(no subject)

[fixeswatches]

The rest of the week was testy between them, to say the very least. The next day Elle had walked right by his locker, not even stopping to look at him as she dropped his jacket on the floor at his feet. When he picked it up and pulled it on, it smelled more like her than he expected. He made sure to wash it as soon as he got home. He didn’t need to be reminded of her presence.

But her presence is difficult to avoid, he found. Since the popular table was no longer accepting Elle, she had started sitting at his table. He didn’t know why she kept sitting there when she didn’t even bother talking to him, not even once. Instead, she just sat at the other end, just at the right angle so he could see her past whatever book he was reading at the time (this week’s choices were Fahrenheit 451 and 1984). Not that he ever looked up from his book just to look at her. Not that he noticed how she dressed each day or the way she styled her hair. He had no reason to notice such things.

Still, he kind of missed their arguments. It was nice to have someone who could keep up with him. But he was stubborn. He didn’t want to be the first to break the silence between them. So he continued to wait for her to do it first. But it turned out that she was just as stubborn as he was about these things. Maybe even more so, actually.

But today the silence would be broken. After his AP U.S. History class he was pulled aside, asked if he could tutor someone in one of the regular History classes who was struggling. Elle Bishop. Before he could even give it much thought, he said yes.

Which is why he was now standing in front of her home, knocking on the door. They had arranged for him to come to her place to tutor her, because there was no way in hell he was bringing her to his home. Virginia would probably flip out if he brought a girl home without warning, even if it was just for tutoring. It was much easier this way, especially since Elle’s father worked so late.

He wasn’t at all excited about the idea of being in a en empty home with her. Not at all. What gave you that idea?

Comments

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

Elle didn't miss Gabriel at all. She didn't need him around; she didn't even want him around, and the only reason she sat at his table during lunch was because she had no other choice. No one else would talk to her, and that table was the only empty one.

She wasn't doing it to tease him, or taunt him, or because she wanted to piss him off. She just sat there with her lunch, playing games on her cell phone or pretending to do homework because she had nothing else to do.

He was lucky she'd even found it in herself to give his jacket back. By the time she got home that night from the park, her dad was furious and threatened to take her back to the Company. It was only by her sheer force of will they stayed; she'd promised to be so good for now on and it would be silly to leave so soon after he went through so much trouble to get her there. By the time she was locked in her room, and Elle's eyes had zeroed in on his dumb jacket still on her bed (she hadn't slept with it there this whole time or anything) she was so mad she nearly burnt it to a crisp.

She didn't even need it; it hardly smelled like him anymore.

Instead she'd thrown it on her floor in a fit and vowed that Gabriel Gray was going to be so thoroughly ignored by her he'd think he was turning invisible.

Then that stupid failed test and that stupid teacher had happened, and now she was sitting in the foyer waiting for him to arrive. There were no words to describe the fight she had put up when Mr. Banner told her Gabriel was going to tutor her. She wasn't stupid and she didn't need a tutor. She'd just been obviously distracted the past two weeks.

And now she couldn't ignore Gabriel. She had to talk to him. Her life just couldn't get any worse. So she'd taken a shower and got dressed into something new and different to make herself feel better. A cute little yellow sundress, and she'd left her hair to dry naturally. Well, actually she blew it out and made it look naturally wavy, but that was neither here nor there.

She waited a few moments after someone knocked on the door, telling herself she was just surprised and that's why her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. Then she got up, opened the door, spun around without even looking at him, and started up the stairs. "We can study in my room," she called back carelessly.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

"That's fine," He replied with a nod, looking around her home curiously. He certainly wasn't noticing how pretty she looked in that dress, or how nice her hair looked set in waves like that. Or the fact that she had dressed up for a tutoring session. He didn't notice anything like that, but instead just soaked in the surroundings. They had alot of gold plated items.

As they made their way back to her bedroom, his stomach certainly did not turn in excitement. His heart was only racing because he was a little nervous. He had never tutored someone before. His abrasive attitude didn't exactly make him good teaching material, after all.

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

Elle silently led him into her bedroom and plopped down on her satin pink sheets, her textbook and sparse notes already laid out. "You can sit at my desk," she said snottily.

The idea of him on her bed with her made her shiver involuntarily, so obviously this meant she thought it was disgusting.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

"If I'm going to be teaching you, you need to be sitting next to me," He replied in a calm matter of fact tone. "So either I sit on your bed with you" Why did that idea make him feel almost tingly? "Or you sit at the desk with me. It's your choice."

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

She finally looked up at him, and it was unsurprisingly with a hard glare that soaked him all up. Her heart dropped to her stomach with anger and nothing else. She almost argued, but she didn't feel like it.

"I only have one chair," she said, her voice harsh, and scooted over. It wasn't like it wasn't a big bed. She'd deal. "Just don't touch me."

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

"Don't worry," He scoffed, sitting down next to her on the bed. "I have no desire to touch you." And he didn't. He didn't want to kiss her or hold her or do any of those things they had done in the past. Those had just been flukes, moments of weakness.

"So, which areas do you need the most help with?"

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

Ugh, why didn't he want to touch her? She was totally touchable. Did he even see what she was wearing? She flushed a little and grabbed her textbook, chastising herself for such stupid, reactive thoughts, and let her golden hair fall over her face to hide it.

"Take your shoes off; that's disgusting," she snapped testily after he'd sat down. Her sheets were really pretty and expensive, and she didn't want his dirty shoes anywhere near them. "And I couldn't tell you. I haven't been paying attention," she admitted grudgingly.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

He reached up, almost instinctively to brush her hair back, but then pulled away his hand once he realized what he was doing. He kicked off his shoes, leaving him in the pleated dress socks he wore underneath his loafers. Yes, just about every article of clothes he owned made him seem like an old man, or like he was from the wrong decade.

He sighed a little at what she admitted. "Fine, let's just start off with what we were going over in class last, which was the Civil War."

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

She snorted softly at his choice of socks and opened her textbook, flipping carelessly to the middle of some chapter that looked relevant to the Civil War. "A bunch of people fought and then the slaves were freed. The end. Tutoring done."

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

He rolled his eyes at her. "If you think that's all that happened during the Civil War, then no wonder you're failing. Let's start with the cause. What do you think was the cause of the Civil War?"

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

"I don't care," she whined, and shoved the book out of her lap. "It happened like a hundred years ago," she said stubbornly, irritated. So maybe she was acting like a child a little too much about this stupid tutoring thing, but it was just unfair. She didn't want to do it, and she wished he would just take his dumb socks and stupid glasses and go die somewhere or something.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

"Just because it happened a hundred years ago doesn't mean it's not relevant. And if you stop acting like a spoiled little brat, we can get this done with, and I can leave."

He pulled his glasses off for a moment, rubbing his temples. Why had he even agreeded to this? It's not like he needed extra credit or anything.

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

She rolled her eyes, picked up her book, and dropped back into her pillows with an annoyed groan. She bent her knees up and scooted down, her hips and legs right in his eyesight. She propped the book against her bare thighs and decided she could probably wear this dress as a shirt, too.

"I'm not acting like a brat," she denied vehemently, even though she knew she was. "Now just tell me what I need to know and then you can go be an asshole somewhere else."

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

As he placed his glasses on he couldn't help but glance down, watching as the fabric crawled up, exposing creamy white skin. Skin that he definitely did not want to touch. But it was hard not to look at.

He pulled his eyes back to her face now. "Fine. Let's start with with the reasons behind the Civil War. Though one of the major reasons was slavery, alot of the people who were against it were because of economic reasons more than moralistic ones."

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

An imperceptible little smirk crossed across her lips as his eyes traveled down her legs, but it was only because he totally wanted her, and that meant she was in control. The smug victory she felt didn't thrill her with any kind of excitement other than that.

She closed her book and pushed it to the side, sinking further back into the pillows as he began speaking, nonchalantly pulling the hem of her dress down with a little wriggle. "That's because morals are boring," she said with a bit of snark.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

His eyes stayed firmly on the book and he did not watch as she wriggled and tugged her dress down. He was all business. "Actually," He corrected. "It was more to do with the fact that our country is a Capitalist society. Many people in the North were upset because the South made alot more money due to having slave labor on the plantations. And the South didn't want to give their slaves up because without them, they would make alot less money."

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

She studied him closely, and knew. He was looking at the book way too closely. With wicked purpose, she stretch a little with a small mewling yawn and turned on her side towards him. "Did you ever wonder what it's like to own a slave?" she asked conversationally, rubbing her calf up and down with the side of her foot. "Daddy won't even let me have a puppy after the first one." That she killed. But that had been an accident. She was young and still not in control of her powers, it bit her, and zap. Oops.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

He raised a confused brow at her question now. He was definitely just paying attention to her words. "No, I can't say that I've ever wondered that." It was a little warm in the room, or maybe it was just him. Either way, he set the book down, unbuttong his long sleeved shirt in order to roll the sleaves up to his elbows. Then he continued. "My mother let me have a puppy either. She said they were dirty, disgusting things." Even though his mom could probably use the Company.

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

She pouted. "They're so cute, with their little ears." She sighed and stroked her collarbone with light fingers. "I want a puppy." She stilled her foot and flicked her eyes up to his, biting her lip.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

If Gabriel was a lesser man, he might think she was really enticing looking that way. Good thing he was not. He wasn't at all attracted to the way she was acting. "What are you looking at me for?" He asked, raising a brow. "I'm not going to get you one."

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

"Did I ask you for one?" she said snappishly, tracing her fingers up and down her neck now, circling back along the delicate ridge of her collarbone.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

"Just making myself clear," He shot back. He was not occasionally glancing down to watch the movement of her fingers. One would have to find her attractive to do something like that.

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

She watched the distraction of his eyes, her heart thudding against her ribcage. Purposely, she licked her lips, slowly running her tongue along the top pillow of pink and then tucking it over the bottom, looking at him with dark expectancy for a short, silent pause. "Well, are you going to teach me anything or not?" she asked, her voice deliberately softer, but not lacking in attitude.

[justgabriel.livejournal.com]

He cleared his throat, nodding his head as he turned back to the material in the text book. "Of course," He said, before going back to telling her about the different causes of the Civil War.

[electrocutesy.livejournal.com]

She didn't bother to hide her pleased smile as he looked back down to the textbook--but straightened her lips into an innocent line a moment afterward. She shifted a little more to get comfortable, twirling her silky hair and listening complacently. It was boring, of course, and she might have been distracted by certain thoughts that had heat crawling up her neck and pooling in her cheeks. They weren't about him at all, or how he was almost attractive when he wasn't saying anything that made her so angry she wanted to gut him.