Breaking Hearts and Breaking Bones Has Never Been So Romantic

"Alex, I don't know who would be willing enough to come over and take care of my fish while I'm away." I sighed. "Can't I just take them with me?"

"Angie, you have six fish," my brother tried to reason with me, "there's no way you can take them all with you."

"But, what if I just get like one of those little tanks that have the lids on them?"

"Sister, fish need room to roam around," Alex sighed, "you can't just stick six freakin' goldfish in a little itty bitty tank."

"Alex," I whined, "what else are we gonna do though?"

"Angie, just find someone who could stop by every day and sprinkle a little bit of fish food across the top of their water."

"If it's so easy, why don't you find someone who will be willing to take care of them?" I questioned him. I shifted my phone slightly and held it to my ear using my shoulder as I searched through my purse for my keys. "I mean, you're already packed aren't you? I still need to pack my clothes, and take care of the bills, and - "

"Angie, where are you?" My brother asked, cutting me off.

"I ... I'm right outside the apartment." I said, somewhat taken aback by his random question. "Why? Where are you at?"

"Hang on."

A split second later the door opened before me to reveal Alex standing on the threshold, his cell phone still held tightly to his ear.

"I would love to help you out, sis, but, I still need to pack as well." He smirked, still talking into his receiver.

In response, I stuck my tongue out at him and hung up my phone, causing him to laugh to himself.

"Alex, I honestly don't know anyone who will be willing to come over here out of their way just to feed my fish." I pouted.

"What about your friend that you work with? Wouldn't she be able to do it?"

"She lives across town though," I sighed, "I don't want to ask her to drive out of her way just to feed my fishies."

"Well, how about - " Alex stopped short when the door across the hallway from ours opened, revealing a young man that I recognized as one of our neighbors. I remember catching a glimpse of him the very first day we had moved in here, but I had never been formally introduced. "Oh, hey what's up Devon," Alex greeted him with a little wave.

"Hey Alex, not much. How's it goin' man?" Devon replied.

"Oh, pretty good I suppose; we're heading out on tour late tomorrow night." Alex said. He held his stare with Devon's for a second or two before he slowly turned to me, a plan formulating in his mind. "Devon, have you met my sister, Angie yet?" He asked, turning his gaze back to Devon.

"Oh, no, I haven't." Devon said shyly, causing me to turn my attention to him as well. "I know I've seen you around, but we haven't been introduced yet."

"Angie, I'd like you to meet Devon. Devon, this is my sister Angie." Alex made the introductions.

"Hi, Devon," I said, giving him a soft smile as I held my hand out to him.

"Hi." He smiled, shaking my hand. "Are you going to leaving for tour as well?"

"Yes," I replied, "I was actually getting a little frantic because I'm looking for someone to take care of my fish while we're away."

"Your fish?" Devon questioned.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I have six goldfish that my boyfriend bought for me when we first moved in." I explained.

"Well, if you want, I can take care of them for you." Devon offered.

"Really?" I asked, slightly taken aback. "You wouldn't mind?"

Devon shook his head. "Not at all; it's just a couple of minutes out of my day."

"Oh, thank you so much," I smiled, "that would be great."

"Of course," Devon grinned, "but, you'll have to excuse me for now, I'm running a little late to pick up my dinner." He laughed softly. "But, I can stop by later if you want me to, so you can show me where everything is."

"Alright, Devon, see you later." I replied, watching his back retreating down the hallway. "Thanks again."

Devon glanced over his shoulder and gave me a little wave before he disappeared around the corner, leaving me and Alex alone once again. I turned back to my brother and raised an eyebrow at him, only to have him respond with a smug smile. He stepped away from the doorway, allowing for me to enter, and then shut the door behind us.

"Well, that was easy enough." He said simply as he walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah, it was once I actually met our neighbors." I replied, taking a seat at the breakfast bar. I peered across the counter and saw Alex rummaging around in the kitchen, most likely looking for something to cook for dinner. Then, as if he had read my mind, he closed the refrigerator door and looked over at me.

"What do you feel like eating for dinner?" He asked.

"I don't know, Alex." I sighed. "Ravioli?"

He wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "I don't have anything to make ravioli's tonight, and I don't want to make a special trip to the market just for those ingredients."

"Well, how about some fried chicken then?" I asked. "We need to get rid of that chicken in the freezer anyway before we head out."

"Okay." Alex agreed. "As long as you make mashed potatoes and a big salad for Gabe, since we probably won't even want to look at chicken."

"Deal." I sighed.

As Alex took out the package of chicken from the refrigerator, I hopped off of my seat and went to join him in the kitchen to start to boil the potatoes. We worked in silence for a while, me washing the potatoes while my brother mixed a batter for the fried chicken, before the sound of a key sliding into the front lock caught our attention.

We both looked over and glanced at the door, watching the door knob turn slowly when it suddenly stopped. There were some muffled voices coming from the hallway, but they weren't clear enough for me to hear what they were saying. Shortly afterwards, the door knob turned again and the door opened, revealing Gabe to be leading a lady into our apartment.

I opened my mouth to say something but stopped short when the lady's face came into view.

"Mom!" I yelled happily as I pushed my way past Alex, who was already on his way to greet her, and ran into the living room. "Mom, what in the world are you doing here?" I laughed as I fell into her arms. "You're supposed to be in Europe still!"

"I know, I know," she laughed, hugging me tightly, "but, I got homesick so I decided to come home a little early, and then I had a six hour layover here in New York, so I thought I'd hop on a cab to come surprise you and your brother."

"Mom, you're just in time," Alex said, pushing me out of the way so he could give our mom a hug as well, "we were just getting ready to cook some dinner."

"That's nice, honey," our mom said, standing on her tip toes, and placing her hands on either side of Alex's face, guiding him down so she could kiss his forehead.

I stifled a laugh, seeing as how Alex was basically doubled over just so our mom could reach his forehead. When she was done, Alex straightened himself out and blushed slightly as he wiped his forehead off.

"So what's for dinner?" Our mom asked, linking her arm with Alex's.

"Fried chicken." He replied.

Behind us, Gabe made a small gagging sound, making us all turn to look at him. Alex sighed heavily before he added in a lazy voice, "and mashed potatoes and a big bowl of salad made especially for Gabe."

I giggled softly and went over to take Gabe's hand into my own, leading him over to our little circle. "Mom, have you met Gabriel yet?"

"Well, we spoke just a minute ago in the hallway, but I haven't actually 'met' him yet." My mom smiled.

"Gabe, this is our mom." I said, letting go of his hand and pushing him toward my mom. "Mom, this is Gabriel, Alex's band mate, our roommate, and my boyfriend."

"Oh?" My mom asked in surprise. "Boyfriend? Why haven't I heard anything about this before?" She asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Because," I blushed, "you've pretty much been living in Europe, and you never call or answer your phone; I swear, you're worse than a teenager. Of course you haven't heard about it."

My mom laughed in response and held her hand out to Gabe's. "It's a pleasure to meet you Gabe." She smiled as she shook his hand. "Alex has already told me a lot about you, and I'm sure that now I'm back here in the States, Angela will be calling me every single night to swoon about you to me."

"Mom." I blushed once more.

"Well, you just might get a phone call or two from me every once in a while so I can swoon over Angie to you." Gabe admitted with a shy smile. He paused for a few seconds before he added, "either that, or to tell you how she's driving me insane." He teased.

"Gabriel." I laughed, hitting his arm playfully.

"What?" He grinned, rubbing his arm before he reached down, lacing his fingers with mine. "I'm just saying that there's a slight possibility that that'll happen."

"If I start driving you insane, I will be the first one you talk to, mister." I insisted. "No sneaking behind my back to cry around to my mama."

"Fine, alright, alright." Gabe gave me a cute smile before he leaned over, kissing my lips lightly.

"Ugh, you see this mom? I hate when they get all mushy mushy like this." Alex mumbled.

"Sweetheart, I always thought you wanted your sister to find herself a nice boy to cater to her every wish." Our mom laughed.

"No but's, Alexandro," our mom scolded, "be happy for your sister."

"Fine, mom." Alex pouted, suddenly looking like he did when we were growing up in Florida, and didn't get his way. "We'd better get started on dinner before you have to head back to the airport."

"Alright, honey." Our mom replied.

"Why don't you and Gabe go and talk in the living room, mom?" I suggested. "You know, while Alex and I get dinner ready."

Gabe's eyes widened slightly in horror as he eyed me, giving me a clear sign that he was nervous as hell to be interrogated by my mom. I nudged him slightly and nodded my head. "At least it's not my dad grillin' you with the questions," I winked.

He opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out so instead he closed his mouth and turned to my mom, giving her a soft smile and offering his arm to her. My mom returned a smile and slipped her arm through Gabe's, allowing him to lead her into the living room. I watched them walk away with a smile on my face before I turned to my brother.

"You know that mom is gonna grill him worse than dad would." Alex said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know." I grinned.

"Good Lord, Angie, you're going to scare Gabe away from our family before he has a chance to put a ring on that pretty little finger of yours." Alex whispered, a mischievous smile clinging to his lips as he eyed me.

"A r-ring?" I stuttered. "Alex, we've only been together for what...a month and a half now? What in the world are you thinking mentioning a ring at this time?" I whispered back hurriedly.

My brother just replied with a loud laugh and a small wink as he shrugged his shoulders. "You never know, Angela May, you never know." He grinned before leading the way into the kitchen.

Great ... here we were, my mom interrogating my boyfriend in the living room, while my brother was in the kitchen, dropping hints about an engagement ring already. How in the world could I ever focus on making dinner?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Dinner was excellent you two." My mom smiled. "Thank you."

Alex and I both responded with a 'you're welcome' and our mom got up, collecting our plates. We all thanked her, and while she was in the kitchen, Alex and Gabe announced that they had to make a 'conference call' real fast. As they went into their office (AKA Alex's bedroom) my mom came back into the little dining room and took her seat at the table once more.

"So," she said, playing absentmindedly with the bowl of fruit sitting in the middle of the table, "I like Gabe; he's a sweet guy, and he's obviously crazy about you."

"Yeah," I agreed, "Gabe is an amazing guy."

"I'm wondering though, Angie, whether or not you trust him." She added softly.

I tilted my head to the side, giving her an odd look. "What do you mean, mom?"

"Angie, ever since you were a little girl, you've closed yourself off from letting anyone get too close to you, because you're always afraid that you'll get hurt." She explained. "I'm just worried that you're closing yourself off from Gabe, when he's obviously giving his all to be with you."

"Mom," I sighed, "I really, really like Gabriel. He's not like other guys, which is why I don't treat him like other guys ... I open up to him so much, and it's just so easy to tell him what's on my mind, I don't even think about whether or not to tell him something. It's easy to trust a guy like Gabe, and, honestly, he doesn't open up too easily to people either, but he opens up to me."

"He really cares about you a lot, honey." My mom said. "I can honestly picture him as being more than just a simple boyfriend for you."

"Funny," I mumbled, "because Alex was just uttering some jibberish about Gabe putting a ring on my finger just a little while ago."

My mom laughed and nodded her head. "Angie, I know that you've had some rocky relationships in the past, and something about Gabe tells me that your guys' relationship is going to be the rockiest of all, but you have to suck it up and stick with it because everything you go through with him will be worth it."

"Mom, I honestly don't know if I can handle anymore rocky relationships." I admitted. "Like you said, I've had some pretty rough ones."

"I know, sweetheart, but if you think that Gabe is worth it, you'll feel it in your heart to not give up on him, no matter how bad things look." My mom said gently.

Not knowing what to say, I lowered my eyes to the empty table, and kept my stare on the fruit basket that had since been abandoned by my mom.

I hoped that my mom was right, I hoped that Gabe would eventually turn into more than just a boyfriend. And, it's ridiculous to think about because of the fact that we've only been together for a month and a half, but, what can I say? Gabriel Saporta makes me feel like no one else ever has, so of course you can find me daydreaming about us becoming more than just a boyfriend/girlfriend couple someday.

It was all I could do, however, to sit back and wish that somehow, Gabe was feeling the same way.