Alex and Gaby

Gaby noticed right away that Alex's mood had changed after his talk with Brian. If it was business he'd be complaining to me, but he's gone silent, which means it's personal. She figured she'd ask once, and then not push it.

"So what was Brian all in a huff about?" she asked.

Alex kept walking in silence but she could see he was thinking. Finally he spoke up.

"Did I ever tell you about me and Kat?"

"I mean I know the ending... I've heard the names Makayla calls her..."

That made Alex snicker.

"But I've never heard the whole story," she replied.

"Beginning of last year, I met her during orientation. We hit it off right away."

"Oooohhh picking up girls during frosh orientation, you dog," Gaby teased.

"Shush," Alex replied with a laugh. "Anyway so we went on a couple dates, nothing serious."

"Did you even kiss?"she teased again.

"Yes! Not important," he replied.

"Well you are the slowest moving guy I know."

"Things are different with... Makayla, you know."

"Uh-huh," she giggled.

"Anyway, back to the story. So yes we had dated and kissed and even..." Gaby's ears perked up, "held hands."

"Jerk."

"If you are going to tease, I'm going to tease back," he answered.

"Promises, promises."

"So, anyway, there's a party first weekend of school at Brian's house. Now she and I showed up together, but we weren't hanging on each other all night. And it really wasn't widely known we had been dating. So she's kind of dancing with some of her girlfriends and this drunk asshole starts grinding on her and pawing on her. She pushed him off once and he came back again. I saw it, Brian saw it, we both made a beeline toward her. I got there first, crossfaced him, grabbed an armbar and took him down. A couple of Brian's housemates grabbed him and tossed him out. Brian checked on Kat."

"Checked on her?"

"Well yeah, nothing happened then. So the rest of the night is uneventful. She tells me she's going to the bathroom, 20 or 25 minutes later she's still not back, and at that point I'm ready to leave and maybe get a little reward for saving her."

"You are a dog," Gaby joked.

Alex stopped and looked at her.

"Meow."

"You dork," Gaby laughed as she poked his side.

"So I go looking for her... find her in Brian's bedroom... riding him cowgirl style."

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed, "I didn't know you actually walked in on it."

"Yup. Brian claimed he didn't know she and I had been dating. I saw no reason to hold a grudge. A month later I meet Makayla and well..."

They walked in silence again for a bit. She realized he hadn't actually answered her question. She also noticed that he mentioned meeting Makayla more with sadness. Then it all clicked, she was with Erik all morning, and something had happened by the river, but she had missed it, Brian must have told him something was up. He told her about Kat because he thought it was happening again. She remembered the condom in her pocket and looked to Alex. Hurt before you get hurt, that's my motto.