DON'T LEAVE ME TONGUE TIED - GABE

The cicadas outside Andria’s window were being specifically loud and annoying, or maybe it was just her rotten mood. That whole day had been tumbling out of her grip since she woke up. First, her car’s battery was out so she had to ask her dad to borrow money so that she could get another, and then she had to ask him to take her, and THEN she had to ask him to put it in. Nothing too hard for any father who loved his daughter, but her dad was different, and he never failed to hold these things over her head. He just loved to guilt trip her into being the good little slave girl she always was. There wasn’t a real need for him to hold things over her; if he had just showed all the normal love and affection that a father was supposed to, she would have done anything he asked. Hell, she would do anything he asked of her no matter how he treated her, so why did he have to sing that “Ugh, now I have to actually do something for my child,” tune whenever she asked anything of him? Andria remembered the days when she was able to swallow her anger and force herself to be apologetic and meek, always trying to please him. But now she couldn’t get it to go away, and she was always so close to picking fights with him. It had occurred to her when she had turned seventeen, only a few days ago, that she only had one more year left with this man. When she turned eighteen she could go anywhere else in the entire world, and wouldn’t have to worry about what he said to her, or about what he thought she looked like. It was that sort of thought that gave her a more brazen attitude towards her father, and that’s what had landed her locked in her room, with the sentence of “no dinner before bed.”

When she received that punishment, Andria wanted to laugh. No dinner? No dinner? She didn’t eat dinner, anyway! She’d had an apple to entire day and had not felt the need to eat since because she was being fueled by her anger. The worst thing he could have done was to send her away with no dinner, because that meant there would be no one to make HIM dinner. Andria stifled a laugh, feeling slightly high from the adrenaline from back talking her father, and also a little scared. It had been one of the only times she had ever spoken out to him, and he always got weird afterwards. He would avoid her even more, and even when she tried to spark a conversation with him, he would be short and curt, as if he didn’t want to talk to her. Andria wondered if that’s how all fathers were like to their daughters, and she hoped not. She would never have a child if that was the case. Andria slumped onto her bed, heaving a sigh. She felt suddenly cooped up with her thoughts running around her head in circles. The sun was going to be setting soon, and the sky was a pretty orange-ish color. Andi wanted to do something different, and that was not an urge she often got. Normally, she would be out with her father, attempting to patch up their crappy relationship, but that never worked. But now, she needed to get out. She needed to go do something reckless, although she didn’t have the first idea about what something reckless was. After a moment of deliberation, Andria stood and put on her sandals and an oversized sweatshirt over her tank top. Ok, so, why didn’t she just sneak out? It’s not like her father would come checking on her. The door was locked, and God forbid Andi ever do something like open a window. That was exactly what Andria was planning to do, however. She gathered up all her essentials and her keys and then walked to the window, unlocking it and pulling it up slowly, making sure no noise would sound. It was a good thing they only had a one story house, or this might not have worked.

After a minute of quiet wriggling, Andi landed on the ground with a soft thump, and then pulled the window down. For a moment, she didn’t know what to do. She was free, out, she had broken her leash. But what in the world did a seventeen year old girl do at the start of night? Now that she was out, Andria cursed herself for not thinking this through. She went to her phone, then, scrolling through the short list of contacts she’d managed to get in the last few years of living in Ocean City. She could text Luce and say she was coming over, but then again, she wasn’t sure how Luce’s family would accept that. And there was no way Andria could call Dalton now, it was so already getting dark. But what about Ariel or… Oh, Andria mentally slapped herself, wondering why Gabriel hadn’t been the first person to come to mind. He lived in his own place with a roommate, so it wouldn’t be weird if she showed up, and he could probably figure out something to do, or at least be a good listener in case she wanted to rant. Andi dialed his number, but it went to voicemail. ”Uhm, hi Gabe, it’s me, Andi. I just… I’m coming over.” After leaving that short and sweet message, Andria got in her car and left without looking over her shoulder. On the way, however, she felt a bit of doubt creep in. What if he was busy? What if he wasn’t home? Andria didn’t want to bother Chris if Gabriel wasn’t there. But then again, what if Gabriel was there and was busy with someone else? Andria cringed, hoping that that definitely wasn’t the case. Andria didn’t like to see any of the girls that Gabe hung around with, not that they were bad people or anything; there had always been a certain jealousy that had hovered in Andi’s mind. She never gave it much thought, knowing that having any sort of feelings for Gabriel beyond sisterly admiration was a bad, bad idea.

Andria pulled up in front of Gabe’s house that he shared with his roommate, and then went to the door. She saw that his black Chevelle was in the driveway and felt a little relief. She rang the doorbell, hoping that he would answer.