Romance Collision ✔

Chapter Fifty-Four: My Kind of Beautiful

For an entire week Gabriel hadn't seen Eve.

When he walked around the school, he pretended like he wasn't looking for her, but Gabriel couldn't help it. His eyes wandered the halls as he would walk them with Marina and a few guys from the football team. He'd keep glancing at the empty chair beside Charlie in English, and then Gabriel noticed how his little brother, Bea, and Charlie would steer clear of him.

The few times Gabriel greeted the trio, they all froze wide-eyed and would scramble away from him. It wasn't until Gabriel caught Greg by the back of his collar when his younger brother was on his way to History a few days ago that Gabriel was done with being avoided like the plague.

Greg's blue eyes widened, his shoulders raised and his fingers spread out against the lockers that he was slammed into. Gabriel narrowed his eyes, leaning close to his brother's face. Through grit teeth, he demanded what Greg's problem was. His brother shook his head, swallowing hard that Greg was just nervous about a test he had next. Greg claimed the test counted for most of his grade.

Although he allowed the crappy excuse, Gabriel knew he wasn't hearing the truth.

Even when he asked Charlie and Bea what was going on, the girls made up the same excuse as Greg had. Gabriel frowned at them, thinking that he would have believed them had they all came up with better excuses.

So today, all through lunch, while Marina was talking his ear off, Gabriel rested his cheek against the back of his hand, glaring at the burger on his tray. He really hated being left out of things. 

His therapist was always having to remind Gabriel about having to accept that Gabriel was not able to control what anyone else did, only what Gabriel did. Even if Gabriel argued that it didn't help his temper if no one would tell him why they were avoiding him, his therapist reassured Gabriel of his mantra. 

"These are the things you will have to learn, Gabriel. You have to remember: 'I do not have control of what others say, think or do. The only control I have is over my own'."

It took Gabriel a few times to repeat this over and over in his head when cornering his little brother for answers. But when that wouldn't work, Gabriel had to separate himself from Greg or he'd snap. 

Now all Gabriel could think about was how Greg and his friends were keeping him out of the loop. 

"Gabe."

His eyes widened a second, breaking from his thoughts and looked up at Caleb. Gabriel's brows furrowed, squinting at his best friend. He could tell something was bothering Caleb. For the past couple of times they'd hang out together, Caleb was awfully quiet. He kept telling Gabriel it was the nerves of not hearing from Caleb's first choice of college yet. That it had been a month since Caleb should have heard something. Gabriel believed him.

But now... Now that Caleb looked uneasy and appeared to be internally struggling with something, Gabriel wondered if there was more going on with his friend than college apps. 

Caleb glanced over his shoulder where Greg was sitting with his girlfriend and Charlie. Marina's little sister was even hanging around at the table. They all didn't say much, just sat together as they ate. But Caleb had felt Greg watching him like a hawk and sure enough the youngest McNeill was stretching his neck, trying to peer over at Caleb. When they caught gazes, Caleb's face must have hinted at his inner turmoil because Greg's eyes widened and frantically shook his head. 

Caleb faced Gabriel again who was nudging Marina off his lap with a scowl. The brunette didn't take a hint, only giggling and leaning closer to nip at Gabriel's earlobe. Gabriel growled, frowning as he leaned away from her. He shook his head, telling Marina to knock it off when she pleaded if she could go over to spend time with Gabriel.