I read some of the comments and made note of some names of the guys who I thought went too far in their commentary. The fuck are they looking at? The females, though, yeah, I could smell the green coming off some of them, while others, my sisters’ friends to be exact, were doing what they were no doubt told to do. Those two little girls down the hall are scary as shit.
VICTORIA
I heard the car pull into the driveway and ran back to the window only to see Felix exiting alone. Where is she? I met him at the door. “Where’s Gia?” Too rash, I forgot to tone it down a little, and no doubt what I was feeling showed in my eyes. “Oh, I just wanted to ask her about her weekend; I got a little too excited, I guess.” Mom came up behind me just then, and he looked at both of us.
“Gia will be staying with the Russos for a while.”
“What? Why?”
“They wanted her to, and I said it was okay. Why? What’s the problem?”
“Why does she need to be staying anywhere? This is her home, and you didn’t even ask me if it was okay.”
“Why would I need to ask you about what I do with my daughter?”
Mom’s mouth fell open as he walked away, and we both looked at each other before turning to follow him inside. I’ve never heard Felix speak to mom like that nor seen that look on his face. Does he know something? What did she say to him? “Mom, what’s going on? Why is he acting like that?” Something didn’t feel right. Too many things have been out of sync since Gabriel rushed in here on Friday and took her out of here.
“Did you see her? How did she look?” I couldn’t help but to ask.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, I was just worried that my prank may have gone too far, is all. I was wondering if she got the glue out of her hair.” I’m dying to know about the wig and what happened with her real hair, but of course, I won’t be admitting that to you.
I looked down at my phone subconsciously, I guess, and mom saw. “Don’t show him that.” She hissed beneath her breath but not quite soft enough because he heard.
“Don’t show me what? let me see that.” I held out the phone with an apologetic shrug for mom, who was back to looking green again.
“Oh my God!” He kept repeating the phrase over and over again while staring down at the screen.
“What? Oh my God, what?” Instead of answering me, he looked up at my mother.
“Is this what you didn’t want me to see? She’s the spitting image of Adrienne. Where did you get this?”
I explained it to him, still lost at both their reactions though his was not as strong, and he seemed to have tears of melancholy in his eyes more than the fear I’d seen in mom’s. Maybe this is why she’d reacted that way because he was still hung up on his dead wife. She and her daughter are more trouble than they’re worth. Well, unlike mom, I refuse to live in anyone’s shadow. I’ll be sure to take from the daughter what mom had never gained.
GABRIEL
Seven o’clock. I barely slept a wink all night, too busy trying to see all the varying angles of what I had set in motion and discard any loopholes. I expect pushback from Victoria and her mom, maybe some others as well, but I’d also made moves to stem that flow, cut their wings if you will. I just need everything to go off without a hitch today; then, we’ll go from there.
My biggest problem is how to pull it all off without Gianna being affected in any way. I want whatever hate that’s going to be thrown to come my way, but I know they wouldn’t dare, so if I don’t handle things correctly, she could end up catching even more hell from those two. Then I’d end up being wanted on two continents in my short lifetime.
I sat in the steam room for half an hour, sweating out the angst of feeling like a parent sending my kid off to school for the first time. I’m having a hard time only because I’ve yet to decide what role I will play today. Am I the love interest or just a big brother looking out for his sisters’ new friend?
The only glaring problem with the last is that I’ve never gone this far for any of them before, and no one would believe it anyway. And as always, it comes back to what’s best for her. I think I already know the answer; I’m just worried about the long-term effect for both of us. I know which one would burn the hell out of Victoria, but if it’ll hurt Gianna in the end, it’s not worth it. Round and round, I went in my thoughts until I made myself crazy.