A/N: Oh, good, I'm glad this is getting good feedback. We're going on a family vacation for the next few days, up until the twenty-sixth, so I doubt I'll be able to get any chapters up then, and even if I did, I think I want to pace this story a little more. Thanks, guys! -love- Desireé
Chapter Four, Tumbleweed
Well she wants to be the queen
And she thinks about her scene
Pulls her hair back and she screams,
I don't really want to be the queen
-'Meet Virginia,' Train
The moment Arielle and Harris walked in, the air to the loft felt different, if not downright suffocating. They had lived here for years, yet one afternoon had changed everything. Ignorant of their newfound knowledge of his past, Troy greeted them with a smile. He hugged his daughter and clapped his son on the back, asking how the date went. Arielle, blond-haired and blue-eyed, smiled. "It was fun. I learned a lot about myself," she replied splendidly, "more than I ever thought could exist."
The cheeky tone in her voice was lost on Troy. "Oh, really?" he asked. "How so?" Harris shot his sister a look, and she shrugged with an innocence of a child's.
"I didn't know how much has gone on." The boy glared at her and Arielle added, "I mean, at school. Lots to talk about. Very good icebreakers. Conversation's a powerful thing."
A glimpse of Harris made Troy stumble slightly. He looked so much like Gabriella, the pain of losing her sometimes crept upon him in a most cruel way. "How was your date?"
"Fine," was all that came from the rather quiet boy, and Troy was bitterly compelled to accept this short answer, as it was the only offer from either of his children afterward.
ooo
When Gabriella left New York City, bags in hand, she also knew she'd be leaving everyone else, friends and family included. Taylor had only spoken to her the day before, and their conversation was relatively normal, after it was decided her plan of action was not someone else's millstone, regardless of their status in her life. Gabriella also knew the littler knowledge to her vanishing act, the better. No one had to know a single thing except that she would be gone for good.
She thought about them a lot when she first arrived in Sampson, especially Troy, but her reminiscing lessened as time went by. Soon the fab four she let into her new life became her world, and the people only a bit more than a hundred miles away evaporated from her mind.
Occasionally she'd pull out an album of high school memories. Any photos of Troy had been removed; she had a steadfast disinclination toward him that remained so after all these years. Once in a while she would frame a picture of her and Taylor, or perhaps Kelsi, and hang it up on the wall. The snapshot would come down eventually, though, when someone would spot the likeness and compliment their photogenic features. For some reason unknown, Gabriella couldn't stand to let anyone into her past. Most-likely, she was too afraid someone would maybe recognize her and drag her back to the city. That nightmare haunted her more than anything, which was slightly concerning due to the fact that most people would assume as a mother, she would wonder about the children.
Mrs. Montez, despite many memories as being a good single mother to her, also had severed ties. Gabriella cut off all sources of Troy, who had grown close to Theresa over the time of the relationship. The shop owner knew her mother would ask why it was that her daughter had left, and what she could possibly do to convince her to go back home. Especially in this day and age, sometimes guilt would trap her thoughts like the innocent prey they were, and lecture how awful it was she hadn't spoken to her only parent in thirteen years. But again, she would wait for the shame to pass and move on. That's all one could do if they wanted to keep a straight face.
Eventually, she would call them. Maybe when Theresa was on her death bed, and Taylor was a grandmother, and all her other East High classmates were filling out forms to live in a senior home. But until then, Gabriella preferred to stay in the seclusion of a little New Jersey town where no one knew that she had left behind a family just up the coast. Just imagining what would be different had she stayed was much too painful a thought; she didn't think she would ever be able to face Troy again after that day she got on the train at Grand Central. This guilt was her incentive to click 'deny' for the ten-year reunion email she received some years ago.
Sometimes Zora or Adeline, being the more compassionate female friends, would ask if she ever had boyfriends or lovers, considering they never met anyone in the neighborhood that ever mentioned the name 'Gabriella' fondly. It was not in the shop owner's interest to confess her worries of what Troy had done after her epic exit, although the same afternoon she wondered about this, she found herself spilling her secrets to an innocent tumbleweed that had blown through town with her sons, in need of some warmth for the day.
"Thank you for letting us stay here for the evening," the woman said appreciatively, glancing around at the quaint shop. "My boys are quite restless sometimes, they just needed to get out of the car. So do you own this store?"
"I do." Gabriella nodded, struggling to appear happy as she poured them each a mug of coffee, an old habit she couldn't quit. "It's a big canvas of junk, I'm sure your sons will be able to find something entertaining for the time being. Where are you from originally?"
The woman smiled sadly as she sipped her beverage. "Well, we used to live in Boston, but after the boys' father moved to Paris—it was really an ugly separation—I decided they needed a holiday. So I sold the house, packed our bags, and now we're on somewhat of an adventure. I'm not sure what we could possibly do now—living arrangements wasn't a concern of mine when I started the car. An impulse, I suppose. Now we'll bounce from town to town, hoping to find some comfort somewhere."
"Well, the best of luck to you," Gabriella mumbled softly, staring at the floor in an effort not to become emotional.
"Going somewhere, Ms. Montez?" the doorman, Alan, asked curiously when he spotted Gabriella come outside the apartment lobby with her suitcases dragging behind her. "A winter vacation, perhaps? Where is the rest of the Bolton clan? Troy too engrossed in his art again?" At this, he laughed, picturing the young man crouched over his paints.
If it were any other day, she would have replied happily, granting the man a warm smile and maybe a chipper laugh. Today, though, was not a good day to be intrusive. "I am not inclined to answer," she responded hastily. He looked slightly shocked, if not completely offended, as she flagged down a taxi and got the driver to load her bags into the trunk.
"Something wrong, Ms. Montez?" Alan asked shortly, probably because he felt it was part of the job. His eyebrows were working fervently over his mind, which was most-likely storming with thoughts. "Should I call someone?"
She glanced at him, in an almost begging manor. "Please, forgot I was ever here, Alan. That would be the best thing for all of us." He shrugged promptly, turning back to the doors and waiting for some other resident to appear on the opposite side of the glass.
"Where to, mum?" the cab driver asked when they were both buckled in the car.
"Grand Central Station, please," she replied. He nodded, and Gabriella took out her wallet, deciding a ten would be ideal for the length of the drive. As she sifted through the bills, she couldn't stop glancing at the family photos that had accumulated over the past two years. They would go in the trash as soon as she got settled somewhere else, she decided. They would disintegrate with the wind, because that's all they were worth.
This is a lie, she thought. They are worth the world, and yet I find their weight too much to carry. God help me.
"That is so awful," the woman sighed sympathetically. Gabriella sat up and blinked a few times before she realized she had been speaking aloud. Across from her, the woman reached out and patted her knee. "I'm so sorry you had to do that, it must have been difficult."
"Um," the brunette said, running her tongue along the back of the teeth. She sniffed. "It was. I'm not sure if it was a wise decision, I mean, I'm the one who's alone thirteen years later in this tiny little town. Still, it was just this—this urgency I got one morning when I woke up. This sudden idea dawned upon me that maybe the path he was taking wouldn't lead me to my desires. That wasn't his fault, even though I did a poor job of telling him that. I just—I wanted out." She felt her hands tremble, and her eyes burn with tears. "Jesus Christ, I'm such a horrible mother for just… abandoning them."
The woman did something unexpected, although Gabriella felt better after the surprise hug. "Oh, hon," the visitor said gently, tucking her chin over her shoulder, "We all make mistakes, some more intentional than others, but even so. My husband left us, and he's an asshole. You, though, I can see you had your reasons."
Before the shop owner could respond, the two young boys appeared, holding old teddy bears that were dyed abominably vibrant colors of the rainbow. "Mommy, can we get these?" the older one asked. Their mother smiled and reached for her purse, asking what the cost of the stuffed animals was.
"Ah, take them," Gabriella said, waving her hand at the children. Her heart panged. She wondered what these littlies thought of her. Old Maid, she feared. "On the house. They've been ignored for a while, anyway, I think they deserve some attention."
"Oh?" The woman beamed. "Why, thank you! That's one souvenir for the trip. How about it, boys? Let's hit the road again, before it gets too dark to see at all. This town is especially strange, with no street lights." She turned to Gabriella and exhaled buoyantly. "Thank you for letting us in for a little while. We needed the pit stop." Something coaxed the shop owner to invite them to stay for dinner, but she only nodded quietly and offered a smile to the mother and children.
The boys hugged their new bears and waved graciously from their seats in the car when the Focus drove off. Gabriella found herself waving back from the shop stoop, grinning at nothing when they disappeared around the corner. "It was fun while it lasted," she sighed. Why did everything end at one point or another?
Oh, right. 'What goes up, must come down.' Of course.
A/N: I didn't particularly love this chapter, but I think it was like a Wednesday: the hub in the middle of the week, the necessary day (or chapter) to move onto the next thing, which you'll probably enjoy more since it's the weekend. -love- Desireé