Iron & Wine;

A fact that Brielle was consistently being reminded of. No part of their issues were his - everything he'd promised, he'd always given. Something that she'd had a lot more difficulty living up to. "To be fair, you're the one that mentioned pizza," she mused absentmindedly as she offered him something of a coy smirk, "luckily, there's not a lack of pizza around here and we can just go get some, plus it'll be fresh and absolutely lacking sand as an added topping." Undoubtedly, she knew they had a lot to talk about - she had a lot to explain, but she didn't want things to be weird between them and some part of opening up to Gabe left her vulnerable to the kind of judgement she wasn't exactly prepared for. It left her with a lump in her throat and the same innability to look directly at him that she'd been swallowed up by the night of the wedding. And then, without prompting, he pushed conversation to the thick of it - shining a bright spotlight on the elephant sitting somewhere on her rib cage

"Wait, was I?" Gabe questioned, halting in his tracks as he tried to cast his mind back to the text conversation from earlier. Maybe it had been him who had suggested it, but he wasn't in any rush to admit that. Time and a slowly maturing wisdom had soothed his anger issues somewhat, but not his stubbornness. That was an edge that could never be buffed. His mother had joked that it was the one quality he'd inherited from his father. Gabe had always hated the comparison, but he loved Amalia too much to ever bring it up and chose instead to just silently curse his father for existing. Nothing new there. "What, you don't like the extra crunch of sand on your pizza?" He chuckled as he sat down next to the brunette. "You obviously need to expand your horizons."

@gabrielcastillo

A look of pure, utter confusion spread across Gabe's features as Natalia chastised him. He tried to cast his mind back to the night before, retracing his movements throughout the night to pinpoint something he'd done to warrant the scolding. It was difficult to remember anything that preceded the sheer chaos that had unfolded after discovering yet another horrific scene. Not one, but three more lives lost. This town was hell.

closed: @gabrielcastillo location: masquerade ball

"Now why would I start drinking my own liquor when the Conrads are providing enough booze for us to get drunk one hundred times over?" Gabe asked matter-of-factly as he greeted Juliana with a kiss on the cheek. "You look gorgeous as always." Walking the brunette down to the car waiting at the end of her driveway, Gabe stopped just before opening the door for her. "It's not too late to back out if you don't feel up to going. It doesn't bother me in the slightest whether I show up to this thing or not."

Tate looked over in the direction in which Gabe gestured towards, her eyes landing on Monty which caused a small smile to appear on her lips before she attempted to hide it with the glass she started drinking from. "Uh, I didn't get the the guts to tell him exactly" She laughed thinking back to the night of the 4th July party when she turned up at his door. "I uh... I went over to his house after everything that happened on the 4th July and I guess it went from there."

"Ah so that's why you weren't replying to me until the next day. It all makes sense now." the July 4th party already felt like a lifetime ago now that he thought about it. He still felt annoyed at himself that he didn't notice his old firefighting colleague turned prison break felon running around La Vela that night. Maybe if he had, Harrison would have still been alive. Although, if the rumours were to be believed, he would have just been saving the life of another murderer. This town really was something else. "So what's the deal then? Are you trying to get him to remember everything before or are you starting over?'

@gabrielcastillo

It's taken Gabe all of thirty minutes to remember why he generally hates going to events like these; his suit itches, his tie feels too tight, the fake smiles and schmoozes offered to the town's more elite residents making his eyes want to roll far enough back into his head that he doesn't have to witness it anymore. The subject of the town's newest murder spree is casually swept under the rug as people drink and dance under the facade of remembrance. He wishes going home was a viable option, but the honorable voice in his brain tells him he can't leave Juliana alone, plus he's been to enough of these things to know that something is always bound to go down. He needs to be ready for anything. So instead he stands in some inoffensive corner of the room sipping silently at his whiskey, watching everyone else party their cares away when a distantly familiar face catches his attention. At the same time it seems he's caught hers, as he watches her glide gracefully over to him. "Now I thought I caught a glimpse of you in your yard the other day but I thought I must have been dreaming," He greets with a smile and a kiss on her cheek. "When did you get back?" It's a surprise to see Laurel back in town, but a pleasant one nonetheless. He'd had worse neighbours in his life. "Yeah well, you know I think this whole thing is bullshit but... here I am I guess." Gabe lets a beat pass, his face falling slightly solemn for a moment. "I'm really sorry about your brother, Laurel."

"Mamma Mia is literally a classic, I'm sorry that your movie taste is so poor that you can't accept that." Crue glanced up from where they were sat on the couch, pushing the couch cushion down so that she could see her friend better. There was an eyeroll that went along with her sentence, knowing that he'd probably complain no matter what movie she picked. "I was going to pick something else though. But, since you brought snacks, I'll let you pick the movie." She picked her head up, pushing herself back into a standing position so she could point to the coffee table in front of the couch she was just on before heading around it to get to the kitchen. "You can just throw it all on the coffee table. I'm going to get drinks, you want anything?" Things had been rough for them lately, feeling like alcohol was the easiest way to cope with the pain ripping its way through the town. "I plan on making them strong if you pick alcohol too."

"Poor? You think my movie taste is poor because I don't like when people randomly break out into song and dance? Next you'll tell me I'm wrong for hating flash mobs too," Gabriel chuckled with a roll of his eyes. "You know for all of Hidehill's faults, at least no one is organising goddamn flash mobs in the main street. Maybe that's what keeps me sticking around." He probably should have left a long time ago, after his Mom passed there was nothing really tying him to the town that had become his home when he was a kid. But it was too late to think about things like that now; he couldn't leave so long as the shadow kept its chokehold over them all. "It's fine, you pick the movie," Gabe conceded. "I'll take an extra strong whiskey if you're offering. And hey, if you make them strong enough I won't care about Mamma Mia anymore. Maybe I'll like it better drunk."

@gabrielcastillo location: the lake with the beach

"Well I'm a man of my word, remember?" Gabriel quipped as he approached Brielle, bending down to remove his own sneakers before he stepped onto the cool sand. "Plus, you did promise pizza. Although --" He trailed off, casting a quick glance at her empty hands, "-- I think I was lied to. Not cool, Brielle, not cool at all. I guess I should be used to that by now from you though." A comment he paired with a sarcastic smile to let her know he was kidding. Mostly. He just didn't have it in him to resist a petty prod when the situation arose. It felt like lately every time the two of them had attempted to have their long overdue conversation, something had always gotten in the way, delaying the inevitable. But now his schedule was cleared, phone was on silent, and he was peering across at Brielle, waiting for her to say something to cut the uncomfortable silence that had fallen after his comment. "Okay screw it," Gabe said finally, impatience getting the better of him. "I guess I'll just come out and ask. What the hell happened with us, Bri?"