Free Stay With Me by A. C. Marchman

friends, my sister, my dad, and my school.  I still had to be that rich boy that had to act like my family’s better than everyone.  I just wanted to be a normal kid, and I was finally starting to be.  But Donna just screwed me out of it.  
     
    I turned away from them and ran back to my room.  I threw myself on the bed and cried for an hour.  They shipped me off the next week.
     
    Aw, dammit.  That memory just pisses me off like it happened yesterday.  Don’t get me wrong, I ended up liking being at St. Paul’s because I got away from Donna.  I also met friends like Gabriel and...well, Frankie was a really good friend of mine.  Only trouble with being his friend now is that he’s the son of Frank Dubois, Claire’s dead husband.  Frankie still blames his death on me and I feel like shit every time I think about him.  I didn’t know Claire was going to kill Frank; I had no fucking idea.
     
    I have got to stop thinking about deep shit like this late at night.  Now I’m never going to get to bed.  I roll back over to face Allie and it makes me smile.  Her lips are parted and she looks like she’s dreaming.  I wonder what about.  I decide not to disturb her anymore and roll out of bed quietly.  I know that Gabe is still awake; I need to talk to him about some stuff, like how I’m going to tell Allie that I love her and how am I going to break it to her I’ve been lying to her.  Maybe I’ll leave that last part out .
     
    I tiptoe out of the room so I don’t wake her and I silently close the door.  I head down the hallway to the guest room that Gabe’s in and knock. I know it’s the night before his wedding, so Stacey’s not in there with him.  I’m sure she wanted to keep the tradition and not see him until the wedding tomorrow.  “Uh, come in,” he says, probably wondering who the hell is coming to his room at two in the morning.
     
    I slowly open the door and I see him sitting on his bed with his laptop turned on.  “Geez, dude.  You don’t take a break from work, even the night before you get married.”
     
    He laughs and shuts the computer down.  “You know me.  Always working, always trying to make that money.”  Then he cocks his head to the side.  “So, why are you in my room this late?”
     
    I plop down in the wicker chair near the bed.  “When did you know you loved Stacey?”
     
    “Ah, I see.”  He shakes his head knowingly.  “You love Allie and you don’t know how to tell her?”  
     
    “Dude, I asked you the first question.  How did you know?”  My body is so tired, but my mind is going a mile a minute.
     
    “Well, I’ll tell you as long as you don’t tell the guys that I got all deep about this love shit, alright?”  Gabe says.  “I’m serious.  I don’t want them thinking I’m pussy whipped.”
     
    “Okay, deal.  I won’t tell them Stace has your balls in a vice grip as long as you don’t tell them Allie has mine, too.”
     
    “Alright, deal.  So, I knew I loved Stacey when I wasn’t able to get her off my mind for more than five minutes.  We were texting, emailing, and calling whenever we weren’t together.”  He smiles as he thinks about his bride to be. “ I knew she loved me when she would do the little things for me, like giving me head.”
     
    “Aw, come on!” I wrinkle my nose in disgust as Gabe bursts in a fit of laughter.  Some things never change.  He was always the one with the sense of humor that got all the girls.  At least he finally landed one that will put up with his crap.
     
    “Yeah, I’m kidding.  Well, kinda kidding.”  He gives a smart ass grin.  “In all seriousness, we just knew.  We figured out that there was no one else on Earth that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with more than each other.”
     
    I sigh, feeling like a heavy weight is crushing my chest.  I feel like that about Allie, too, but she doesn’t know everything about me.  She might change her whole opinion