i want it all ( gg next gen )

𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖

Gabriel Archibald woke up to the sound of knocking at his bedroom door. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust as his father came in, but his brain needed a little longer to catch up.

"Breakfast is downstairs," Nate told him.

Gabriel squinted at his father. It was rather unlike Nate to climb several flights of stairs just to tell him something like this, especially considering he knew his son rarely got out of bed before noon.

"Thanks," Gabriel said, flopping into the pillow as he tried to visualise what had happened last night, or how he'd even managed to get home.

With the help of a guardian angel, I heard.

"Aren't you going to join us?" His dad asked.

Gabriel looked up with his groggy attempt at a raised eyebrow. "What?"

"It's a little rude to have a guest and make them eat alone."

Guests? Gabriel was truly baffled for a moment. Oh shit, oh wait!

"Hadley," he said, sitting bolt upright. "Hadley's here?"

"You hadn't noticed?" Nate said.

"What? No — of course, of course I noticed," he said. "I just woke up, I forgot. Right, I'm coming."

As soon as his father left the room, Gabriel scrambled to get changed. At some point last night, Hadley must've managed to yank off his sweaty clothes and leave him in only his boxers and a fresh t-shirt.

She's nothing if not responsible.

It was all coming back to him now. Shit. Had he totally humiliated himself?

He surveyed his face and messy hair in the mirror as he pulled on a pair of baggy navy ATM mineral wash joggers from the pile of clothes in the corner of his room.

xoxo

"Juice?" Nate asked Hadley as she reluctantly tucked in to the smoothie bowl his girlfriend had prepared for her.

After she realised she had dozed off at Gabriel's, Hadley had been trying to sneak out as early as possible but accidentally interrupted a romantic breakfast with Nate and his new girlfriend America and had been invited to join.

Nate had been thrilled that Hadley was staying over. Well, not exactly thrilled because his son had neglected to mention it, which went against their rules, but thrilled nonetheless.

Hadley was one of his favourite friends of his son's, always had been. It had always been funny to watch her grow into such a mini-Blair, but continued to deny that she was anything like her mother as she got older.

"Thank you," Hadley smiled, holding out her glass as Nate poured her a drink.

As she heard a floorboard creak, her eyes darted to the doorway and met Gabriel's. He looked tired and his hair was a mess, but he still managed to send shivers down her spine.

Gabriel wondered how Hadley still managed to look so clean after sleeping in her clothes from the night before. She seemed to have managed to remove her makeup and had braided her chestnut brown hair, but she was still wearing her David Koma dress from the night before. She looked away quickly, taking an uncomfortable sip of her juice.

"Gabriel, come sit," Nate said when he noticed his son, gesturing to a seat at the table opposite from Hadley. He sat down, running a hand through his messy hair as his eyes flitted between Hadley and America.

"So, where did you go last night?" America asked eagerly, looking at Hadley's dress.

Gabriel and Hadley looked at each other for a second and then back at America.

"Just a party," Hadley said, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Was Scarlett there?" Nate said. It had been a while since Hadley had slept over, and he was pretty sure it had always been with Scarlett there.

Tone deaf as ever, N.

"Yeah, but she had to take Sal home," Gabriel told his dad, looking up at Hadley.

"Oh god, he didn't try tequila slammers again, did he?" Nate laughed as he sipped his freshly squeezed orange juice.

"Something like that," Gabriel let out a small laugh at the memory of a ninth-grade Sal rolling about on the tiled floors of his grandparents' Hamptons house. He locked eyes with Hadley for a moment, and saw her lips twitch a little. She remembered too.

Hadley fought a smile, remembering the hours of she and Gabriel patting Sal's back as he vomited into the toilet.

"How was your night?" Gabriel asked his dad.

"Great, actually," Nate said, his fingers interlocking with America's from across the table. "We had dinner with your parents, Hadley."

"They told us all about the big wedding," America grinned. "You must be so excited!"

Hadley scoffed without thinking. "Not really," she said, before looking up from her breakfast. "I mean... of course I am, but there's so much planning to do."

"And with Jack and Georgina, who knows if they'll even go through with it," Nate laughed.

Hadley let out a giggle despite herself. "They could book another cruise last minute, who knows."

That would save us from the nightmare wedding of the century.

Gabriel wanted to breath a sigh of relief. It had been months since he'd seen Hadley smile properly — not one of her weird, cold shrugging smiles that had seemed to be all he could get recently.

Hadley's phone buzzed and she checked her pocket. Shit.

MOM : Where are you?? Bridesmaid fitting in 1hr !!!!

"Shit," she muttered, then covered her mouth quickly, standing up. "Sorry — I was meant to be at a dress fitting this morning, I totally forgot. I've gotta go."

"Of course, don't worry," Nate grinned. "It was great to see you, Had. Come over whenever you want."

Hadley's eyes flitted towards Gabriel for a second and then back at his father. "Thank you for the breakfast," she smiled awkwardly, picking up her bag.

"It's no problem," Nate said. "Gabriel, walk Hadley out, will you?"

Gabriel nodded, getting up quickly. He lead her through the kitchen into the front hall and stopped at the door. They were alone together, and the silence suddenly felt loaded.

"Thanks for taking me home last night," Gabriel said. "You didn't have to."

"Well I wasn't going to leave you to die, was I?" She shrugged coolly, looking down at her feet.

Gabriel paused, watching her. I miss you, he wanted to say.

"You haven't been round here in a while, have you?" He said.

"Gabriel—" she began. There was pain in her eyes.

"Hadley." He cut her off with just her name, their eyes locking for a drawn out second before she turned away.

"I should go, my mom's waiting," Hadley sighed. "Bye Gabriel."

"Bye Hadley," he replied, and watched her go again.

Only know you love her when you let her go.