Breaking Hearts and Breaking Bones Has Never Been So Romantic

Pacing around the employee locker room, I attempted to scan through the mental checklist in my mind, going over things one last time before I marched into my boss' office and requested as much time off from work as was possible for me. Last night I had recited my speech over and over in my room - quietly might I add, so neither Gabe nor Alex would hear me - and it had sounded pretty much flawless to me then. But now that it was time for me to put it to the test, all my prewritten words has seemed to abandon me, and I was left struggling to string together even a simple sentence.

Not once during all this time I had been working at the Animal Hospital did I ask to take a day off of work, and now here I was, asking for a two and a half month maximum vacation. What on earth would my boss have to say about that?

I shook my head. "This is going to be a disaster," I muttered to myself.

Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly, and shakily. Turning from the dark, metal lockers in front of me, I glanced up at the clock and saw that there were only thirty minutes left of the work day.

"Well, it's now or never." I sighed. "Might as well get it over with."

Trying my best to gather what little courage - and not to mention optimism - I let myself out of the locker room, making my way to my boss' office. The walk itself seemed to take an eternity while I was actually walking, but as soon as I came to a stop in front of the door, it suddenly occurred to me that the walk wasn't nearly long enough.

Biting my lip, I raised my arm and knocked on the door softly.

"Come in." Came the response in a quiet voice.

I quickly obliged and opened the door to see my boss, Jeremy McLowel sitting behind his desk. He glanced up over the top of his bifocals, eyeing me momentarily before he looked back to whatever document he was working on before I had knocked.

"What can I do for you, Angela?" He asked politely as he clicked out of my program and turned to face me, giving me his full attention.

"I ... er ... " I trailed off, my words sitting on the tip of my tongue, piled high and messy like a derailed train.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow slightly and inclined his head toward me a little as if he hoped it would help him hear the words I hadn't uttered yet.

"I was hoping to take some vacation days." I said quietly.

"Have you turned in a vacation request form?" He questioned.

I nodded my head slowly and pulled an envelope out of the front pocket of my scrub shirt.

"Excellent, I'll take it and approve it for - "

"It's not finished yet, though." I blushed. "I was actually waiting to discuss with you just how long I might be able to take off?"

Jeremy studied me for a few seconds before he leaned back in his chair. "You're wondering how much vacation time you've saved up so far?"

I nodded my head once again.

"Before I look it up, how many days did you have in mind to take off?" He asked curiously as he reached over and maneuvered his mouse around the screen.

"Well ... " I trailed off, feeling foolish to tell him that I truly wished to have two and a half months leave.

Seeing my hesitation, Jeremy smiled at me. "Angie," he grinned, reminding me that he wasn't actually all that much older than me - just three years, "why are you suddenly so shy to tell me what's on your mind?" He asked. "Usually you voice your opinions around here, not caring who hears you and who you offend. Go ahead and tell me and I'll see what I can do for you."

I frowned slightly and then let out a long sigh. "Two and a half months."

Jeremy let out a low whistle. "A special occasion?"

"Well," I paused and then finally decided to come clean with the truth, "my boyfriend is in a band, and he asked me to go with them for their tour around the country." I watched Jeremy's expression carefully, trying my hardest to decipher any movement in his facial muscles. When he didn't answer right away, I hastily added, "but of course, I don't need to be there the entire tour ... just, as long as you are able to spare me around here."

"Two and a half months is a long time, Angela," Jeremy said, returning back to his business like state.

"Yeah, I know." I frowned.

"But," he added, his eyes lighting up slightly as he leaned in closer to me, "if I recall correctly, you haven't taken a single day off of work since you started, have you?"

"There have been days when I went home sick, though." I admitted.

"Still, you willed yourself out of bed in the morning nonetheless." He smiled. "Go ahead and fill out the rest of your request, Angie, and give it to me. I think you're long overdue for a vacation."

"Seriously?" I asked.

Jeremy laughed and nodded his head. "Seriously." He replied.

"Just like that? You'll approve my request?" I questioned, my grip tightening on the envelope that was still in my hand.

"Just like that, Angie." He chuckled. "Just fill in the dates, and hand it over."

Quickly, as if I feared he would suddenly change his mind, I took the paperwork out of the envelope and scribbled in the starting and ending dates of my vacation request. Once it was done, I handed the paperwork over to him, along with the envelope.

Giving me a quick smile, he reached into his desk and pulled out a stamp. Checking to make sure he had the right one, he took the cover off and stamped it onto the top corner of the papers. When he pulled the stamp away, there was a bright red 'approved' sign decorating the page. He put the stamp away, and then took up a pen to quickly sign his initials by the stamp to verify that he was in fact the one who had approved my vacation.

"There you are, Angie." He said, taking the papers to file them away into my personal file. "Two more weeks here, and then you'll be off for two and a half months." He winked.

"Thank you so much, Jeremy." I gushed, unable to contain the happiness and relief that had suddenly washed over me. "This really means a lot to me."

"Of course, Angie." He smiled.

With that, I stood to my feet, stuttered over a few more words of thanks, and left the office. The last few minutes of work seemed to fly by as I was caught up in my own little bubble that was filled to the breaking point with the feeling of excitement and, well for a lack of a better word, awesomeness. I was amongst the first to have finished up seeing to the animals under my care, and I was out the door at exactly 5 o'clock.

Of course, as soon as I left the parking lot of the Clinic, I was caught up in rush hour traffic, but today I didn't seem to mind it at all. Carefree of anything around me, I turned up the stereo and rolled my windows down, not giving a damn about the looks that people in the surround cars gave me.

This is something I was picking up from Gabe - not caring about what others thought. Gabe is a smart guy, and he carefully plans out all of his decisions. However, he - unlike many people - plan things out in a way that would benefit himself. I'm not saying that he's a narcissistic bastard, because he's not. He simply does things that makes him happy, things that he thinks is right, regardless of what other people, who may not know him all too well, would think about it.

He didn't worry about hurting people's feelings - he made that point obvious when he told off one of his fans, and put her in her place the other day outside of the label's office - and this habit of his was starting to rub off on me ever so slightly. Just slightly.

I came home to find the apartment dark and quiet. Sighing, I hung my keys up onto the key rack that my brother had cleverly made one day, and then took my coat off. I hung out in the living room just long enough to hang my sweater up in the closet, and then made my way down the hallway toward the bathroom.

The sound of soft, quiet singing made me stop short, though, next to Gabe's room. The door was closed, but not entirely shut, and it swung open easily and noiselessly when I pushed on it. I saw Gabe sitting on his bed, his back toward me as he looked out his window, singing an unknown tune to himself.

I smiled to myself and tiptoed across the room, and climbed up on the opposite side of the bed. Gabe felt the bed shift and he turned around, but barely had time to lock his eyes with mine before I pressed my lips to his, catching him in a hard kiss.

After about a minute or so, once the kiss was beginning to get more than just a little heated, he pulled away from my a little, mumbling some words in Spanish under his breath and then wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me onto his lap.

"I missed you today," he mumbled before he kissed my forehead. Then, without waiting for a reply, he leaned down, catching me in another passionate kiss.

I tilted my head up toward him and brought my hand up, letting my fingers tangle in his thick hair. Slowly, Gabe removed one of his arms from my waist, his hand trailing down my thigh before sliding it back up and underneath the bottom of my shirt.

Then, he ceased his actions - much to my disappointment - and then pulled away from me to look down at my shirt.

"You wore your scrubs home?" He asked quizzically.

"What?" I asked, giving him a funny look before I looked down to my shirt as well. "Oh," I laughed when I saw that I did indeed still have my scrubs on, "I guess I just got so excited today that I didn't even remember to take them off and leave them at work."

Gabe raised an eyebrow at me as he looked up at me. "Excited?"

I smiled widely and nodded my head. "My boss approved my vacation." I said.

"Really?" Gabe asked, his eyes lighting up. "How long are you going to be out on the road with us?"

"The entire tour?" I grinned.

"Shit, babe, are you serious?" He asked.

"Yup, 100% serious." I laughed.

"Damn, Angie, you didn't have to 'convince' or 'encourage' him in anyway, did you?" Gabe teased.

"Gabriel!" I gasped, hitting his arm. "You know I don't do those sorts of things, you pervert."

"Don't do them with your boss?" He grinned. "Or don't do those sorts of things at all? I seriously hope it's just with your boss, Angie, otherwise ... " He trailed off, laughing at the look on my face.

"Gabe, I don't do those sorts of things," I paused as he raised his eyebrows at me, "with my boss." I finished. "But, if you keep on teasing me, I won't do those sorts of things with you either." I threatened.

"Alright, alright," Gabe grinned, "I promise that from now on I'll be on my best behavior."

I rolled my eyes at him before I wrapped both arms around his shoulders. "Let's go out to dinner tonight." I muttered.

"Dinner?"

I nodded my head. "Dinner. Just me and you. And then afterward we can wander around the city and stay out late into the night." I said. "I want you all to myself tonight." I added quietly.

"You know I have no problem whatsoever with that, babe." He whispered, kissing my lips lightly.

As he pulled away from me, I let out a soft sigh. I honestly did want Gabe all to myself; not just for tonight, but all the time. However, if I wanted our relationship to last, I was going to have to share him with their screaming fans that lived across the country, and learn to keep my composure around the thousands of groupies that would be throwing themselves at him during this upcoming tour.