Her first instinct was to swear loudly (which she did) and then beat the living day lights of the idiot who caused her to feel marinated in beer. He got to it first though and stood up, saying things in German to Paul, and then to her, and then to his mates at the table that neither she nor Paul could fully make out.
He then said something she picked up on, and instead of standing there with her mouth open, unable to fully conceive the last three seconds, Gabrielle inhaled to shout something back.
Paul grabbed around the waist before she could though and hauled her back to the table.
“Lemme go, I’m going to fucking kill that cunt….erugh, Let me go Paul” she insisted.
Paul groaned “God, stop it, your acting like John”
“What?” she exclaimed, as Paul walked her backwards so she couldn’t get away “I am *not* acting like John. I am perfectly fine. Do I look like I am seething with anger to you”
“Yeah”
“Fuck *off* Paul, God, just let me go”
Instead he shoved her down in her chair next to George “Sit” he told her firmly and pushed the hair off his forehead in frustration.
“What happened?” Pete wanted to know “And where’s the drinks?”
Paul shrugged ad flopped down next to Gabrielle who was pulling her dark hair over her shoulder to inspect it for possible alcohol splatterings. “See that big guy over there, the one causing a fuss?”
“Yeah” John nodded
“Ran into little Miss Fisticuffs here, beer went everywhere, you know. Anyway I’ve seen things like that get out of hand and I don’t feel especially like getting knifed tonight”
“Good call” George said dryly, he looked at Gabrielle “You all right Gab?”
She nodded and ran her hands down the front of her white button up shirt. It was now stained a lovely shade of splattery brown. “I need to get home and change though” she sighed
“Oh I dunno” John slurred, grinning maliciously “I kind of like seeing through yer top”
She stuck her tongue out at him childishly and John did the same back to her. They giggled madly.
“Don’t encourage him Gabby” Paul sighed
“Ok” Gabrielle stood up “I’m off, I really need to get out of this thing” She barely turned around when the four of them yelled for her to stop. She turning back around slowly “Yeah?”
“One of us come with you” said Pete “We don’t want you getting raped or something”
Gabrielle laughed “I’m not gonna get raped”
John, Paul, and George shared a look and Paul stood up “I’ll take you, come ‘ead” he said and shuffled over to her. He then took her by the arm and led her out of the club.
“A lot of good you’ll do me” Gabrielle giggled as they tripped over the door on the way out “You’re farther gone then me”
“That’s not true” said Paul “I’ve had the same amount as you, and you’re tiny. The laws of nature say differently.”
She found it hilarious how serious he was trying to be and laughed all the way to the street. “Yeah Macca” she giggled, once she calmed down a bit “But, you see, I could still drink you under the table, even if I am a midget”
“You’re not a midget” he laughed “Just vertically challenged”
Gabrielle found this statement giggle worthy as well.
Paul sighed and raised his hand out for a taxi “We’re not gonna fucking walk” he muttered as one pulled up next to them.
Gabrielle told the driver in German where they wanted to go as well as she could, still giggling all the while.
**
The backdoor was being a bugger to open again. Gabrielle groaned as she tried to fit her key in the right way. Paul was leaning over her shoulder watching her fiddle with it “I think your doin it wrong Gabby” he told her wisely
“Yeah, I know, it’s always like this” she muttered. The key slid in a fraction of a second later and the door clicked open. “Thank god” she sighed and proceeded to flick on lights as she walked around. Paul stood in the door way, unsure of what to do with himself as she disappeared around the corner. He shut the door and kicked his shoes off.
Gabrielle reappeared few seconds later, pulling at her leather mini like she was always doing. He wondered if it was possible for someone to feel more comfortable in sweater sets and long skirts. Didn’t girls want to look sexy? Maybe it wasn’t a matter of that though…
“Don’t just stand there” she told him walking towards a narrow staircase that went up for a while. “Stu and Astrid are in Berlin for the weekend and her parents aren’t home. I dunno where…” she started up the stairs and Paul followed her soundlessly.
“What d’you think?” she asked him, half way up the staircase.
“Bout what?”
“About Astrid and Stu… d’you think they’ll get married and all that rubbish” she sighed and clamped her hand down on the railing “There are way to many stairs in Germany.” Paul laughed and came up behind her, giving her a little shove
“Go on, stop blocking it.” he said
She giggled again. At the top of the stairs there was a door and behind the door there was a room. That was her room. It wasn’t tiny, bigger then the room he was staying in at least. And pleasant. The same shift curtains down stairs were on these windows too. Only pulled shut, presumably so she could sleep during the day and not be woken up by the light outside. A queen bed sat in the middle of the room, with a matching head board and foot board. It was actually, very comforting, being in a room that didn’t consist of a bunch of rickety old bunk beds or couches with Union Jack flags for blankets. No wonder George spent so much time over here.
Gabrielle walked over to her trunk and shuffled through it for a clean shirt with one hand while the other unbuttoned her top. Oh, how she needed to do laundry. Even though in three weeks most of what she wore belonged to Astrid, she’d already managed to get everything dirty.
“Maybe I’ll just stay here and try to get some sleep” she said standing up, it was more to herself then Paul but he came over and stood behind her anyway. Gabrielle pulled her shirt off and tossed it in with the rest of her dirty clothes.
“Er…” Paul said from behind her, Gabrielle jumped, her alcohol deadened nervous system not alerting her to Paul’s presence sooner.
She whirled around and felt her eyes go wide as the realization of how close he was standing dawned on her. She also realized that she was standing in just a mini skirt and a bra and that he was slowly raking his gaze over her with those gorgeous eyes.
“Uh…” she managed to say and then swallowed heavily as she met his eyes. Incredibly gorgeous hazel eyes with long eyelashes and just an over all stomach churning sensation rippled through her just because of his eyes.
Paul’s gaze flicked over her again. His mind was only half functioning it seemed. And every nerve in his body was telling him to touch her and kiss her. So he did.
She wasn’t shocked, only a little bit surprised when he kissed her. He leaned his head down to her level and placed his soft lips against hers. Her eyes snapped shut, and her hands went to his shoulders. That was all he needed, any encouragement from her part at all. Paul snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her closely to him. The kiss deepened, his tongue probed her mouth gently and she rose as high as she could on tip toe in order to get more out of it.
Her mind was a jumble of thoughts about Paul’s mouth, Paul’s eye’s, Paul’s body, Paul’s tongue. In the back of her mind, Gabrielle remembered the first time he kissed her, in an attempt to get her to shut up. That had been nice, but forced and young. This was…. This was sensory overload.
That was different because at the age of fourteen she hadn’t been worried about things like sex and boyfriends and snogging like Paul was. Now, even though her subconscious hadn’t let her know it yet. She was gagging for it. She stretched as far as her body would allow it against him, her hands knotted behind his neck, and grazed through his hair.
He made a small moaning sound and mumbled something she couldn’t quite comprehend. His hands moved down lower and with very little force, he spun them around and they fell backwards onto her bed.