Breaking Hearts and Breaking Bones Has Never Been So Romantic

Sitting on the end of the couch, I kept quietly to myself while Alex, Ryland, and Nate talked amongst themselves about what we should do for the day. I didn't have any input therefore I stayed silent, getting lost within my own thoughts.

Funny how lately, my thoughts seemed to constantly lead to one place ... or one person rather.

For some reason I couldn't get enough of Angie. She wasn't like any of the other girls I had known. She was sweet, caring, always putting others before herself without even realizing it. Of course, there are a lot of girls out there who do the same things, and act the same way, but truth be told, this wasn't what was making me fall for her. It's not something that I can really explain, and the only way I could put it, is she simply makes me feel like no other girl ever has.

But, like Alex had mentioned before, Angie wasn't looking around to being in a relationship. Despite how much Alex liked to advertise his sister's single status, hoping a nice guy would grow some balls and step forward to mend her broken heart, Angie simply wasn't interested.

So please, tell me how the hell was I supposed to make anything happen? I highly doubted that someone such as myself could be able to charm my way into her heart.

"Gabe, what do you think, man?" Ryland's voice cut through my thoughts, causing me to turn my gaze in his direction.

I opened my mouth to reply, but stopped shortly when I realized that I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. "What was that?" I finally uttered. "I did quite catch that."

Ryland rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Where the hell have you been these past five minutes, man?" He asked. "Have you seriously not heard a single word this whole time?"

"No." I said sheepishly. "I was ... " I trailed off, shrugging my shoulders.

"You have that daydreamy look on your face, Gabe." Nate pointed out.

"You were daydreaming about my sister, weren't you?" Alex teased.

"No, I - "

"Oh, come on, don't deny it." He snickered. "You have a major boner for her, don't you?"

Again, I opened my mouth to reply, but I was stopped short, this time by Ryland.

"A boner for Angie?" He interjected. "What's all this about?" He asked quizzically.

"Gabe has a crush on my sister." Alex said simply.

Ryland's mouth formed a perfect 'O' as comprehension dawned on his face, and then the expression faded away as he turned his gaze in my direction, narrowing his eyes at me.

"You trying to get into Angie's pants, Saporta?" He asked in a somewhat menacing tone, a tone very different from his usual friendly tone.

"No." I said quietly. "I just ... think she's cool." I said lamely.

"Come on, Gabe, when are you going to quit denying that you're crushing on my sister, and just come clean about it?" Alex said, laughing softly. "I mean, why keep it a secret? You know I'm not going to beat you up for liking her."

I held my tongue, looking from Alex's smirking face to Nate's slightly clueless expression, and finally to Ryland's somewhat intense stare. Wherever Alex lacked in the protective big brother role, Ryland certainly made up for.

"She's a sweet girl," I said quietly, "and she's funny, and she's smart, quirky, and cute." I admitted. "And, I don't know what it is about her, but, she has that ability to make me jumble my words, and make me feel like no one else has. I know that I'm sounding like the biggest lame ass right now, but, there's just something about her that I can't quite explain."

No one spoke, until about half a minute later.

"Well, why don't you just tell her that?" Nate asked.

"Because," I sighed miserably, "she's not interested in having a relationship with anyone."

"Gabe," Alex said quietly, "my sister always says that she's not interested in relationships. She's been like that ever since high school. She likes to bluff but sooner or later she falls for someone. And usually, the person she falls for is a sweet talkin' guy who always seems to turn out to be a jerk in the end." He sighed.

"We all know that you can be a sweet talker," Ryland said, crossing his arms in front of his chest, "so I don't think you'll have a problem getting her to fall for you. But, break her heart and I swear you'll get it." He threatened.

Although I wasn't quite sure what 'it' was that Ryland was referring to, I cringed slightly, and shifted myself so that I was facing more toward Alex, rather than Ryland.

"I can't sweet talk girls that I like." I frowned. "I definitely can't sweet talk Angie. Whenever I'm around her I get so fucking nervous. It's like I'm a freshman in high school all over again. It fucking sucks."

"All you have to do is just be truthful with her." Alex said. "Be honest, tell her how you feel, and let her get to know you."

"I can't tell her that I like her though," I shook my head, "because then she'll like me, just because she knows I like her."

"Don't be lame." Alex frowned.

"No, it's true." Nate stuck up for me. "It's psychological." He added.

Alex turned to him, giving him a dirty look.

"Sorry," Nate muttered, lowering his eyes to his hands as his cheeks flushed a light shade of pink, "but, it is."

Alex rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to me. He studied me for a few seconds before he sighed softly and reached up, scratching the back of his neck. "Look, Gabe, my sister's real hesitant when it comes to guys, but like you said, she's a sweet girl, and because she is, she let's her guard down without realizing it. All the boyfriends she's ever had have been guys who lied to her constantly about shit, and hardly ever bothered to be truthful with her. Tell her how you feel, and even if she doesn't feel the same about you at first, she'll appreciate that fact that you're honest with her."

I took a deep breath, letting it out in a long, loud sigh. Sitting around like this, I now felt more than ever like a ridiculous freshman boy who was being coached through his first high school crush by his more 'experienced' friends.

Not knowing what else to say about the situation, we fell into a slightly awkward silence that wasn't broken until a couple of minutes later by the sound of a key sliding into the lock on the front door, accompanied by a pair of female voices.

"Are you serious?" A familiar voice asked.

The voice that replied was just as familiar. "Yeah, seriously." Angie said, giggling softly as she opened the door and lead the way inside.

"Aww, that's so sweet." Vicky, the last member of our band, grinned as she stepped in right behind Angie. "Has he - " Vicky stopped herself short when she and Angie caught sight of the rest of us already seated around the living room. "Oh, having a band meeting without me?" She asked with a sound of fake hurt in her voice.

"No, not a band meeting, per say." Nate spoke up. "But, it is in fact a meeting."

Angie tossed her keys onto the counter and proceeded to unbutton her pea coat. "What sort of meeting?" She asked.

"It's an all guys meeting." Ryland said. "No girls allowed."

Angie rolled her eyes in response, while Vicky shook her head. "Next thing you know, you four will be building a tree fort in that maple tree in front of your building here." She said sarcastically.

"You can count on it." Nate said, keeping a straight face. "We've already got the plans drawn up."

Beside him, Ryland snickered and turn to face him. "Dude, that'd be so cool if we did have a tree fort out front." He said, lowering his voice slightly as if to keep Angie and Vicky from overhearing him.

"Yeah, with like a bar, and a place for our video games." Nate said, his tone just as enthusiastic as Ryland's.

"Oh! And with like a fire pole too!" Ryland added. "And - "

"Oh my gosh," Angie laughed, "you two are seriously the biggest dorks I know." She said, raising an eyebrow in their direction before she turned to Vicky. "How on earth do you put up with these boys out on tour?" She asked.

"Most of the time, I just put my headphones on and think of a happy place." Vicky joked as she took a seat on the other side of Alex.

"Hey," Alex said, speaking up for the first time since their arrival, "how do you two know each other anyway?" He asked, pointing back and forth between them.

Angie crossed the room and took a seat beside me, causing my heart rate to increase ever so slightly. I twitched nervously as three pairs of eyes instantly snapped in my direction, but did my best to maintain my composure as Angie settled herself in.

"We met at the vet's office." Angie replied. "Vicky brought her dog in for a check up, and, somehow she found out my last name was Suarez, and for some reason, she thought that I may have been related to you."

"Yeah, I don't know what it was that made me think that you two were related." Vicky added. "I mean, it's not like you two share any sort of resemblance." She joked.

Alex rolled his eyes, but laughed softly nonetheless. Though there was nothing girly about Alex's looks, and there most definitely wasn't anything manly about Angie's facial structure, it was clearly evident that they were brother and sister.

"So, what are you boys planning for the day?" Angie asked.

"A whole lot of fun stuff." Ryland replied smugly. "That you can't do with us, because you have to go back to work." He teased.

"News flash, smart guy, I only work half days on Monday's."

"Oh, well, damn." Ryland said, looking slightly crestfallen. "Well, actually, we haven't decided yet on what we wanted to go do today. We were going to vote on something, but then we got sidetracked with," he paused momentarily, glancing in my direction for a split second before looking back to Angie, "other things."

"You guys are so lame." Vicky laughed.

At her words, Ryland, Nate, and Alex all started to utter words of protest, which lead to somewhat of an uproar between the four, all of whom stating reasons as to why they were or weren't lame. Beside me, Angie laughed softly and shifted slightly. I watched her out of the corner of my eye, and then felt my body tense involuntarily as she turned her eyes to me.

"Why so quiet over there, Mr. Saporta?" She asked, tilting her head to the side as she awaited my response.

I turned to her, smiling softly. "No reason." I said quietly.

"Gabe, I know that when you four boys get together, that's usually when all hell breaks loose." She grinned slightly before her expression turned a little sad. "Are you okay?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I'm fine. I've just ... had a lot of things on my mind lately." I admitted. "But, I'll be fine."

"Well," Angie paused for a moment, examining my expression as if to check for any signs that told her I was lying to her, "okay then. But if you ever need to talk to someone about anything that's on your mind, remember you can always talk to me." She said softly.

"Alright," I said, giving her a small smile, "thanks."

Angie gave me a little smile and reached over, squeezing my hand gently before she released it and stood up.

"Alright you guys, knock it off." She said, getting everyone's attention. "I'm going to jump in the shower and by the time I get out, you guys should have a plan as to what the hell we're going to do for the rest of the day, capeesh?"

Not waiting for a response, she turned around and disappeared into the hallway, leaving everyone else to get back to their mini argument, while I looked back down to my hand, and couldn't help but wish I had held onto Angie's hand just a little bit longer. I shook my head at the thought of how bad I had it for her, and leaned my head against the back of the couch, trying to think of a way to get over my nerves and tell Angie exactly how I felt.