Diamonds Are Forever (27 page)

“No, please don’t,” Gavin groaned.  “I’m lonely enough up here on my own.”

They had unfortunately hit traffic on the highway right outside of the Holland Tunnel, stuck on some overpass overlooking old factories and gas stations.  It was Thanksgiving morning and it seemed everyone had chosen to make their pilgrimage to the suburbs at the same hour.

Mira and Hudson were having the family over – the family now being more extended than ever.  Her parents would also be there along with Harper and her boyfriend, Ian.  Gemma realized quickly that she would essentially be the third wheel to every other couple there.

Gavin had mentioned in passing that Damian would be with his family for Thanksgiving, although he wasn’t sure if it was out in Brooklyn or back in Beauford.  Gemma knew it didn’t really matter either way.  Damian no longer wanted anything to do with her.  She frowned at the thought, feeling a lump rise in her throat as she peered out the window.  Zoe squeezed her hand, sensing Gemma’s sudden shift back into the sadness that had permeated her being since breaking up with Damian.

But what bothered her most was that it wasn’t just any breakup.  Damian had essentially said he wanted to take back everything that happened between them since high school.  Gemma couldn’t quite grapple the point of his request, not understanding how undoing their entire history could do either of them any good.  It had almost felt like he had done it just to hurt her, though Gemma knew that couldn’t be the case – not even with all the recent talk of the emergence of a “new Damian.”

Being around family and friends was somehow exactly what she needed and everything she feared in her current state of mind.  Gemma hadn’t seen her parents since her show at Fashion Week and she wasn’t exactly in the right mind to catch up with them, especially because it meant dodging the question of what had happened in Vegas.

Luckily, no one asked about the incident.  There was good and bad to it, actually.  Gemma didn’t have to deal with the questions but she did have to watch everyone absolutely dote over her.  Her mother stayed by her side throughout the entire gathering, hooking her arm through hers and refilling her plate throughout the night.  Malcolm made sure Gemma got the first piece of everything, just to ensure that it was the best one.  Whenever Mira told one of her wild travel stories, she directed it mostly at Gemma, as if trying to hold her attention and keep it on the story instead of some negative place in her own mind.  As much as Gemma appreciated all the gestures, she couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable with the fact that she was being completely babied by everyone around her.

To her relief, she had managed at some point in the night to break from her mother’s grasp and huddle in the den downstairs with a slice of pumpkin pie.  Gemma could hear Harper and Ian talking to her parents about Harper’s raw vegan restaurant, Agno, and how it had been the host of many high-profile events as well as the recipient of much praise since its opening.  She slumped down in her seat on the couch, watching the fireplace crackle as she spooned bites of pie into her mouth.

She sat there, remembering the years that she had spent in her Aunt Mira’s house.  Her last year there was actually the year she met Harper, back when Harper was known for her addiction and considered a bad influence by Hudson, her own father.  Gemma had been unsure of Harper for a good portion of their relationship, going so far as to believing she was responsible for the mess created by her crazed stalker, Elizabeth Tara Clarke.  It was bizarre to think that they were now all family – that Hudson was her step-uncle and Harper was not only her step-cousin, but a totally changed woman.  The media had happily embraced her transition from controversial junkie socialite to the health and beauty goddess that she was today.  There were people now that didn’t even remember she was once known as nothing more than a party girl.

Gemma wanted that much for herself.  She just wanted to be taken seriously, for once.  She wanted to be her own person and not famous for being someone’s love interest or girlfriend.  Leah had been right that she had the fortune of picking from among the most eligible bachelors in the world – it was just unfortunate that they were all so well known and so closely followed by the paparazzi and media.  She had only ever had privacy in one relationship and even that came with its problems.

“Lucas!”

Gemma jumped at the sound of his name.  She had thought it in her head as she recalled memories of her old neighbor and boyfriend, but she hadn’t expected to hear it said aloud.  It was Gavin’s voice who yelled it and Gemma realized that it had followed the sound of a doorbell. 
No way,
she thought.

But before she could speculate a moment longer, Gavin was making his way down the stairs with a tall, barely recognizable figure.  Gemma stared.

Lucas was dressed like a lumberjack and looked the part too, sporting a beard so full that there was no question that he was no longer the boy she once knew.  She put her plate of pie down, throwing off the fleece blanket and jumping to her feet.  Gemma approached carefully, wondering how to greet someone that had once been a big part of her life but was now nothing more than a vague memory, materialized.

“What, I don’t get a hug?” Lucas said, his arms outstretched.  Gemma laughed, reaching forward to hug him while shooting Gavin a look of confusion.

“Guess who’s back in the states?” Gavin exclaimed excitedly, his arms locking Lucas in place.

“How long have you been back?” Gemma asked.  “And what are you doing here? Why aren’t you out in Arizona with your family?”

“I go to school in the city,” he answered.  “And I live and work in Brooklyn.”

“Tell her who your new roommate is,” Gavin said, nudging Lucas in an exaggerated manner.

“Do I have to?” Lucas laughed, covering his eyes.

“Tell her,” Gavin insisted.  When Lucas hesitated, Gavin said it for him.  “He lives with Madison.”

“
What?”
Gemma shrieked, laughing hard at the news and her own reaction.  “How the hell did that happen?”

“She’s dating my roommate,” Lucas continued, nodding as if he knew how ridiculous that sounded as well.  “They’re very happy together.”  Gemma stared with a dropped jaw and wide eyes.

“
How?”
Gemma shook her head, too stunned and amused to move.

“I’ll let you have the pleasure of telling this story all over again,” Gavin said, patting Lucas on the back.  “I’m gonna head upstairs – got a lady and a pecan pie to attend to.”

As Gemma sat in awe, Lucas went on to explain how he had randomly run into Madison on the subway platform while she was in the city for an audition.  What had started out as dinner became an extended conversation that went well into the morning.  Madison had stayed with Lucas for the night, where she met his roommate, Jack.  The two apparently hit it off immediately, though Jack didn’t sound
at all
like the type of guy that Madison would go for.  Lucas described him to be a bit of a hipster nerd, an aspiring actor who barely made rent every month on a barista salary.  When Madison took the new job as a regular on a soap opera, she opted to move in with Jack and Lucas, helping a great deal with their rent.

“It’s not weird? That you two are roommates and used to date the same girl?”

“Not really,” Lucas shrugged.  “She doesn’t even feel like the same Madison I dated.  It’s sort of like meeting and knowing this brand new person that also feels strangely familiar.”

“Kind of how like we feel now, I assume,” Gemma smirked.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Lucas laughed.  “And it helps that Jack brings out this side of her that you probably never really saw.  Back when I dated her, I got to occasionally see that soft side that she never really showed in public.  But now that she’s with Jack, it’s like she only has that side.”  He nodded with a laugh.  “Makes her a much more pleasant roommate.”

“Man.  That’s so strange,” Gemma said, shaking her head.  “So where in Brooklyn do you all live?” She frowned slightly at the mention of Brooklyn, realizing that Damian was still floating in the back of her mind.  He had managed to make her associate the entire borough with him.

“I live in Crown Heights but I work in Fort Greene.”

“Oh,” she said. 
Of all neighborhoods.
  “Damian… lives in Fort Greene.”  Gemma hadn’t wanted to say his name but she couldn’t seem to stop herself from offering up the information.

“I know, I actually ran into him,” Lucas said without pause.  He clearly didn’t know their current status.

“When?” she asked immediately.  She hoped it was a recent run in.  She was desperate to know firsthand accounts of what Damian had been doing since they ended things.  As much as she hated to, Gemma had been relying on the media as of late.

“Maybe like a week ago?” Lucas recalled.  “I work for a repurposed furniture shop and he came in to browse for stuff for his new place.”

“Oh.”  Gemma nodded.  She almost wanted to ask Lucas what Damian had bought, what he was wearing, how he looked.  She missed him more than she had previously realized. 
Oh, God.  Do not,
Gemma warned herself, feeling a tingling at the back of her eyes.  She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, willing her tears to return to where they came from.

“Are you okay?” she heard Lucas ask.

Gemma nodded.  “Uh-huh!” she answered brightly, opening her eyes to give Lucas a smile that matched her decently convincing tone.  But to her horror, she hadn’t actually succeeded in fighting back her tears.  They filled her eyes to the brim, spilling down her cheeks the second she blinked.  “So-rry,” Gemma hiccupped as her hands flew up to her wipe them. 
Great
, she thought bitterly, her throat too tight to even give an alarmed Lucas any sort of excuse for her sudden tears.  She covered her mouth in an attempt to mute the sobs, but Gavin and Zoe had already scrambled down the stairs.  Gemma could hear a hush fall amongst the group upstairs.

“Dude, what happened? What did you say?” Gavin asked, genuinely surprised.

“I’m not sure,” Lucas stammered.

“It’s nothing, he didn’t do anything,” Gemma finally managed, just about exhausting her word limit for the moment.  “Just…” She tried to assure everyone that she was fine but since she couldn’t get anything out, Gemma simply shook her head, excusing herself past everyone to rush upstairs and away from their questioning stares.

~

 Sitting cross-legged on the floor of her old bedroom, Gemma admired the custom detailing that Mira had put into it as her way of welcoming her when she first moved to Beauford.  Gemma was wildly innocent then, perhaps more so than any of her peers.  It was strange to think about what all those people were to her then and what they were to her now.  She had been able to see into Lucas’s old bedroom window then, to catch glimpses of him playing with his dog, Leo.  Now that house belonged to some strange family and they’d renovated it to look nothing as it had back in high school.

Gazing out the window, Gemma flinched only slightly when a knock came at her door.  It had been ten minutes since she’d shut herself in.  She appreciated that everyone had given her the space.  In that time, she’d at least managed to calm herself considerably.

“I’m coming,” she managed at a decent volume, pushing herself up off the floor and to her feet.  It had to be either Mira or Zoe behind the door – from her teen years to now, they had been the two who’d always assumed the role of giving Gemma her pep talks.

But to her surprise this time, it was Lucas.

“Mind if I come in?” he asked, peering into the room and scanning it, as if wondering if it had changed since he was last in it.  Once Gemma stepped back to let him in, he made a beeline for the window, looking out of it and into the bedroom next door.  Gemma followed him, looking out as well.  His once blue walls were now painted a powdered pink.  There were posters of ponies hanging up.  She turned to look at Lucas’s reaction.

“I like the new look,” Lucas shrugged, laughing.  He rubbed his chin, making a bristly sound.  “Damn, my room was big.  I don’t think I ever realized I had as much space as I had.”

“How big is your place now?”

“It’s awesome, by New York standards, but that means it’s still only big enough for a bed and a desk.  If I want to do push-ups or something, I have to do it in the common space.”  Gemma stared blankly out her bedroom’s new view.

“Yeah,” she said, realizing how little she wanted to engage in conversation.

“So,” Lucas said.  “I want to apologize for everything downstairs.  Gavin filled me in.  I didn’t realize you and Damian were together again.”

“We aren’t anymore.”

“Right,” he shook his head.  “I meant relative to, you know, the fact that you dated in high school.”

“Yeah,” Gemma sighed, turning from the window and plopping herself down on the bed, arms crossed.

“You’re gonna have to excuse me for not keeping up with all the celebrity gossip stuff.  Whatever I knew back in the day was thanks to Elisa,” Lucas explained.  “She’s a sophomore in college now, by the way.”  Gemma raised her eyebrows, genuinely surprised though she couldn’t bring herself to muster up any sort of answer.  In her head, Lucas’s little sister would be forever the shy, sweet, thirteen-year-old girl that had looked up to Gemma and loved Queen Bee – as separate entities back then.

“She just about died when she found out that my ex-girlfriend turned out to be her favorite singer of all time,” Lucas laughed.  “Of course, now, she listens to whatever the guy she’s dating listens to.”  Again, Gemma wanted to react to his words.  Little Elisa having a
boyfriend?
That was crazy.  She thought so, at least.   But she still offered no reaction.

Lucas continued to watch Gemma as she stood by her silence.  Lucas pursed his lips, nodding at what seemed to be a thought in his own head.  “I’m not a fan of the guy she’s dating now but I’ve barely come to terms with the fact that she’s dating at all.  Maybe if she were with him for different reasons.”

Fine, I’ll bite
.  “Why is she with him?” Gemma asked, feeling her familiar desire to protect Elisa flaring up.