Breaking Hearts and Breaking Bones Has Never Been So Romantic

Hearing the front door close, I frowned to myself and did my best to immerse my attention deeper into my clothes that need to be sorted out. About a minute later, I was disturbed once more by a knock on my door.

Knowing exactly who it was, I didn't answer and continued on with my business. A couple of seconds later, there was another knock.

"Angie, can I come it?" Alex called quietly though the door.

"Go away." I said coldly, though I knew he was just going to invite himself in anyways, despite my words.

With that, my door opened, revealing my brother standing there staring there was a sorry look on his face. I narrowed my eyes at him and stood there staring back at him with one hand on my hip, while the other held tightly onto a blouse that I had been getting ready to hang up.

"I told you to get ride of those damn pictures, Angie." He sighed.

"Who are you to tell me what to do?" I asked meanly. "Now what the hell did you do with my photo album?"

"I'm your older brother, and I did exactly what I said I was going to do with them."

My mouth dropped open in shock at his words. "You burned my pictures? I can't believe you, Alex!"

"I would have burned them if I had a lighter." He said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "But for now they're hanging out in the dumpster with all the other shit people throw out."

"You're a jerk, Alex." I muttered.

"I'm a jerk?" Alex asked in disbelief. "Do I need to remind you of what that guy did to you?"

I bit my lip as his words tugged at my emotions, and the tears began to build up inside of me. No, he didn't need to remind me because I could still feel it in my heart what he did. But, you know how it goes for some girls; even though their heart had been broken into a million pieces, they somehow find a way to look back on the past, and reminisce about the way things used to be.

"Brother, just leave me alone," I whispered, finally breaking my gaze from his and looking down to my cluttered floor, "I have to finish putting my things away."

"Angie, I'm sorry, but you have to get over him, and get out there and find someone else." Alex said quietly. "I know that there's tons of guys out there who would probably treat you a million times better than that jerkoff."

"Yeah, like who?" I mumbled.

Alex thought to himself for a couple of seconds before he shrugged his shoulders. "What do you think about Gabe?"

"Gabe?" I repeated, making sure I heard him right.

"I think he has a crush on you." He said simply.

"Alex, we barely even know each other." I said, giving him a skeptical look. "I highly doubt he has a crush on me."

"So, Johnny Depp has absolute no idea who the hell you are, but you still have a crush on him."

"That's different." I pointed out.

"Fine, I'll let you win that one, but, if Gabe does have a crush on you, what would you say to that?"

"I wouldn't know what to say, Alex, I hardly even know him. All I know about him is that he smokes marijuana every so often and that he likes to dance. That's it."

Alex wrinkled his nose slightly and titled his head to the side. "I don't care about what you know about him, just tell me what you think about him."

I sighed quietly as I turned my gaze from my brother, and instead turned to my closet. As I grabbed a hanger and hung my blouse up, I thought out a response to my brother's request. After I put the blouse away into my closet, I turned back to my brother, raising an eyebrow in his direction.

"Is Gabe in his room?" I asked hesitantly, and Alex shook his head. "Well ... he's an attractive guy. He seems funny, and he seems like he can be pretty dorky. He seems sweet enough, but ... there's just something about him that makes it seem like he can pull some pretty messed up stuff."

"What do you think about him smoking weed?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "It doesn't bother me ... as long as he doesn't throw his career and life away for it."

Alex didn't reply instantly, but rather stood there, looking as if he were thinking my words through. Although his eyes were on me, they were unfocused, indicating that he was deep in thought. We stood in silence for a minute or so, before Alex took a deep breath, and let it out in a loud sigh, finally breaking the silence.

"Well, okay then. So," he said, shifting his position, "do you need any help with anything in here?"

I raised an eyebrow at his sudden change of interest, but shrugged it off, actually glad that he was no longer pressing me about my feelings for Alex. Feelings which were nothing more than a small friendship, of course.

"I got everything under control in here." I said. "Tomorrow, though, I need some help moving in my dresser."

"Alright, well, we'll get to that tomorrow." He said. "What do you want for dinner?"

"I'm kind of feeling in the mood for some Italian food." I replied. "Olive Garden?" I suggested.

Alex glanced down at his watch and then nodded his head. "Sounds good." He said. "It's six-thirty right now, how about we leave in an hour?"

"Alright." I said quietly.

I watched as my brother reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, looking as if he were massaging out some kinks. He opened his mouth to say something else, but thought second about it, and shut it. He shook his head slightly and then turned around, disappearing out into the hallway, and leaving me to stand there, picking through all that was said, and all the new thoughts that had scattered about my mind.

I couldn't help but wonder exactly why it was Alex believed Gabe had 'crush' on me. We barely even knew each other; I didn't think I had even said enough words to him to make myself seem the least bit interesting. But then, perhaps my brother had been telling Gabe things about me while they were on tour. Putting in a good word, advertising my single status. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past my brother to do something like that.

It's funny because you'd think that with Alex being my big brother, he'd be overprotective of me when it came to dating, but in all reality, it was the exact opposite. As long as the guy didn't break my heart, my brother actually wanted me to be in a steady relationship with someone.

Shaking my head to clear my mind of all distractions, including Gabe and my brother, and turned back to my pile of clothes. I picked up another shirt, as well as another hanger, and was about ready to hang my shirt up when I heard the front door open, and then, after a somewhat prolonged amount of time, it closed with a rather sharp 'snap'.

This was followed by the sound of some boxes falling over, a small crash, and finally a voice I recognized to be Gabe's swearing quietly to himself. I raised an eyebrow and made a move toward my door, checking to see if he was alright but suddenly there was a soft knock on my door, causing me to stop in surprise.

"Angie?" Gabe's voice called quietly through the door. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," I replied, "its open."

At my response, my door opened slowly and I waited patiently as Gabe peaked inside my room, a shy smile pulling across his lips. I returned a smile, which quickly turned into a smirk as I nodded in the direction of the living room.

"Did some boxes sneak up on you in there, Gabe?" I asked with a hint of amusement in my voice.

Gabe laughed nervously and then cleared his throat. "I think I owe your brother some new plates." He admitted. "But, I um ... I got something for you." He said shyly.

I couldn't help but smile a little as his cheeks started to flush the lightest shade of pink you could imagine, and I bit my lip as my brother's words suddenly came back to me.

"Oh?" I asked.

Gabe nodded his head. "Close your eyes."

I raised an eyebrow in response, eyeing him for a couple of seconds, before I did as he asked.

"No peaking." He said, his voice now a little closer to me.

"I'm not a little kid." I laughed softly. "You can trust me not to peak."

"Just making sure." His voice signaled that he was right in front of now. "Okay, now hold out your hands."

Sighing softly, I dropped my shirt and hanger to the floor, and slowly held out my hands to him. A second later, I felt something a bit cold placed in them, and I tightened my grip on it, not wanting whatever it was to fall.

"You got it?" Gabe asked, and I nodded my head. "Okay, open your eyes then."

I hesitated for a moment, preparing myself for whatever I may have been holding in my hands, before I slowly opened my eyes. My mouth dropped slightly in shock before an involuntary smile spread across my lips.

"Gabe," I grinned, "what's all this about?" I asked, holding the water filled plastic bag up so I could look closer at the dozen goldfish swimming around inside of it.

"I told you I was going to find you a pet that was 'Alex friendly'." He smiled, using his index and middle fingers to quote.

"Gabe, you didn't have to get me goldfish though." I laughed softly.

"Well, you need some kind of company around the apartment when me and your brother are gone on tour." He grinned. "And plus, I thought they'd make for some pretty cool decorations out in the living room." He added.

"Yes, I suppose they will." I replied, turning my eyes from the goldfish to look over at Gabe, locking my light brown eyes with his dark ones. "Thank you, Gabe." I said softly.

Gabe tilted his head to the side ever so slightly as he stared back at me. "You're welcome." He said gently.

Suddenly, I felt a light chill go down my back as a new wave of feelings flowed throughout my chest, and settled down in the pit of my gut. It wasn't a feeling that weighed me down, no, it was a feeling that did the exact opposite. It made my stomach do a happy tap number, and the energy rose clear into throat, making any words I tried to speak a complete jumble of nonsense.

"So," Gabe said, breaking the silence and tearing his eyes from mine, "you want to take a little break from unpacking and help me get your new homies all situated?" He asked, nodding down to the bag. "I got a tank and stuff, and all that other junk you need to keep them alive."

I cleared my throat to help brush the funny feelings away, and regained the use of my vocal cords. "Sure, I'm due for a break." I replied. "You know, hanging up all these damn clothes is a lot harder than it looks." I added with a soft laugh.

Gabe let his eyes fall down to my feet, his gaze taking in the pile of clothes and then looked back to me. "It sure looks like it." He smirked before he turned around and lead the way into the hallway.

Glancing down at my goldfish, I followed suit. Once in the hallway, I saw Gabe up ahead, already in the living room, squatting next to a clear 10 gallon fish tank which was filled with numerous things essential for the caring of goldfish. At the sight of him, a shy smile began to pull at the corners of my lips, but it quickly disappeared when I heard someone clear their throat right beside me.

I stopped suddenly in my tracks and turned, only to see that I was face to face with my brother, who was looking out of his bedroom door, a smug smile plastered on his face.

"What do you want?" I hissed, keeping my voice low so Gabe wouldn't hear me.

In response, Alex gave me a little wink before he mouthed the words, 'he's crushing on you'. With this, I felt my cheeks starting to grow hot, and I tore my gaze from my brother's teasing stare, to look back to Gabe. He was now sorting through the contents of the tank and singing quietly to himself a song that I didn't recognize.

At the sound of his soft, soothing voice, I couldn't help but get that giddy feeling in the pit of my stomach once more. I bit my lip and prayed that somehow it would do something to contain the giddiness from spreading to something more.

If what Alex said is true, then I admit I'm scared to death to have it escalate into something more than just a crush. Because goodness knows that I'm not ready yet to get involved with a guy. Especially a guy as attractive as Gabe, who tours around the country for months at a time, singing his heart out for their fans, which was composed of millions of pretty girls that literally throw themselves at him in hopes to get in on a piece of the 'rockstar lifestyle'.

Not that Gabe, my brother, and their bandmates were rockstars just yet, but with talent like theirs, and a voice like Gabe's, it was only a matter of time before they get big. And when they did, I highly doubted that there would be room in their world for a girl like me.