Miserably Delightful

chapter 23

Life was peculiar with the boys living in the house with me. A lot of mornings were spent with Marc making me coffee, Sean flirting with me as I made breakfast, and Brandon insisting he drive me to school. Lauren had been avoiding me, and I was avoiding her, not that I had much of a choice. If the boys knew that she was going to be home, then they usually took me to someone else's place. Zain hadn't come around once since I had returned, and a part of me felt really smug about that.

Surprisingly, for once, I was all alone. I had to run through the list in my head, wondering where the boys were as I headed down to the kitchen after completing my homework. It was a long list to go through, but I liked to run through it just so I could remember who was where off the top of my head.

Kota and Nathan: Spending time with Kota's mother and his sister.

Victor: Some bullshit party for his parents that I offered to go to.

Silas: On a job with his father.

Owen: Some teacher bullshit.

Sean: A shift at the hospital.

Luke: He hadn't specified but I was pretty sure it had to do with a prank.

Brandon and North: At the garage handling a client.

Gabriel: I actually had no clue.

I sighed, finding myself missing the boys, though I knew that I would see a good amount of them a few hours later. I opened the fridge, leaning down and inspecting the contents to see if there was anything I could use to cook. I didn't cook all that often anymore, but I thought it might be nice to do so and it would be a good distraction from thinking about the boys. If I continued to think about them, I would want to text them which wasn't the best idea when they were all busy.

I sighed again, realizing that we were way overdue for a food order or grocery trip. I straightened up and reached for my phone, deciding that my best bet was to order in for the night then have someone going shopping with me after school the next day. I had just began to consider what I could order when my phone lit up and began buzzing in my hands, alerting me to the fact that someone was calling me.

My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion at the sight of Gabriel's contact name, Meanie, as well as his contact picture of him flipping off one of the boys. Not wanting to keep him waiting, I quickly hit the answer button and brought the phone to my ear.

"Gabriel?" I questioned, frowning slightly. I really hoped that the reason he was calling was because he was bored and wanted someone to talk to. "Everything okay?"

Sobs came through the phone causing my heart to stop and my spine to straighten up with fear and concern. "I'm outside of your house," he managed to get out through his hysterics. "Can I please come in?"

I was suddenly frantic, practically sprinting through my house to get to the door and let him inside. I wasn't sure what had upset him badly, but I did know that if it was a someone, they better start running now because I was going to kill them. I had forgotten to respond to Gabriel, causing him to whimper my name through the phone.

"Yes, Gabriel," I breathed out. "Yes. Hang on. I'm letting you in now. Just one minute."

I dropped my phone in my haste to unlock my door and open it. The sight of Gabriel at my doorstep broke my heart; his hair that was usually perfectly styled in a mess, tears running down his face, and in only a tank top and jeans in the chilly weather. Tears blurred my vision as I pulled him inside and closed the door, wrapping him a tight hug. He buried his face in the crook of my neck, still sobbing.

"Oh my god," I mumbled, my chest physically hurting at the amount of emotional pain he was in. Morals and laws be damned, I was really going to hurt whoever had done this to him. "It's okay, Meanie. It's okay. Can we go to my room? Is that okay?"