Breaking Hearts and Breaking Bones Has Never Been So Romantic

Ziggy meowed loudly as he rubbed his furry little body against the bars of his cage. I cooed to him, sticking a finger through the bars to scratch his head lightly. In response, he began to purr loudly and then collapsed on the floor, content with just my one finger scratching that one spot on his head.

"Goof ball," I muttered before I pulled my finger out of the cage and placed a hand on top of it, steadying myself as I stared down at my kitten.

A sudden memory flashed through my mind, and I recalled the perturbed look on Gabe's face when I insisted he climb up the tree to rescue Ziggy. I smiled to myself, and then laughed softly before I shook my head. Despite my uncertainty at the beginning, touring with the band had been a blast. It would be great if I could go out with them a couple more times, but having used up my vacation during this previous tour, I knew that it wouldn't be possible. At least, any time soon.

"Angela," Lana called my name from the doorway at the far end of the room, "there's a guy out front asking for you." She informed me. "He's cute, too." She teased with a little wink.

"Hey, back off," I smiled, "he's taken."

Lana laughed to herself in amusement as she nodded her head. "I had a feeling that he was the roommate turned boyfriend that you had been telling me about." She said. "I told him that you'd be out in a minute or two."

"Alright." I said. "I was just keeping Ziggy a little bit of company." I sighed, glancing back down him, seeing that he was now reaching through the bars in an attempt to snag my hand with his small, sharp claws.

"Ziggy?" Lana asked, raising an eyebrow.

"My kitten that Gabe rescued from a tree." I grinned. "I brought him in to get neutered," I explained, "and perhaps declawed." I added as he nicked the tip of my finger with his claw.

"One surgery at a time," Lana smiled, "but for now, you had better tend to that six foot something Hispanic guy lingering in the waiting room."

Once more I smiled to myself, unable to help but wonder what it was that had persuaded him to come down to the clinic. We had just gotten home yesterday and he should be at home, still sleeping it off in bed. That's what my brother's agenda had been, why should Gabe's be any different?

Checking Ziggy one last time to make sure he was content, I crossed the room and joined Lana at the door. We walked through the labyrinth of hallways together, exchanging some small talk before we parted ways at the front desk. Lana muttered something about making copies of some paperwork for a surgery that was scheduled this afternoon, and then left me standing there beside our secretary.

As soon as I entered the room, I felt Gabe's eyes upon me but I didn't look up at him. Instead I gazed around at the other people who were waiting with their pets, and some who were waiting for their pets, and then tapped my fingers on the desk, gaining the attention of the secretary.

"Can you clock me out, please?" I asked her.

She nodded her head, and I gave her my code to enter into the time clock. When she was done, I quietly thanked her and then looked up, finally locking my gaze with Gabe's. Stepping out from behind the desk, I made my way across the room, and Gabe met me halfway. Slipping his hand into mine, he squeezed it gently and offered a small smile.

"Hey sweetheart," he said softly before he leaned over and kissed my temple.

I could tell by the way he held his lips to my temple a little longer than he usually would, that he wanted to kiss me more passionately but couldn't because of our little 'audience' in the waiting room. Instead, he pulled away and then wrapped an arm around my, guiding me toward the door.

"Why aren't you home, sleeping?" I questioned him as we stepped outside.

Gabe didn't answer me right away and instead listened to the sound of a siren sounding in the distance. When the sound faded away a few seconds later, he turned his attention back to me and then shrugged his shoulders.

"I honestly don't know." He replied. "I slept pretty good yesterday on the way home, and then some more when we got back to the apartment ... I think I'm just tired of sleeping."

I rolled my eyes slightly and did my best to suppress a smile as I pressed my side into his, getting closer to him as I wrapped my arm around his middle.

"So, Mr. Saporta, where are we off to?" I questioned as we started on a somewhat slow stroll down the sidewalk.

"Lunch." He said simply.

"I know, smart ass." I huffed.

Gabe eyed me, his gaze filled with silent laughter. "I saw that this little café down the street set their tables up for outside," he said, nodding up the street to where you could barely see its soft green exterior paint distinguishing it from its surrounding buildings.

"I guess they're taking advantage of the break in the weather." I said.

"I thought that we could eat lunch there." He said softly. "Just you and me, away from everyone else ... way away." 'Everyone else' meaning the rest of the band.

"What if they don't have any vegetarian food, Gabanti?"

"They do," he said with a sly smile, "I already called ahead and checked."

I bumped my hip into his (actually bumped my hip into his thigh seeing as there's a major height difference between us) and then sighed softly, leaning my head against him. He tightened his arm around me in response and then either of us fell silent as we continued our walk to the small café. We arrived there a couple of minutes later and were seated quickly despite the lunch hour rush. Gabe and I didn't speak to one another again until after the waiter had brought our drinks and taken our orders.

"So," Gabe said slowly as he used his straw to twirl around the ice cubes in his water, "I was thinking of inviting my dad over for dinner sometime." He told me.

"Oh?" I asked, "That'd be nice for you to visit with him. You haven't had the chance to see him in a while, haven't you?"

"Yeah," he replied, "this is probably the longest I've gone without seeing him." He admitted. "But," he paused slightly, licking his lips, "I actually really want him to come over so that you can meet him."

"Oh," I said offhandedly, "really?"

Gabe nodded his head as he lowered his gaze to the beige colored table cloth. "I think that you two will hit it off ... I've kind of wanted him to meet you for a while now."

I sat in silence for a little while as I thought to myself. "You really think he'll like me?" I asked.

Gabe gave me a reassuring smile as he nodded his head. "My dad is going to adore you." He insisted.

"I'm no good at meeting parents." I muttered. "They've always gone horribly wrong for me in the past."

"Well, you're only meeting one of my parents," Gabe pointed out, "and it's highly probable that you'll never meet the other one," he muttered, "unless you decide that you want to stick around and take my last name someday ... " he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders in a nonchalant way.

Wanting to keep his mind off of his mother and their differences, and wanting to keep my own mind off of the thought of Gabe and I getting more serious than we already were, I placed my hand on top of his and gave him a half smile.

"So ... will he be expecting me to cook something?" I questioned. "Because I have to warn you, my cooking tends to be a little bit on the horrible side when I cooking in an attempt to impress someone."

"Babe, the only thing my dad will expect of you is to sit there and look interested while he nags your ear off of whatever he chooses to talk about." Gabe laughed quietly.

"Hmm, well, okay." I said. "Give him a call and invite him over for dinner."

"I was going to call him up and invite him over whether you liked it or not." He replied with a soft smirk.

"When were you planning on having dinner?" I asked softly.

"Some time next week." He sighed. "I still have to find out what his schedule is like."

I nodded my head, but chose not to say anything more. Biting my lip slightly, I thought back to all the times before where I had been taken to meet the parents of all my previous boyfriends. I don't think a single one of those events had gone according to plan, and I left each and every one of them with my head hung down and my tail between my legs, thinking that there was no way in hell I'd get the parental units to like me after that.

I hoped that dinner with Gabe's dad wouldn't be a disaster like all the other dinners I had to endure in the past.