Netflix and Chill

The weather in Hillberry Isle was only slightly better than yesterday. However, Gael thought that they were just in the eye of the storm. He complained two days ago… But now, spending the afternoon with Angela and staring at her so close like this, he thought that it wasn't so bad getting stuck on the island.

She had kept her eyes closed, but he could see her eyes moving under her lids, making him wonder what she was thinking at the moment. He couldn't understand what it was about her that fascinated him so much that he couldn't tear his eyes away from her. He had been with women before and he wasn't this interested—it was as though she was a book that he wanted to read endlessly.

With his eyes locked at her face, he carefully turned to his left so that he was facing the nightstand, and then he laid the side of his head against the edge of the bed. He was a foot away from her face and his jaw ticked, realizing that he couldn't help himself with her. The image of him landing that kiss from last night flashed in his mind just as the rain started to pour down again.

Angela abruptly sat up without noticing what Gael was doing and she frowned as she looked at the rain through the tall windows of her balcony. "Oh, come on! I thought the weather had already gotten better!"

He cleared his throat and stretched his limbs as he faced the balcony again, brushing off the thoughts that he just had in his mind. "Didn't you want to stay longer on the island anyway? So the weather at this point doesn't matter now, does it?"

"Yeah, but… I would at least want to enjoy being here. I hadn't even had fun at the beach yet or visited other places outside the resort. This sucks." She felt deflated and slumped back on the bed. "I love the rain… I like the cold... but I don't like it when it rains too much. It's kind of depressing."

He subtly glanced at the time on his watch—it was already four in the afternoon. How was time so fast? When he first received the news that flights were suspended, he couldn't wait for the storm to pass or for time to move faster so he could leave the island already. But now… could time move a little slower? He actually came to like it here.

"It's four–oh–four. If you were back home at this time, what would you have been doing?" he asked.

Angela shrugged and she pondered for a while before answering, "Now that you ask… I realized that back then, most of the time, I would be out with friends enjoying a cup of coffee at a cafe or going on a road trip somewhere. Then we'd find ourselves in a club at night… But now, I can't even remember when was the last time I went to a club. I sort of became anti-social and just stayed indoors... Huh…" Her voice trailed off as she realized something.

Was this why she couldn't find a good date anymore? In the past three years, she hadn't met or dated guys whom she found interesting enough to have a second date or a serious relationship with. All this time, she thought that men were the problem… Could it have been her all along? Had she become so boring since she didn't go out as much as she did in the past that men stopped trying to impress her too? She couldn't help but think as she averted her gaze to the side.

"What?" he asked when she suddenly became quiet in the middle of her chat.

Hearing his voice, Angela glanced back at him and her heart slightly quivered. He was looking at her so quizzically like he was trying to figure her out—as if she was some sort of a difficult math problem that he wanted to solve. And there goes her heart throbbing again. 'Oh no—Don't be like that heart. He's probably just wondering why I spaced out or something. That's all…' she thought.

"Nothing." She pulled her mouth into a smile and shook her head. "I don't really do much as I mostly just stay at home to write. Sometimes, I go out to reset my mood and collect my thoughts before writing again."

"I see…" Gael placed his hands behind his head and he thought back about what he had done in the past years. It had been quiet in his family for a while and there wasn't much activity. He traveled to the U.S. several times a year and then back to Italy—all for the family business and from time to time, he would visit the Chos—he didn't really have that many friends.

"Gael…"

He turned to face her when she called and he found her staring at her phone before looking back at him saying, "Do you want to watch a movie?"

"To a movie theatre? Right now?" He furrowed his brows as he checked the rain outside.

"No, I meant on Netflix…" She casually tapped her phone screen. Then she heard him ask, "You mean like… Netflix and chill?" Her head snapped towards him, her eyes growing fierce at the sight of his slow grin.

"No, I meant actually watching Netflix. Nothing more." Angela scoffed and gave him an obviously fake smile, throwing a soft pillow at him—in which he caught oh so smoothly. "How about a TV series?"

"I guess? There's nothing much to do anyway. Sure, why not?" He watched her already getting out of bed as soon as he responded. She opened her laptop that was on the coffee table and moved it to the console table below the TV. In the next minute, she had already hooked up her laptop to the TV.

Gael got up and went to stand next to her, waiting to see what she was going to choose. Then, the cursor hovered over a thumbnail and she turned her head to him as though she was waiting for him to agree with her. He softly chuckled, shaking his head and cocking his brow as he probed, "You've got to be shîtting me. Are you serious?"

Angela nodded with a serious face. She looked so innocent when she explained herself. "It's daylight and I'm not alone. I think it would be really fun…"

Running a tired hand down his face, he let out a small sigh and went to sit in the middle of the bed. "Fine. Whatever you say, Angela. But I'm staying here." He leaned against the headboard, crossed his legs, and then folded his arms in front of his chest. If she was going to choose something like this, he might as well get comfortable.

A cute smile formed on her face when she clicked the play button and went to sit on the bed just like he did, staying to his left and maintaining a safe distance from him.

"Don't go crying if you get suddenly scared and jump on me again," he said when the first episode started playing. He clenched his jaw when he looked at the bottom of the screen and saw the caption before it disappeared. It said:

American Horror Story S1:E1 La Maison