The Price of Gold | Fortune's Fool #1

07 | the golden girls

• [ t h e g o l d e n g i r l s ] •

♥ louisa ♥

I WAS STILL shaken up after everything that happened with Logan yesterday and I certainly didn't need a second round if he saw me with Gabriel. The bruises were a pain to cover up and I hated walking around feeling paranoid that somebody could see them. People's eyes were always on me and I couldn't take any more risks.

I regretted attempting to help him yesterday. 

What had I been thinking?

I subtlety walked as fast as I could away from Gabriel yet the sound of footsteps behind me told me he was following me. Couldn't the idiot take a bloody hint? Exhaling sharply in frustration, I went to the DT building, a place where Logan wouldn't be for sure. "Lou, stop!"

"What do you want?" I said, bitterly continuing to walk away from him. My skin grated at the sound of that nickname. I hadn't heard him say that for a long time and it was far worse than 'Darling.'

Moments later, I felt a hand wrap around my wrist and pull me to a halt. A hiss escaped my mouth at the contact before I could prevent it. The area was still sore under the makeup. I discretely hid it behind my back, keeping my face neutral so he didn't notice. I was already dreading what he was thinking about my encounter with Logan yesterday.

"Jeez, stop running. I just wanted to talk."

I leaned against the magnolia corridor, my attention moving from the impressionist painting framed on the way to Gabriel. Part of me realised that the more times I saw him, the less difficult it was to look at him without those tragic memories invading me. It only made me feel more guilty.

That when I noticed he was still in yesterday's clothes.

The top button to his white shirt was undone and his red tie was loosened. He was carrying his blazer in his arms and most noticeable of ever were his eyes. Ten times more bloodshot than before. Before I can help myself, the words slipped out my mouth, "Jesus Christ, did you not go home?"

He snorted, rolling his eyes. "If you'd have stopped running, I would have told you that." I raised an eyebrow urging him to continue and say whatever he had to say so I could leave. "I-uh... I think I fell asleep? I'm not sure."

I began to laugh thinking he was joking but stopped when he folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. "For that long? On a roof? At school?" I asked in disbelief. He must have drunk a hell of a lot for him to be knocked out cold.

A smirk grew from the corner of his mouth, as his eyes twinkled.

"Yeah I know, I'm damn impressive, right?"

I scoffed, eyeing the door nervously in case anybody came in. "More like unbelievably stupid if you asked me."

The white shirt he had been wearing was still rolled up at the arms revealing his muscles and his hair was as tousled as ever, "You were there with me yesterday, weren't you?" I seemed to have occasional flickers of Louisa pass through my minds. And a Smirnoff.

"Uh- I mean, well- yes." I stumbled upon my words.

"What did I do?" My eyebrows furrowed as I searched his stormy eyes. Satisfied that he didn't remember my encounter with Logan, a smile grew on my face.

"Not much. I just came into school early and saw you on the Music block roof. I was about to tell you to get down when I got a phone call so I left." I lied effortlessly and believably.

I kept my break steady, watching him to see if he'd accept the lie. Thankfully, he nodded his head, his piercing grey eyes staring into mine as if processing what I said. "Ah okay, cool. That makes sense. Thanks, Darling." He winked at the end.