Baggage & Buttons (18 page)

He laughed. ‘I love seeing you smile, you light up the
room.’

‘Well I don’t know why you’re smiling, there’s not
enough room in my bed for two big boys.’

‘Then this big boy has to sleep on the floor next to
you.’ He grabbed him off me and plonked him unceremoniously down on the floor.
‘He’s all yours and you can do what you want with him, as long as he doesn’t
stop me sharing your bed.’ I watched him strip off, marvelling at his physique.
Would I never grow tired of looking at that? ‘Ok can I sleep hugging you?’ he
asked as he got in next to me.

‘I’m always happy for you to hold me Gabe.’ I rolled
over his outstretched left arm, which he wrapped back over my shoulder. I draped
myself over him and he grabbed my hand and linked fingers. I lifted my head and
gave him a gentle kiss on the lips.

‘Sleep now Mia, I’ve got you.’

I did, I slept really heavily and we both woke with a
start to hear Lexi knocking on our door.

‘It’s six o’clock are you ok?’

‘Yes thanks for waking us up Lex. See you in a while,’
I called.

We were still in the same positions we were in when I
fell asleep and we kissed again, for a few minutes.

‘God I need to stay in bed longer, so I can wake up
with you more often, I could get used to that,’ Gabe smiled as he rubbed his
nose on mine.

‘Do you really have to get up at six every morning?
Especially when you’ve been having sex with me until all hours?’

‘It’s habit, plus I don’t usually sleep well.’

‘Why not?’

‘I usually feel pretty tense and have things on my
mind and it stops me relaxing, but with you …’ he sighed.

‘With me what?’ I looked into his eyes, wondering if
he was going to open up to me.

‘I feel like I’ve come home when I’m with you Mia,
like everything in the world is right and I have nothing to worry about. You
make me forget everything else.’

‘O god Gabe, for someone who said he didn’t do romance
you sure learn fast. What do you worry about?’

‘Nothing when I’m with you. Come on we have a date to
get ready for.’ He pecked me on the lips and I sighed as he pulled away and
jumped up out of bed. ‘Stay in bed a bit longer baby, I’ll be quicker getting
ready and can wait in the lounge so you have your bathroom and bedroom to
yourself. Deal?’

‘Ok deal,’ I smiled as I looked up at him, wondering
why I was so desperate to get him to open up when I couldn’t do the same back.
I just felt so bad for him and I hated the thought of him hurting or suffering.
I was sure it was all to do with his mum.

He walked around to my side and picked up the panda
off the floor and put him in my arms, kissed me again and headed into the
bathroom closing the door behind him. I lay back down and hugged big boy
tightly and decided I needed to let it go, he’d talk to me when he was ready.
Gabe was out within fifteen minutes with his towel wrapped around his waist.

‘Go on then bathroom’s all yours and stop looking at
me like that.’

‘Like what?’

‘Like I’m a hunk of meat you want to chew on. I’ve got
a date with an intelligent, witty, stunning brunette with a smoking hot body,
amazing eyes and smile and I need to get ready.’

‘See you at 7.40 Mr Austin,’ I smiled.

‘See you at 7.40 Miss Page,’ he winked.

I went straight for the painkillers again to ease the
ache in my stomach and back, before heading into the shower. I washed my hair
and cleaned myself all over and applying my shine body wash and baby oil. I brushed
my teeth again and put some dazzling eye drops in, which made the blues of my
eyes really pop. He’d already left the bedroom and I checked the clock, six
fifty, so I’d just under an hour. I did my makeup and diffused my long hair on
low, until it was glossy and wavy, then loosely pinned it up.

I wriggled my dress up over my bottom and slid my arms
into the long sleeves. It was seriously fitted and hugged all of my curves
perfectly. I did a twirl in the mirror, there was barely any back to it, it dropped
in a u shape to just skim the top of my butt crack and was so short it was
bordering on indecent. It came about an inch or two below where the curve of my
cheeks hit my thighs. I was going to have to be careful getting in and out of
his car, or crossing my legs.

I sprayed my favourite perfume and pulled on my heels,
did my lip gloss and packed my clutch bag and touched up my black nail polish. I
still had Gabe’s bracelet on, so I added a silver watch and some silver chandelier
earrings and a huge silver cocktail ring and stood up and checked myself again,
happy that I looked quite glamorous and sophisticated, while still looking
sexy.

 ‘Can I come in?’ asked Lexi. I opened the door for
her and she whistled. ‘God you look amazing. I’m so jealous, your figure’s
insane. You better hope he’s not taking you to Nando’s or Frankie and Benny’s,
as I think you’re a bit overdressed.’

‘Thanks,’ I laughed. ‘Knowing Gabe he’ll have picked
somewhere too expensive and I’m going to have to try and bite my tongue.’

‘Yeah right, like that’ll ever happen,’ she smirked.
‘Well where ever you’re going you’ll turn a few heads in that dress, just make
sure you don’t bend over. No one wants to see bare beaver when they’re eating,
but I guess that’s better than a bearded clam.’

‘Lexi,’ I smacked her arm playfully as she laughed.
‘I’ll be careful, but I’m only interested in turning his head, I hope he likes
it. Where is he?’

‘We were playing xbox in the lounge, he’s looking even
better than normal. I think you’ll be pleased. He really protested, but I insisted
on putting some concealer on his cheek to tone down that purple bruise,’ she
grinned. I burst out laughing again.

‘Gabe with makeup on?’

‘Yeah he wasn’t too impressed. I told him he still
owed me a few favours for his behaviour on Wednesday, so he sulked while I did
it,’ she laughed. I heard our intercom beep.

‘Who’s that? I need to get Gabe, it’s time to go.’

‘Well I need to pee, so you’re going to have to get
it, have a great time,’ she said as she ran into the bathroom and shut the
door.

‘Bloody hell,’ I muttered and walked to the hall and
picked up the phone. ‘Hello?’

‘Hi Mia, it’s Gabe.’

O god his voice was …
wow
. ‘Gabe why are you
outside?’

‘I’ve come to pick you up for our date, are you
ready?’

‘Yes I am, I’ll be down with you shortly.’ I smiled, I
couldn’t believe he’d gone all the way downstairs to do it properly, he really
was
learning this romance stuff quickly. I was very careful going down the stairs
in my heels, last thing I needed was a broken ankle. As I reached the bottom
door, I took a deep breath and opened it, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

He was standing facing it, a few feet back, with his
hands behind him and as he saw me his mouth opened, mine did the same as I ran
my eyes up and down his body. He was dressed in a tailored dark grey suit,
buttoned at his waist, which hugged his muscular body to perfection. He had a
dazzling white shirt on, the top two buttons of which were undone, the cuffs
slightly protruded from his jacket and showed off a pair of silver cufflinks.
His black leather shoes gleamed and he’d done that sexy mussed up thing he did
with his hair. I felt like I’d died and gone to heaven, he was the
personification of sex on legs. I noticed a growing bulge in his trousers, he’d
gone hard looking at me, which was as good a compliment as he could ever give
me.

‘Gabe, you look
sensational
,’ I whispered. He just
stood there, frozen, staring at me. I walked up to him, nearly level with him
in my heels and clasped his face with both hands and kissed him and stepped
back to see his eyes had filled up. He quickly wiped them with one of his
hands. ‘Gabe are you ok?’

‘I’m sorry, I … I just … you look … I mean… fuck
what’s wrong with me?’ he stuttered. ‘I can’t even talk.’

I’d never heard him struggle to speak to me before, he
was usually so confident. I studied him closely and saw his jaw was clenched
tightly and realised he was actually nervous as well. I reached out and took
his hand, squeezing it tightly.

‘What’s wrong Gabe?’

‘Mia … god, I’m so sorry, you just look … fucking
hell. I’ve never been lost for words before. Is there a word better than
sensational? Because I need it right now.’

‘I’m not sure what word that would be, but the look on
your face, your erection and the fact that you’re stuttering tells me all I
need to know,’ I smiled. From behind his back he produced a red and white rose
bound together with silver wire. ‘Gabe they’re
beautiful
.’

‘Red and white together symbolises unity,’ he shrugged
and I swore he went a bit pink. I kissed him again.

‘Thank you, you’re so thoughtful.’

‘It’s our first formal date Mia, I wanted it to be
special. We’d better move or we’re going to be late.’

We walked silently to his car, looking at each other
every now and then and smiling. We got some hoots of horns from passing cars,
which made us smile even more. He’d parked on the street around the corner.

‘Gabe, there’s a private walled car park around the
back of our building and we have our own space, you should use that as you have
such a nice car.’

‘Thanks, I will in future.’ He opened my door for me
and ran his hand down the bare skin of my back, which I felt in every nerve
ending. I made sure to keep my knees together as he helped lower me into the
passenger seat. I watched him walk around the front and unbutton his jacket
with his one hand before he climbed in and started the engine. As he pulled out
I realised how nervous I actually was too. We were going on a proper date, no
bantering in the corridors of Uni, no sexual urgency of the nightclub, or homey
comforts to relax us, or sex to distract us. It was just two young people going
out to get to know each other.

He pulled up outside a very expensive looking
restaurant, with a red carpet and ropes leading up to the doors. He jumped out
and as he crossed in front of the headlights I saw him button his jacket again,
I wondered if it was his dad or his school that had taught him such etiquette
and manners. He opened my door, before I had a chance to grab the handle,
offering me his hand to help me get out. I did so rather awkwardly and I heard
him gasp. I hadn’t done it intentionally, but I wondered if he’d just realised
I’d got no underwear on. One glance at his face confirmed it, his eyes had narrowed
and there was a turbulent tempest brewing in them. He shut the passenger car
door, quickly crouched and yanked the hem of my dress down, before grabbing my
hand.

‘I’ve seen longer belts Mia,’ he muttered. ‘You’re
seriously not wearing any knickers?’

‘They’d show,’ I protested as he strode to the
entrance, tightly squeezing my hand as I followed at his side. As he handed his
car keys to the valet, I realised I was still holding my two roses next to my
clutch bag and smiled, he could be so sweet sometimes. I looked up as smartly
dressed older man opened the door to the restaurant for us.

‘Good evening Mr Austin, nice to see you again. The
table you requested is ready for you, if you’d like to follow me.’

‘Thank you Pierre, this is my girlfriend Mia.’

I smiled at Pierre and registered that he gave me a surprised
look. I bit my lip as the thought crossed my mind that maybe I wasn’t the woman
he was expecting to see Gabe with. It wasn’t a nice feeling. Pierre led us
through the busy restaurant and as he and Gabe made small talk, I looked around
impressed at the surroundings. The walls were decorated with panels of dark
wood and slate, with a feature solid slate wall with water cascading down it.
There were large gold framed antique mirrors and vases of calla lilies and huge
crystal chandeliers. I felt the eyes of the other diners on us as we made our
way through and I caught sight of ourselves in one of the mirrors and did a
double take. We really were an attractive looking couple.

As Pierre directed us to a staircase, I felt my
stomach churn, praying it wouldn’t be an open tread one, not when I’d got a
short dress on and no knickers. I breathed a sigh of relief to see it wasn’t.
Gabe and I and followed Pierre up and I found myself on a small mezzanine that
just had a table for two, beautifully laid out with crystal glasses, flowers
and candles. Gabe beat Pierre to it and pulled out a chair for me and flipped
out the serviette over my lap as I sat down. I smiled up at him and he took his
place, which had been set at a right angle to me, instead of directly across,
which seemed unusual.

‘Can I show you the wine list Sir?’

‘No need thank you Pierre. I’d like a bottle of the
Dom Perignon 2003 please and a bottle of still water.’

‘Of course, here are the menus. I’ll return shortly.’

We both thanked him and I looked around again as he
left us alone.

‘Gabe, it’s so beautiful here, but it looks
very
expensive.’

‘And tonight you’re not paying. I’m taking you out on
our first formal date, so I won’t accept any arguments,’ he said firmly.