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Gabe Brooks and Zoey Thomas

Gabe Brooks and Zoey Thomas became close friends in sixth grade in Portland, Oregon, forming part of a tight friendship trio with Darren Ross. Their friendship provided both with consistent companionship through adolescence and into adulthood, including after Darren and Zoey became a couple and eventually married.

Overview

Gabe and Zoey’s friendship developed in 2013 when Zoey joined Gabe and Darren’s existing duo. They also formed a friendship independent of Darren, with their own humor, disagreements, and trust. Gabe’s drumming and interest in music gave them shared experiences, including shows and conversations about what he was playing; Zoey’s academic focus and attentiveness to others gave their time together a different rhythm from the trio’s.

Origins

The friendship between Gabe and Zoey formed in sixth grade in Portland. Gabe and Darren had been best friends since tee-ball; Zoey was the new addition, and she became an equal third member of the trio.

Gabe was born February 14, 2001. Zoey, born January 1, 2003, was almost two years younger but had skipped a grade, placing her in sixth grade with Gabe and Darren during 2013–2014. Their friendship provided mutual support through middle and high school.

Dynamics

Gabe’s relaxed, spontaneous approach frequently met Zoey’s need for structure and a plan. He could procrastinate while she had already built a timeline and task list; she could interpret his calm as carelessness, while he could read her urgency as overplanning. He sometimes drew her into social situations, and she could help him think through a decision before he acted. Darren often acted as the bridge between Gabe’s trust that something would work out and Zoey’s insistence that they needed a plan.

Early in the friendship, Gabe sometimes called Zoey “bossy,” including as a joke in front of other people. Zoey objected because the word carried racialized and gendered weight for Black girls. After Darren explained why the label harmed her, Gabe listened, stopped using it, and changed his behavior. His willingness to repair the harm deepened their friendship.

Their one-on-one friendship continued within and alongside the trio. Both cared about Darren, but their connection was not limited to shared concern for him; they remained close enough to frustrate, challenge, and trust one another directly.

Shared Black Community Context

Gabe and Zoey were both Black American teenagers growing up in Portland. Their friendship with Darren gave all three a shared space within a mostly white city and school environment, although their families, personalities, and responses to conflict remained distinct. Gabe had learned to use humor in settings where Black boys could be read as threatening; Zoey’s stable household gave her more reason to expect adults to mean what they said. Their different experiences became visible when Gabe identified performative concern for Darren and asked Zoey to trust Darren’s account of his parents.

Their differences did not make Gabe’s practical, social intelligence lesser than Zoey’s academic and planning strengths. The argument over “bossy” required Gabe to hear the racialized and gendered judgment Zoey faced rather than treating the word as harmless teasing. Their continued friendship rested partly on his willingness to change after she named the harm.

Within the Friendship Trio

The trio of Gabe, Zoey, and Darren spent time together throughout adolescence at locations around Portland, including Martha’s Diner (Portland). Gabe brought humor, spontaneity, and social ease; Zoey pressed them to plan and act; Darren often understood both positions and helped them hear one another. Darren’s steadiness did not erase his own fear or silliness. Their friendship gave each a place to belong without performing for the others.

Into Adulthood

As both moved into adulthood, their friendship continued within the context of the ongoing trio. Darren and Zoey began dating when Zoey was thirteen and Darren fourteen, but their romantic relationship did not displace Gabe. The foundation built in adolescence proved sturdy enough to survive Darren and Zoey’s eventual marriage and the birth of their son, Daniel James “DJ” Ross. When Danny Ross died in 2022, Gabe and Zoey were both present to support Darren through his grief, their shared history giving weight to their support.

Relationships Friendships Gabe Brooks Zoey Thomas