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mayqueen517) wrote2011-01-03 04:28 pm
mayqueen517) wrote2011-01-03 04:28 pm
Entry tags:
Fic: Talking Like A Stranger (Cobra Starship Gen)
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hardtospark - Jan 3rdTitle: Talking Like A Stranger
Fandom: Bandom: Cobra Starship
Characters: Gabe Saporta, Elisa Jordana, Victoria Asher
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,116
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. Cobra Starship belong to themselves, the title is from the same song as the prompt. Written in 30 minutes!
Author's Note: Takes place right as Elisa left and Victoria came into the band.
Summary: she starts crying and it's not that he's heartless (far from it), it's just that he remembers what her real tears sound like.
Prompt: “It’s 4 in the morning, and things are getting heavy. We both know that it’s over, and we’re both not ready.”
[Our Window - Noah and the Whale]
He remembers when he first met Elisa, first watched her listen intently on what he was telling her about the band. He wonders if he should have talked about how shitty touring is, how it sucks to not know the city you're in because they all look the same after eight hours on the road. He wonders if he should have talked about hating the sight of corn, of feeling like you're coming out of your skin from frustration.
Gabe wishes he had, sometimes, as the bus falls into silence. They're pulling into a city, someplace that they've all probably been, and he spares a grateful thought to Alex who keeps the rest of the guys quiet while he looks at her. It's at that point in the night where it's late while still being early and when she blinks at him, eyes filling with tears, Gabe feels like shit.
"I can do better, you know I can," she says, voice rough and Gabe closes his eyes, tired of everything, tired of her, tired of excuses and when he opens his eyes again, he knows the answer that's been waiting to be said.
"You won't though, that's the thing. El, we went over this, remember? You gave me rules and then you broke them. It's. I'm sorry, I really am," he says, swallowing hard as she starts crying and it's not that he's heartless (far from it), it's just that he remembers what her real tears sound like. She carries on like that for a few minutes, and there's a moment when Gabe thinks it might be real.
He thinks, for a moment, she's really that upset, but then he stands and she's in front of him, defiant. Her eyes are red, and the streak of a few tears are staining her face, but nothing like she'd been pretending. It makes him mad, it makes him want to throw her off the bus.
"You'll just. Send me off?" she says, looking at him, daring him to say it. Gabe never was one to resist a dare, not really.
"I'll take you to the airport when we pull into the city," he says calmly, feeling blank and tired, like he could sleep where he stands.
"What about the show?"
"I'll take care of it," he says after a minute, not saying that he's got someone flying in, not wanting to rub it in. He's an ass, but he's not that much of one. Elisa stares at him for a moment, eyes flaring into anger, glinting in the dim light of the bus as Gabe sighs and he touches her arm, once, before walking into the back. Any other time, he'd laugh at the way they've all crammed themselves into one spot, but as it is, he settles down with his guys and rests his head against Ryland's knee.
"You okay?" Nate asks softly, as Travis and Ryland fall back into conversation. Alex watches them carefully and Gabe nods carefully.
"Yeah," he says softly, closing his eyes.
In the end it doesn't matter that they were once friends. It doesn't matter that they once laughed together, that she promised him that this was what she wanted and she thought it was the best thing ever. He misses that, he thinks, thinking back to the way she grinned with her teeth bared like she'd bite something to stay this happy.
It still doesn't matter, as he drives her to the airport, silent and wishing he'd let anyone else do this. Gabe tightens his fingers on the wheel, looking out over the wet road, rain making them slick. He has the worst fucking thoughts, but god, he thinks it would be way too easy to whip them off the road and crash the car. He discards it with a shake of his head, sighing softly as Elisa talks into her phone, voice tight and it doesn't matter that she's leaving, only that he's the one to take her to the airport.
He remembers picking her up and instead of smiling at the memory of nerves and nodding along when he started talking about everything, he just feels exhausted.
They don't talk outside of the airport. They don't even fucking look at each other and Gabe finally sighs, going to touch her arm in goodbye before dropping it halfway through the motion. Elisa looks at him, making that same face that always was a signal for some fight, some screaming match that left everyone on edge and Gabe wondering if this band was the right idea.
"I'll see you," she says after a minute, and there's a glint in her eyes that Gabe can't bring himself to care about. It doesn't matter that just four hours ago they were staring at each other on the bus, everyone sitting there and Gabe remembers Travis avoiding them.
"Yeah," Gabe says, voice rough, hating the way her eyes harden before she walks off.
He picks Victoria up an hour after dropping Elisa off, thinking it has a weird poetry to it. Gabe watches Elisa's plane take off, slowly disappearing into the clouds and he thinks that maybe now he can stop eating antacids like they're candy.
Victoria strides off the plane with ease, with an ease that Gabe hopes (prays, even) will last as she smiles at him. He thinks of the instruments under the bus, the ones that she'll have to use and he thinks about the screaming fights over them before they all moved to quiet arguments. She stops in front of him and smiles wider.
"I didn't expect you to pick me up," she says as he grabs her bag and then promptly lets it go when she slaps his hand. It's a duffel bag, and she slings it over her shoulder, grinning brightly at him. She's tentative this time, unsure of how she should tread across this, he thinks and Gabe works up a grin for her.
"Cobras take care of their own," he says, slinging an arm around her shoulder companionably, remembering the easy way they'd all agreed on Victoria Asher and when they climb into the car, she shoves her bag in the backseat.
"I figured."
"We're gonna head back to the caravan and shit, and I'm gonna finish teaching you the songs, sound good?"
"Sounds perfect," she says easily, and he watches her hold herself still, careful but not stingy with her laughter as he tells her about tour. Something in his gut settles, something letting him know that it'll be okay. He doesn't admit to himself that the voice sounds a lot like Nate, but he'll take it.
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the way she grinned with her teeth bared like she'd bite something to stay this happy
That line is fantastic.
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And thank you so much, I love that line too!
♥
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