Brother's Girl✔️

Trenta y tres

Gabriel's POV

I looked down at my watch, it was already seven. Maybe she was not even coming, I fixed my hat and took a sip of my water. Why was I so nervous to be meeting with a woman I practically saw everyday. "Can I get you anything, sir?" A waitress came asking. I was about to answer when I saw her coming towards me. 

Damn, she looked sexy. She was in a red dress that hugged all her curves, her butt looked even bigger in it. "Sir?" I shook my head no and then she left. I kept my eyes on her as she came closer, she smiled when she spotted me. She took a seat across from me, I was definitely underdressed in my jeans and a simple t-shirt and the hat I decided to wear.

 "Sorry, I'm late," She apologized. I simply nodded my head still unable to speak. "Is there something wrong with-"

"No," I quickly replied, "you look beautiful," I told her. "You're beautiful," I rephrased my statement. She was indeed beautiful especially tonight. She had some hoop earrings on and with her short haircut, she looked stunning. 

"Thank you," she said. "Why did you ask me to meet you here?" She asked me looking around. I looked around also unable to answer her question. Now that I was out in public with her in a restaurant, it seemed like a date. The more everything, every feeling, every emotion felt real. It was just at this moment, a table separating us from each other, we could talk freely without the fear of someone eavesdropping. 

"I don't know," I finally answered her question, "why don't we just order some food," I suggested. She nodded her head and picked up the menu that was seated in front of her. I watched her as she read through the menu making a few stink faces at the food. She then looked up with a smile planted on her face. 

She then called the waitress over to order. I listened to everything she carefully ordered. "What about you sir?" She asked me. 

"Nothing for me," I answered. I had no appetite plus I ate before coming here. The waitress smiled and left. 

"So," Dominique started. "You invite me to a restaurant and you're gonna let my fat ass do all the eating?" She questioned. I chuckled at her use of words. We sat in silence until her food has finally arrived. It was nothing grand just fries and a burger. "We're just going to be silent, awkward," she said putting one of the fries in her mouth. 

"I don't know what to say," I admitted. I thought this was going to be easier. I thought we would just come here and start joking about things or anything. 

"Understandable," she said awkwardly. "I want to-" she started. "Explore our feelings," she finished. I stared blankly at her, explore our feelings? She had to know that was impossible, we did not just meet and started dating. This was different, we could not explore anything close to our feelings. 

"We can't do that," I said honestly. The thought of hurting my brother just killed me inside and the thought of losing her, never being able to touch her killed me even more. I was stuck to make a hard decision between my brother, my family to be more precise and a woman that I love. She licked her lips slowly and put her head down, I watched as she played with the straw of her drink. "Dominique," I called her. She looked up into my blue eyes, "do you think we could ever be anything serious?" I asked her. "My feelings for you are very much serious, but I mean us together out in the open without hurting someone we both care about?" I asked. 

"I honestly do not know," she answered. She sighed and continued to eat her food. "No matter how we handle this, out in the open or not, someone will always get hurt," she put down the burger she was holding and I watched as she took out her wallet. 

"I got it," I told her. She shook her head no and put the money on the table.

"This was a mistake," she said before getting up. I got up also and followed her. When we were finally out of people's view she stopped and turned around.

"I'm sorry," I told her. She nodded her head slowly and she started to walk to the parking lot. I grabbed her hand stopping her, she looked down at me holding her. "This wasn't a mistake," I justified. I wanted to see her out of the house, we needed to see each other out of the house. "My brother loves you, you can tell by the way he speaks about you or that fact that he just worries about you. I remember when you guys first met, he came home for Christmas break spending the whole break talking about you. It got so bad that I told him the next time he mentioned you I was going to punch him," I chuckled thinking about that memory.

"I didn't understand why he was so caught with some girl. A girl who was younger than him, in high school, and who seemed to be the complete opposite from him," I admitted. "When I met you, I thought you were attractive, I mean who wouldn't?" I asked. "Until that day you kissed me," I paused. "It drove me crazy, I started obsessing over you spending all day thinking about you. Over the years, I watched you and during that, I guess I fell. I knew it was wrong to feel this way and I know it's wrong."

"I want to explore our feelings, but I can't Dominique. I'm going to be hurting my brother because eventually, he will find out," I let go of her hand. 

"So, it's my fault?" She asked.

"Your fault?" I questioned not knowing where she was going with this. 

"I kissed you," she said. She shook her head and walked to her car. 

"I enjoyed it," she opened her car door ignoring me. "Hey," I grabbed her hand again. "It was not your fault."

"Gabriel, what do you want?" She asked me. "This morning, you kiss me and now you want to be all about what's right?" She added. "I don't have time to be playing games, what do you want?"

"I want you," I told her. Her eyes searched my face as I did the same. "I want to be able to touch you, kiss you and hold you. I want to love you, I am certain of that."