Forever 17

Connor shrugged and went back over to painting, painting much faster then before now that he had no distractions. It wasn't long before he had actually finished painting the booth and felt acomplished for getting that finished. His brows furrowed as tried to think about what else was still neededing to be on the booth. He actually couldn't think of anything else. Everything was shaping up quite well, even better then before. Connor had always loved festivals, and he felt a grin spread across his face as he thought about the festival they were setting up for. "So you looking forward to the festival?" he asked gabriel, in an attempt to make small talk. He was also curious to see what the other boy thought of the upcoming festival.
 
"Look, man," Gabriel started with a sigh. He shook his head at Connor. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to be. I wouldn't be talking to you if I didn't have to." He turned away from Connor to watch a few other booths set up. He couldn't wait to be released for lunch. He could get away from here then, away from Connor and Mari. He could go back home and ignore the world and his dream. Just as long as nothing freaky happened around him, he could ignore that the dream was a vision. Things happened that were coincidences, Deja Vu, those didn't count as visions. For now, he could write everything off as coincidences or Deja Vu. He didn't have to accept his dream as a vision. Not yet.
 
Connor looked toward Gabriel, watching him as he spoke. The fact that Gabriel coudn't even try to be excited, or try to get along with having to be here is what annoyed Connor about him. In Connor's eyes he thought that Gabriel could at least try to look on the bright side and be a little more postive, perhaps act like he cared about something for a change or something. A long sigh pased through clenched teeth. "Okay, whatever."

Connor walked away from the kissing booth considering pretty much everything was done and headed over to the dunk tank where they were still setting things up and getting ready to test it to see if it actually worked well.
 
Gabriel snorted, rolling his eyes as he watched Connor walk away. "Yeah, whatever," he whispered, just to have the last word over his enemy. So, he was childish and spiteful, didn't really matter. He had nothing better to do than complain about Connor or talk about him. Maybe Connor could be his next target for a prank. "What prank, though?" Gabriel asked himself as he rested his head on his palm, elbow on the counter. With a sigh, he closed his eyes to think when a flash from his dream returned to him.

Connor was struggling in water, the painted words: Dunk Tank, flashed forward. Screams could be heard in the background as the dream went on. Something had wrapped itself around Connor's neck and his shirt was caught on the mesh of the tank. He was drowning, air leaving through his mouth as he tried to scream in terror. Then it was over. No more struggling.

Gabriel gasped in a breath of air as soon as his eyes opened again. He panted heavily as though he'd been drowning. He leaped over the counter and ran towards Connor. "Wait! Connor! Don't!" Panic caught him. What was he supposed to have done? Wait until the other boy drowned before he acted? He still didn't believe that it was a vision, but he wasn't going to leave it to chance.
 
Connor had striked up a conversation with the two boys who were working on the dunk tank. Jack was a boy with blue hair (dyed of course) and blue eyes, and Blaine had black hair and green eyes. The two were bothe friends of Connor, which is one of the reason that he had come over to help them. A grin had spread across his face as the three of them discussed the mechanics of the dunk tank and who would be the one to get soaked while making sure the shelf-chair thing in the tank worked properly. Connor joked that since he still had a little paint on him that he should be the test dummy and his friends said that he could be the one who got dunked. Connor's grin had widened and he was about to climb into the tank when Gabriel ran over.

Connor stopped what he was doing and stepped down from the ladder, his eyebrows furrowed. What exactly was it that his enemy wanted? Gabriel had said himself that he didn't want to be there and didn't care for talking to Connor, so why was he wanting him now. The grin that Connor had had on his face only moments before was gone and his arms crossed over his chest.

"What is it that you're wanting Gabriel?" Connor asked.

"Yeah, Gabby, why don't you go flirt with something in a skirt," Jack said, the cruelest of the three friends. He shut up though when Connor shot him a glare and Blaine punched him in the shoulder. Due to that, Jack quickly walking away to the bakery stand, mumbling that he would go see Mariah then.

"You sounded like you were scared that someone was going to die or something," Connor said dryly toward Gabriel.
 
Gabriel let out a sigh when Connor stepped down and he stopped with a few feet between them. He calmed himself down, taking in a slow breath. How was he supposed to explain himself again? He hadn't thought of that. He absently ran a hand through his hair as he wildly searched for an excuse. Instead, he went for the truth, pointing to a part of the mesh that was sticking out. "That's a hazard, ya know?" He asked, eyes meeting Connor's. He raised an eyebrow before walking to the other side of the dunk tank where a spare rope was slipping into the water. "You should really check for these things before you do something stupid." Gabriel said, nodding to himself as the danger seemed to be removed from the situation. "You could have died."
 
Connor raised an eyebrow, surprised by the things that Gabriel pointed out. He hadn't even noticed those things and now that he saw them, he could easily see how things could go wrong. The mesh could get caut on something and the rope could wrap around someone. When you were closer to the tank you could see those things, but from further away, Connor highly doubted you'd be able to. But... how had Gabriel seen those little things from over at the kissing booth? That wouldn't have been close enough, or would it have?

Connor look at Gabriel, locking his eyes on his enemy's, realizing that in a way, he owed the boy again. "Well then, thanks for pointing those things out so dumb and dumber can fix them, I suppose in a way you might have just saved my life. So, I guess this means I owe you a second time today? Since it's about lunch break, if you want, I could drag you with me to the place I was planning on eating at," Connor said as Blaine went to go get Jack so they could fix the problems with the dunk tank.
 
Gabriel hoped that Connor would think he had some kind of hawk eyes to be able to pinpoint those two things. Did that prove that his dream was a vision? It pretty much put it in f*king concrete. Did he have to believe it? After saving Connor's life realistically, yes. Great. His heart sunk and his head spun. So, Connor was really...going to die. He swallowed as his eyes locked with Connor's again.

He almost lost himself in those eyes. They were like windows into Connor's mind, playing the memory of how they first became enemies. Every gear shifted behind those light blue eyes and it was clear to see. Gabriel felt like part of himself shut down and the rest came forth to live again. Somehow, he felt broken and incredibly lost. Connor was dying and he didn't know. Every second was another one lost. He was oblivious.
"Yeah, okay." Gabriel agreed absently, not entirely sure what he'd even agreed to as he blinked and broke that connection. The feeling of being lost didn't leave him, it intensified as he looked away.
 
Connor nodded, a smile forming on his face. "Okay, then I guess you can just follow me to my car and we'll head over to Eddy's," he said, referring to his favorite diner. "I jus hope they let us in considering that we still have paint on us," he added while walking toward his car. He wasn't completely sure if Gabriel was following him or not, especially considering the weird, kind of lost, look that had been on his face before. Maybe it was just the light or something? "Anyway, just because I'm curious, how did you see the things wrong with the tank, you were over at the Kissing booth the last I had looked..."
 
Gabriel blinked before nodding and following after Connor. So he'd agreed to lunch? Not as bad as it could have been. He kept his eyes on the ground as they walked, determined to get rid of the strange things he was feeling. He swallowed dryly when Connor asked those questions. He wasn't as dumb as Gabriel pretended he was. Connor was actually a pretty smart kid. Gabriel was the dumb one here. Especially now.

For a moment, he considered walking away, but as he turned to veer off in a different direction, guilt stopped him. Gabriel licked his lips nervously as he walked with Connor again, matching his pace. That spoke volumes in Gabriel's body language. It meant that he was accepting Connor as an equal, something he'd never done. He owed the boy that now.

Connor, the boy with a target on his back, the boy who'd die in a few months. Instead of answering the original question, he asked one of his own. "When's your birthday?" He hoped that Connor would be freaked out enough to answer the question and maybe let the other one drop. Gabriel's voice was soft, almost solemn. Like his own eminent death was the one he was thinking of rather than his enemy's. He blinked at his own thoughts and fought to clear his mind as he awaited Connor's response.
 
Connor was taking by surprise when asked about his birthday. he stopped for a moment and glanced at Gabriel. After a moment he started walking again and went around to the passenger side of the car. "In a few months, on January second, why?" he asked while fishing the keys out of his pocket and then unlocking the passenger door for Gabriel. He stepped back from the door ad looked at Gabriel for a moment before going around to the driver's side, ulocking the door and climbing in. He buckled in, looked at Gabriel for a minute and wondered what was up with him. gabriel was acting strange, even for Gabriel and Connor was curious as to why. He also knew that neither of them knew each other very well and for him to press the matter of Gabriel's behavior would be odd to say the least.
 
Gabriel sat in the seat heavily, buckling himself in and closing the door. A chill ran through him at his next thought. Just a few more months and the boy next to me will cease to exist. Dull blue eyes turned to meet the clear blue of Connor's. Connor, who was full of life. It wasn't fair. Why wasn't it Gabriel who would die? Gabriel who barely got by with his rebellious attitude and bad grades. Why did it have to be Connor who had a chance at getting further in life. "You'll be eighteen, then, right?" Gabriel prayed that he was wrong and Connor was only sixteen right now, had somehow skipped a grade in elementary to put them in the same class. He knew he was right, but he wanted to be told he was wrong. He wanted Connor to say that he'd only be seventeen, not eighteen. Then he'd have another year instead of just a few months.

Gabriel didn't even know the protocol of telling your enemy of their imminent doom. Was there a protocol? Maybe he should write a book on it. Tell others how to do it and save them the trouble that he was having now. Connor wouldn't believe him if he said that he'd had a vision of Connor's death. Connor would only think he was crazy and dump him off at the loony bin for sure.
 
Once he knew that Gabriel was in the car and that the doors were closed, he locked his eyes in front of him, on the parking lot and started the car. Connor stayed silent until he was on the road and even then it was another moment before he answered. "Yeah, I'll be eighteen. What's the big deal? And no offense, but what's with all the strange questions? I mean sure you helped me out with Mariah and potentially saved me from dying in the dunk tank, but you've always considered me your enemy... now your asking questions that almost makes me think you're trying to get to know me or something. Sow hat's up Gabriel, why are you suddenly acting so odd?" Connor asked, finally giving in to questioning why the other boy seemed to be acting strange.
 
Gabriel closed his eyes and reclined back in the seat. Of course, he'd been right. He made a soft sound of displeasure before opening his eyes and laughing at Connor's questions. He didn't answer for a minute, just laughing it off some before he closed his eyes again to think of a response. Nothing seemed to come to mind but the crazy truth and that made Gabriel laugh again. This would totally prove his sanity to the other male, laughing to himself. "You are not going to believe me, man. There's no way you'd believe me," the second part was breathless and almost silent. He took a second and nodded, pressing forward on the subject. "I have visions. I always have. Since I was a kid. They're always tragedies. School fires, hotels being destroyed with people still inside..." He trailed, letting that sink in for Connor.

"It's always death. There's always death there. Last night," he sucked in a breath. "I had a dream about you, several things that ran together, a few things that stuck out, and then a grave stone with your name on it." He looked at Connor through the corner of his eye. "You don't have to believe it because I sure didn't. I pushed it off as a dream. Even after seeing the paint thing actually happen. Then you went to the dunking booth and that part of my dream rushed forward again. Your shirt got caught on the mesh and the rope was around your neck. You struggled for a while and then you stopped because you were dead." He sighed. "That's how I knew those things were there."
 
"Try me, I might just believe you," Connor said, his eyes widening slightly as he listened to Gabriel. One thing that no one knew about Connor was that he did question the existence of things other then just science. When he was a kid, he believed in ghosts and now he only questioned whether or not they existed. Really, anything was possible, and Connor knew that. While part of Connor screamed that this could just be one of Gabriel's lame pranks, the rest of him had to beilive it. After all, it was the only thing that made sense in his mind as to why he would have been acting so strange and how he would have known about the mesh and rope.

Connor's brow's furrowed as he pulled into the parking lot of Eddy's and killed the engine. So if Gabriel was telling the truth, which Connor had a feeling he was, then he was going to be dying at pretty much anytime. As the idea sank in, he just stared straight ahead for a moment before turning and locking his eyes on Gabriel's. "Say I don beilive you and I'm supposed to die at anytime now then, then wy tell me and not just let me be an oblivous fool? And why save me from drowning? Afterall, I thought you hated me for tripping-and-landing-on-your-sandcastle-in-the-first-grade incedent and for talking to a girl that I didn't know you liked."
 
Gabriel let the silence reign as Connor let it sink in. He looked at the restaurant at all the normal families in there, all the normal people with no weights of people's deaths or the world's tragedy on their shoulders. He almost felt like he had those fifty pound bags of sand on his shoulders again and he patted them softly to prove to himself that it was only his imagination. He sighed in relief that it was and then had to second guess that sigh. What was worse? Real weight that you could feel or metaphorical weight that could be endless? In the end, Gabriel wished for the bags of sand.

Gabriel turned to Connor as he began to speak and blinked at him. Just one blink and he felt like Connor was already brushing with death, already crossing that path. He worked his jaw for a moment, thinking of something to say in response to those hard questions. "Because you'd do the same," was his response in the end as he stared at the boy next to him. "You'd tell me if I was dying. You'd save my life, even if I never deserved it." That was the only thing he could really say. He'd never apologized before and didn't plan on it anytime soon, but that was one of the nicest things he'd ever told anyone.
 
Any little part of Connor that said this was a prank vanished with Gabriel's actions. It just didn't seem as though Gabriel lie about that not to mention with the way he was acting and holding himself, it looked to Connor like it bothered him, which a prank wouldn't. Connor was surprised by Gabriel's words, but knew that he would have saved and told Gabriel had roles been reversed and that everything was serious. Dead serious. "Well thanks," he mumbled.

A long sigh passed through Connor's lips and he rested his forehead against the steering wheel, thoughts running thorugh his head. He wasn't afraid of death and never had been, in fact he always said that if he was about to die he would be fine with it, but knowing that he could die at any given minute really was what was causing him to feel shitty.

Connor laughed dryly, before he spoke. "So then that's it? I die sometime soon? Well ain't that just great," he muttered. "So what do you suppose I do?" he asked and turned his head slightly so he could see Gabriel.
 
Gabriel felt as though he was the grim reaper, telling Connor of his death, knowing pieces to the puzzle. He let his eyes fall closed, not even aware that his hands were on his shoulders anymore. He heaved a heavy sigh as he listened to the sounds of Connor next to him. From the mumbled, "Well, thanks," to the sigh as he leaned against the steering wheel. These were signs that the other boy was alive for one more minute if for not much longer.

Gabriel didn't open his eyes as he responded to Connor's questions. "It's not just sometime soon, it's the day before your eighteenth birthday." It sucked that he knew that. That he could tell the other male that. "I don't know what you should do. I don't even know the specifics of it because every time I see you die, it ends with you dead, but something's stopping that from happening, before I stopped the dunking booth thing. It's hard to keep it straight about what exactly is going to end you so I can't tell you what to avoid or who." He opened his eyes finally and met Connor's. "And for that," he thought on his next words for a second, "I'm sorry."
 
Connor listend as Gabriel told him that he's be dead the day before his birthday, and that he couldn't even give him specifics. he knew it wasn't the other boy's fault and didn't blame him, but he did feel shitty and weird that he knew his death was coming. Maybe it was about time to tell those he cared about what they meant to him. "Maybe I'll start doing the things on my bucket list," he said quietly, more or less just thinking aloud.

Connor wrote a bucket list when he was younger for the heck of it and because at the time he had been bored and had nothing better to do. So why not fufil the things that was on that list like in that one movie his sister made him watch, The Bucketlist? With all the thoughts that ran through Connor's head and the emotions that went with everything, a knot had formed in his stomache and he was no longer hungry.

Finally after a few moments of just sitting there, and kind of sulking, he sat up and looked at Gabriel. "You hungry?" he asked the other boy.
 
Gabriel felt an odd sense of relief wash over him now that Connor knew. It was almost freeing, but it wasn't because he'd just told the other male of his death. Definitely not good. There were no good feelings to come from telling another soul about their death. He heard the comment about the bucket list and felt his heart sink again. "I think you should fight it," Gabriel said after a moment of silence, looking over at the other boy as he sulked. "Fight the whole thing, whatever it is." He gave a slight shrug. "You never know, maybe you could stop it."

He let the sulking silence continue and finally let his hands drop from his shoulders. "No, food isn't my fan right now," he answered quietly, looking out the windows of the car to watch their surroundings. "Maybe me and you should try and figure this out. You're smarter than I am, but I have the visions. There must be a way to stop it." Because nothing was unstoppable.
 
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