Their lips move in tandem, like they’ve been doing this for longer than they have. Their touches are soft and hesitant still, but reassuring and comforting. The warmth of James’ body has become familiar at this point, a welcome heat source in the cold of the hallway, and he finds that he could get used to this.
He hates that the moment gets interrupted by a roughshove against his shoulder, sending him off kilter slightly. The pained yelp from James alerts him that the knocking of their teeth did indeed hurt him just as much as it had Gabriel. With a huff he whirls around, demanding to know what the person’s problem is. He ends up face to face with both Riley and Paul.
Out of instinct he plants himself firmer onto the ground, his stance widening and his arm reaching out behind him to make sure that James is shielded. “What’s your problem?” he grits out again.
“Myproblem?” Riley snarks, an angry grimace tugging at his lips. “You’re my problem. You might be from some fancy family, but it doesn’t give you the right to ruin my wedding.”
Gabriel’s eyebrows furrow, confused. “What are you on about? I haven’t done anything.”
“Of course you did. Thattwirp’sfather,” Riley snarks as he points at James, “rescinded his contribution. And the venue called to inform us of a joint Hayes-Patterson party happening on our date instead.”
Gabriel’s eyes gleam with glee at Riley’s sour look.
“That’s got nothing to do with me,” he says, arms crossing over his chest. “But you know what they say, karma’s a bitch.”
Riley lunges at him, reaching out to strike him across the face. To Gabriel’s utter surprise it’s Paul who stops him, pulling him back by the elbow. The two of them share aheated glance, anger radiating off of them both. In the end Riley settles back, just slightly.
But it’s Paul that surprises him, once again, and he’s sure James as well, when he says, “I’m sorry. We’ll leave you two alone.” It’s not the apology that James deserves to hear. It’s not the groveling he’s owed. And it most certainly doesn’t sound sincere, but the promise of being left alone takes the edge off.
It’s not out of the goodness of his heart; Gabriel can tell it’s not. It’s just a way to weasel his way into James and Gabriel’s good graces, to try and salvage what they can of their reputation. Gabriel would take so much pleasure in telling them exactly where to shove it, but he’s much more interested in seeing it all unfold when they get back to London.
He’s sure James’ mother will keep the both of them in the loop.
42 [James] Inverness, Scotland
December 30th
“You gather we should be on the lookout for any monsters?” Gabriel quips from his seat next to the window, a wide, silly grin on his face.
“Why did I just know that you were going to make this joke at least once while we’re here?” James retorts. His shoulders shaking with barely suppressed laughter as he takes a seat next to Gabriel, leaning his head on his hand as his eyes roam over the vast body of water.
The Ness stretches out before them, as beautiful as he’s ever seen a loch. The water glitters under the winter sun, white light reflecting as far as James can see. The city of Inverness becoming clearer on the horizon with every passing mile.
It feels like a coincidence that they’re here to celebrate the turning of the year. His parents’ vacation home at the edge ofthe city will make a nice place to ring in the year in solitude, just the two of them. His mother mentioned the house being empty, if the trip would take him close to it.
It’s already past noon when the train rolls to a stop at the station and James is anxious to go into the city, stretch his legs along the way. This is one of the cities he knows. While he’s not as familiar with it as Gabriel was with Amsterdam, he knows his way around.
A vacation home meant infrequent trips up here in the past, but so did it with all the other houses scattered around the country. When he was younger he always wished they would spend more time here rather than the modern apartment in London.
Exploring the city with Gabriel by his side sounds a lot more appealing in the end. For today he’s planned a short hike alongside the river. To enjoy the crispness of the fresh air and stretch their legs after the longer travel.
Today will be the last timeThe Evergreenoffers an a-la-carte menu, meaning that he planned to take advantage of it for one last time and have dinner in the warm restaurant.
From where Gabriel’s sitting he’s still sniggering from his joke, clearly proud of himself despite the unoriginality of it. James smiles as he stands back up to pull on his shoes.
“And you’re sure you want to go for a hike? Aren’t there any museums or old churches you want to look at?” Gabriel asks, a slight whine in his voice.
James bites back another smile as he replies, “We’ve got all day for that tomorrow. Besides, the trail’s only about an hour.”
“An hour!” Gabriel exclaims, clearly playing it up to mess with James. He stands up as well, pulling on his coat and tugging the beanie over his head. James loves how the deep color sharpens the green in Gabriel’s eyes.
James offers Gabriel his hand, who takes it with a smile and a soft squeeze. “We’ll have something to eat first, yeah? Go for a walk after.”
Gabriel squeezes his hand again and leads them out of the cabin. The silence is enough to cause a spike of fear to enter James’ mind, anxiety of making Gabriel do something he doesn’t want to do. “If you really-”
“Stop that,” Gabriel interjects, clearly knowing where James’ thoughts are headed. “The walk’s fine. I’m only teasing, you know that.”
“But we could-” This time it’s not Gabriel’s words that interrupt him, but the gentle press of his mouth. James’ eyes close instinctively, leaning into the soft touch. It’s there for all of three seconds but it leaves him dazed, nonetheless.
