, matching ribbon on top of her head, and an iridescent butterfly on her nose later, they were to the last handful of tables.
One of them held carved wood sculptures that were magnificent in the amount of detail that the artist had obviously put into them. Sara picked up a tiny bride and groom cause in an eternal dance and gently stroked the bride's skirts with one finger as Gabriel looked at a woman's face. Without even thinking about it, he pulled out his wallet and picked up one of the wooden sculptures and paid for it before Sara could even protest.
Turning to her, he handed the carved cherry wood rose to her as he gave her a quick kiss. "For you."
She blinked at the intricately carved flower and ran one finger along a satiny smooth petal. "Thanks," she whispered, stepping closer to him to give him another kiss.
"That's what I like to see, romance!" broke in the man who had carved the flower, causing Sara to pull away a bit. Gabe just grinned and pulled her back to press a hard kiss on her lips that mellowed until they we no longer kissing, but standing with their lips pressed together. Gabe flicked out his tongue and ran it across her bottom lip before pulling away. "You're welcome, Sara."
TBC
Okay. that teddy bear? It's a real teddy bear, handmade. I have one only she's wearing pink instead of purple.