Chapter 22: Getaway

The annoying alarm from the cellphone broke the silence of Alyson's bedroom. Gabe slowly opened his and took a deep sigh. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes and stared at the glass ceiling in her room. He noticed that the sky was starting to lighten as dawn was approaching. He looked over to his girlfriend; whom was still cuddled up next to him. Gabe smiled at his beautiful girlfriend; still wearing her night clothes. He watched her for a few moments as she woke up as well.

"Morning babe."

Alyson yawned. "Five already?"

"Yeah babe, let me up and I need to go." Alyson groaned and regretfully left Gabe's side. She leaned on her elbow as she watched him as he quickly dressed. She smiled at him as he laced his shoelaces.

"Are you going to be okay getting home?" Alyson pulled on her covers; missing his warmth already.

"I should be okay. I'm taking a lot of the yards and backways home." Gabe switched position and started to lace the other shoe. "Do you want me to call you later?"

"Would you text me when you get home?" Gabe nodded at her. "After that, I have no plans for today. Maybe we can do some window shopping?"

"I'd like that." Gabe said, pulling his sweatshirt over his head. "I'll warn you that Ronnie and Nikki might want to join us. Ronnie's been on my case about hanging out with me."

Alyson sat up with the covers pulled over her chest. She had a slight smile on her face. "I adore your sister. I have no qualms with her coming with us at all." The smile left her face as she continued. "Nikki on the other hand: I don't trust her."

Gabe looked at her surprised. "Nikki? Really?"

Alyson gave him a look. "There's something about her that I can't pinpoint. I don't like or trust her for some reason. I call it a hunch."

Gabe nodded. "I don't see it, but I believe you." He walked over to her and kissed her a few times. "I'll talk to you soon."

He left out the balcony exit. She got up from the bed and watched as Gabe vault over the balcony edge. She continued to watch him run the distance of the backyard and climb over the back fence.

Alyson snickered as she headed back to bed. "I'm dating Batman."

Ten minutes later…

Gabe vaulted over the fence that led to his backyard. He stopped near the edge of the garage. He was looking to see if his mother was up having a cigarette on the back patio. When Gabe didn't see her on the patio, he ran the length of the yard to the side of the house and stopped just underneath his window. He placed both of his hands and feet on the wall and started to spider-jump up to his window. He reached his window after two attempts and opened the window with one hand. He crawled quietly over his desk and softly placed his feet on the floor. He closed the window behind him. He had his shoes, socks and sweatshirt off of him when he heard the whispered voice from his bed.

"You're in so much trouble…"

He froze in his tracks; thinking that he was caught by his mother. He turned slowly towards the bed and looked at the dark-haired girl in his bed. She sat up with the covers over her chest.

"Sneaking out to see your girlfriend and sneaking back in at…" She looked at the clock on his nightstand. "…at five-fifteen in the morning? Such a bad boy."

Gabe looked at the figure in his bed. He realized that this wasn't his mother. The figure was taller than her mother; more shapely and younger than him mom. His eyes widened as he realized whom it was.

"Nicolette?"

Nicolette sighed. "Damn. I was hoping that you would've been scared for a few minutes longer."

"What the hell are you doing in here?" He said in an angry whisper. He looked over where she was on the bed. "Are you naked and in my bed?!"

Nicolette stretched and let the blanket slip down a bit; not making any attempt to cover herself. She reached the edge of his bed and stood up. In the early rays of daylight; Nicolette stood there in the buff: verifying his correct assumptions. Gabe could only stand there; slack-jawed and in awe of the raven haired beauty that stood naked in his room.

"Be a dear and hand me my bathrobe." Nicolette said in a relaxed manner. "It's a bit cold in here."

Gabe shook his head and came back to reality. He grabbed the robe that was on his desk chair and handed it to Nicolette; covering his eyes with his other hand. Nicolette took the robe from him; rolling her eyes in the process. She placed it over her shoulders and closed the robe. She tied it up and brushed her hair out of the back of said robe.

"I'm decent now Gabriel." She purred. "Considering you got quite and eyeful a moment ago."

"You didn't answer my question." Gabe whispered again.

Nicolette sighed dramatically. "I couldn't sleep with action star Ronnie."

Gabe snickered. "The girl sleeps like the dead and thinks she's saving the world. Yeah, that sounds about right." He looked at Nicolette. "But why sleep in here? You could have stayed in the guest bed or the couch in the den."

Nicolette rolled her eyes and spoke in a condescending tone. "I don't sleep on couches and that bed in the guest room is like a rock. I knew that you weren't here, so I decided that this would work instead. I admit that I wasn't expecting you back so soon."

"Yeah I figured that being back in my bed before my parents wake up would be a better idea."

Nicolette shrugged. "Well, good to have you back with us." She turned and was just about to exit when she turned back to Gabe. Her haughty attitude disappeared and turned to an air of concern. "What happened tonight?"

"At school?" Nicolette nodded as Gabe turned back to her. He shook his head. "I have a few thoughts, but I'm not ready to share them out loud at the moment."

Nicolette merely nodded again. She turned back towards the door and opened it softly. She closed it gently; causing Gabe to rush to the door and lock it. He listened at the door to hear his sister's door open and close. He sighed in relief and returned to undressing. He took his phone out of his jeans and texted Alyson to let her know he was home. He plugged the phone into the charger and made an attempt to fix his bed. He decided that it was a lost cause and climbed into it; pulling the covers over his body.

He found it difficult to sleep when his pillows smelled of Nicolette's shampoo. Lavender and vanilla can be an intoxicating aroma.

I can't believe that I'm posting again. This soon too!

It's a short chapter, but felt it was necessary. I had to see Gabe come home and have another piece of the Degrassi drama puzzle fall into his lap. What is going on?

So, I have to thank so many of you that started to read (or re-read again; right Islanda?). I was surprised to see so much traffic on this story alone. I must be doing something right, otherwise I'd probably get more hate messages than anything. I was happy to see a few people add this story to their favorites (I also had an add from Bits and Pieces as well). I intend to update as much as possible. I'm finding myself writing late night on weekends; which tends to work for me.

I've received a couple of messages about working on prompt stories. While I have spoken to the people that sent me that question; I'll put it out there for everyone else. I don't do prompts too often, but I'll take a look at them. My main focus is The Kids Are All Right for right now (and shorts for Bits and Pieces here and there). Prompt stories may be something that I will work on again, it's just a matter of time. I have a few shorts for Bits and Pieces, which will be added here in the near future. I think the first story I will tell will be the ghost that Nikki saw in the art room. I will admit that it's a heavier piece that is sad and quite dark compared to what I usually write about. It's a work in my universe and is non-canon.

You've been warned.

Okay, enough rambling. I hope that you enjoy this one and I'll have something crazy coming up. Have a great one and thanks for reading!