Chapter Text
There's something about turning 18 that made Gabe goodman a bit worried. It wasn't the fact that he was technically an adult now and that would mean eventually having to do adult things, what worried him was not having the chance to really experience those things. Not that he was in any kind of rush, he was a senior in high school anyway. The only thing he had to worry about was graduating. Still he couldn't stop wondering if his mom would even let him move out of the house.
Then again he's always been a mommas boy. Maybe he wouldn't go off to college somewhere far away so he could at least be around, or not go anywhere at all. He would always love her but he also had a life to live. Gabe never really thought about his options when it came to what he wanted to do after school. It was a surprise to him that he even made it this far. Maybe his birthday could be a nice distraction from all of that.
The sound of chattering coming from downstairs made the noise in his mind fade away. He assumed his family was waiting on him for breakfast, and he still had to go to school anyway so his actual party would have to wait until after. Gabe picked up his bag and walked downstairs into the kitchen where he saw everyone gathered around the counter. Of course the first person to notice him was his mother.
"There's the birthday boy!" His mother smiled brightly as she held up a plate of chocolate chip pancakes for him. It was always his favorite. "How are you feeling today?"
"Good, I'm good mom." Gabe smiled as he reached out to grab the plate from her. She seemed like she was in one of her better moods today. Once he sat down and started to eat he noticed His sister sliding over a Small wrapped box across the counter to him. "What's this?"
There wasn't a reply from her, oh well. Gabe picked up the box that was wrapped in blue paper neatly. He wasn't expecting a gift from natalie. Their relationship was.. Rocky at best, Gabe understood why, he was the favorite and his parents didn't try hard to hide that. Gabe examined the box for a moment before unwrapping it and the actual box looked more like one for jewelry. Once it was opened his gaze shot towards Natalie.
"How did you.." His voice trailed off as he picked up the silver bracelet he had been wanting since he saw it when he passed a jewelry shop. Not for any particular reason, it looked nice and he couldn't get it himself.
"I saw you eyeing it a while go." She finally spoke, not looking up from the eggs on her plate. "I thought I'd get it for you."
"Oh so you do love me." Gabe snickered, eagerly putting the bracelet on himself. "Thanks Nat, I love it." He smiled gratefully.
There was a slight chuckle that came from Natalie, "Don't get use to it." She muttered as she took a bite of her food. Her tone didn't seem as sarcastic as it usually is, which was probably a good thing for now. At the end of the day that was his sister, he loved her and he knew she did too but shows it in her own way.
"So, Gabe are you inviting any friends for your party?" His mother chimed in, changing the subject pretty quick. "I need to know how much pizza to order."
"What friends?" Natalie spoke bluntly and Gabe figured she was trying to tease him but it didn't come off that way. Actually that fucking stung a little. As much as he was popular at home at school it was quite the opposite. Gabe was never bullied or made fun of but he sure as hell struggled to maintain even the idea of being friends with someone. Sometimes it felt like he was the problem, or just invisible. Whatever the case was it wasn't fair to actually… Point out that he didn't really have people to invite. Having friends wasn't entirely an issue for him, but in moments like these it really got to him with how much lack of social interactions he's had. The only person outside of his family that he knew was henry, who was Natalies boyfriend.
"I have friends." Gabe glared over at his sister, more offended by that than he thought he would be. "I mean what about you? I don't see you hanging around anyone other than your boyfriend."
"Name one friend, other than Henry." Natalie snickered lightly, obviously gabe knew that was meant to just tease him because well.. he couldn't. "Also at least I have a boyfriend to invite."
There was a bit of silence until one of the adults spoke up. "Guys, seriously?" The man sounded already tired of their bickering. "For one day can you two try and get along?"
"Tell her to leave me alone, Dan." Gabe scoffed, crossing his arms. Calling his father by his name was only something he did to annoy him. It was his birthday so guess who would come to his rescue very soon.
"Okay I made a joke-"
"Natalie, apologize to your brother." His mom went over to give Gabe a hug. Like he knew she would, and it was a little comforting. "Don't be mean to him on his birthday."
Gabe almost felt bad about how often His mom took his side over Natalie's. This time might be justified but every time she does Gabe could just see how hurt Natalie looked. It didn't feel good to know how that effected her.
"I appreciate it mom, but it's fine." Gabe sighed softly as he gently patted her shoulder. He didn't want to keep arguing this morning. "She said it was a joke, and I forgive her." That seemed to make her back off a little, his mom turned to the sink to get started on the dishes.
As gabe looked down at his partly eaten pancakes he somehow also couldn't wait for this day to be over. Everything was usually always about him but today that would be cranked up to 100 and as usual it felt overwhelming. Sometimes it felt like the world was spinning faster than his brain could keep up with, at least with weed everything else seems to calm down a bit, but he couldn't just smoke before school.
"I'm sorry." He heard Natalie despite her effort to say it quietly. "and happy birthday." Gabe watched as she got up from her seat to pick her bag up. There's about 5 minutes left until he had to catch the bus, so there was probably no time to actually finish breakfast.
After a moment Gabe stood up as well with his bag already on his shoulder, "Bye mom, bye dad." He waved at them before following his sister out of the door, He heard their goodbyes before shutting the door behind him.
He just had to get through the school day.
Gabe stood by Natalie at the end of the driveway to wait for their bus. As much as Gabe tries to get along with Natalie it always felt like she wouldn't give him the time of day. Well at least she didn't completely hate him right? If she did then she wouldn't have gotten him a gift. Gabe could settle for that.
The silence went on up until the bus stopped in front of them as the doors opened. Gabe could already hear the chattering coming from the other students, he never understood how people could be so loud at 7 am. He watched Natalie step into the bus first and he soon followed, luckily no one seemed to look at them as they got on. Gabe had one specific seat that he tried to go for every time he rode the bus. It was in back and most of the noise came from the middle or front of the bus. When he got to the seat though there was already someone there who he didn't exactly recognize. Gabe didn't want to take so long to take a seat so he had to sit somewhere.
"Do you mind?" Gabe cleared his throat, gesturing to the empty spot next to the student, who shrugged and put his bag on his lap. Gabe took that as a yes and sat down and put his own bag on his lap. He went to pull out his phone when he noticed the kid next to him point to a pin that was on his bag.
"Hey, I love ride the cyclone." The curly hair kid said excitedly, holding up a similar pin that was on his jacket. "I barely see anyone who likes it too."
That was unexpected, it definitely took Gabe a moment to process before replying to him, "Oh, cool yea, I like it too." He spoke awkwardly, looking towards the kid. "I'm Gabe."
"Isaac, I just moved here." He smiled warmly, which made Gabe feel a little more comfortable. "It's nice to meet you Gabe."
There was a small smile that showed on Gabe's face. Maybe there was someone he could invite after all. "It's nice to meet you too. Would you… Want to be friends?" He asked shyly.
"Yea, sure." He replied simply.
Who knows what would happen between them. Gabe just wanted a friend, someone other than a family member to talk to. This seemed like the perfect chance. He couldn't mess this up.