Love Is a ***

Sitting on the couch, I tapped my high heeled shoes impatiently. I’d rushed home from the salon, showered and dressed in my favorite black leather skirt and a silk purple blouse, completed my hair and make-up, and still- no text from Jinxx telling me what time I was supposed to meet Andy at Fiesta. I looked at my iPhone once again, rubbing my thumb over the Avenged Sevenfold case and then heard footsteps in the hallway as I text Jinxx again. Jinxx, what time am I suppose to be meeting Andy? You better not be ignoring me!

Finally, my phone buzzed. Sorry, we got sidetracked…

I ground my teeth at the ‘we’ in his message. Who, you and your GIRLFRIEND?! And you still didn’t tell me what time I’m supposed to meet Andy!

He text back quickly. Yes, Sammi and I… You’re supposed to meet him there in five minutes.

I looked to the clock that read five minutes to 7 o’ clock and text him back. Thanks Jinxx, I’m going to be five minutes late to meet him dammit!/i I got off the couch and hurried out of the room towards the front door, almost running into my twin brother.

“Where are you rushing off to, big sister?” Angel asked.

“I have a date with Andy and Jinxx waited until the last minute to tell me what time I was supposed to be there!” I said breathlessly.

Angel chuckled. “You mean your boyfriend on the side is making you late for a date with your real boyfriend? Imagine that,” he mused, rolling his different colored eyes.

I glared at him. “Oh, you are just so fucking hilarious, brother,” I commented, reaching for the front door. “Jayy told me you said something about those two and me.”

Angel expression changed instantly. “You saw Jayy today?” he asked, his voice low and husky.

“Uh, yeah, he came to talk to Dahvie about something today. He seemed upset, though. Are you two fighting?”

I often worried about Angel, especially lately. He seemed to be losing weight, and often looked exhausted. I’d been pinning the blame on his skyrocketing modeling career, but I was beginning to wonder. “Oh no, umm… we’ll talk about it after your dinner date, okay?” he said uncertainly, and then pulled me into a tight hug. “I love you, Anabel.”

Surprised, I looked up into his eyes, one grey like mine, and one a beautiful sapphire blue. “I love you too, brother. Is something wrong? I can stay, if you need me to,” I told him, sure the worry in my voice was clear.

He shook his head. “No, go have fun, this can wait until you have your fun,” he stated, pulling the door open and pushing me out.

“But… Angel,” I whined as I stepped outside.

“It can wait, I promise,” he said reassuringly. “Have fun with Andy.”

“If you insist,” I said quietly, although I was still a tangled mess of worry inside. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, glad I wasn’t wearing that horrid pink lipstick that probably still stained Dahvie’s cheek.

“Oh, and Anabel?” he called, and I turned to look at him. “You’d better make your mind up between those two, before you are forced to live with neither of them.”

I looked at him, my expression probably showed how torn I was. “Angel… I just… I don’t want to let go of either of them,” I confessed to him.

Angel looked at me. "You can't keep both of them, Ana. Anyways go have fun; I'll see you when you get back."

I arrived at Fiesta exactly seven minutes late, and by then, I could no longer contain my anger towards Jinxx. "I'm so sorry, Andy! Jinxx didn't tell me what time to meet you until it was already 7!"

He grinned, taking in my outfit appreciatively. "Damn, you look sexy, Anabel," he said huskily.

I shivered at the sensual touch of his lips on mine. It was a good sign that he was still giving me butterflies. "Now, what were you saying about Jinxx? I was too busy checking you out to comprehend what you were saying."

I shook my head. "Jinxx didn't tell me what time to meet you. I'm so sorry I'm late, love," I replied as he pulled a chair out for me.

"Jinxx didn't tell you when he saw you at the salon?" he asked, pushing the seat in and sat himself.

"Yeah, he got sidetracked when his girlfriend came in," I explained and fiddled with the utensils.

He grinned. "So you got to meet Sammi Doll, did you?" he laughed softly as a waitress came to the table.

I looked to the waitress instead of stating the obvious that I had. "Welcome to Fiesta, may I get you something to drink?" the tall, dark haired woman asked.

I nodded. "Yes, I’d like a coke," I turned to Andy. "Do you want something to drink, babe?"

He nodded. "Yeah, Jack on the rocks please," he stated and the waitress left to go get our drinks.

I turned back to Andy. "Jack? I suppose I'm driving tonight?" I giggled, raising an eyebrow at his drinking choice.

He shrugged. "Only if we want to drive somewhere," he said, his right foot, tracing up the inside of my leg.

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Andy. "Footsie? Really?"

He wiggled his eyebrows back at me. "You know you can't resist me, Anabel."

Nor can I resist Jinxx, I thought to myself, and then laughed to hide my thoughts. Running a foot up his leg and to the center of his jeans, I pressed softly, and smirked at his startled expression. "I'm sure I can resist dear Andy, but can you resist your lover?"

"Anabel, you are so naughty," he said.

"Ahem." The sound of a throat being cleared brought us out of our flirtatious activities. We looked up sheepishly to see that our waitress had returned and was looking rather bored, although when she handed Andy his drink, she made sure to smile at him. I, on the other hand, had my coke thumped down in front of me without so much as a glance.

"Well apparently I can't take you anywhere without you getting flirted with, can I?" I asked lightly, taking a small sip of my coke as he took a drink of his Jack.

I grinned. "They mean nothing compared to you, baby. You are the only one for me," he stated, leaning forward to kiss me and then we looked through the menus.

The waitress returned a moment after we'd made our selections, and I sighed, somewhat familiar with how this was going to play out. "What can I get for you, sweetie?" she asked Andy.

I watched as she stood incredibly close to him, her hip almost brushing his arm. "Excuse me," he said. "But do you have a problem with your eyesight?"

I nearly choked on my coke. She looked at him confusedly. "No, why?"

"Because it seems you haven't realized that I'm sharing this table with my gorgeous girlfriend."

The waitress glanced at me, sizing me up quickly. "No, I saw her."

"Well then how about you quit trying to flirt with me, and have a little respect for her before she punches you in the face? My little Anabel has quite the temper, don't you baby?" he said with a grin.

I smiled sweetly. "That I do, lover."

The waitress turned red and I could've sworn there was steam coming from her ears. "I'll be right back," she said quickly.

"Take your time," Andy called after her.

"Where do you think she's going?" I asked.

"Beats me," he said with an uninterested shrug.

The two of us sat there quietly for five minutes before a big man in a suit that was two sizes too small approached our table. "How are you two doing this evening?" he asked, breathing heavily.

Andy and I shared a look before answering. "Fine," Andy said.

"The name's Frank," he said introducing himself. "I'm the manager here at Fiesta. I understand you're having a problem with the waitress serving you?"

Andy looked at me, then back at Frank. "No, sir. No problem here."

I glared at him, but he dismissed it. Frank didn't notice. "Well, I came to ask you because she's requested to have another waitress serve you tonight. So there must be something going on," Frank said.

Andy gave a small chuckle. "Oh, that! That was just a small misunderstanding. She was ignoring my girlfriend here and I just set her straight on the matter. I'd like her to continue serving us, if that's alright with you?"

Frank nodded. "I see. Thank you for your time, sir," he said, then shook Andy's hand and left us to ourselves.

"Why did you do that?" I hissed.

"Anabel, relax! I'm doing it to make her feel like shit. She'll have to keep serving us and she'll have to force herself to be nice to you for the remainder of our meal here. Switching our waitress would be letting her off too easily for my taste," Andy explained.

“I’d rather leave than look at her the entire time,” I said sourly. I didn’t try to hide the unhappy expression on my face as I felt the presence of the waitress yet again.

Her face was still red and she fidgeted nervously as she stood near the table, but as far away from Andy and me as she could get. “I’m Melinda,” she said quickly, “and I’ll be your server tonight. What can I get for you guys?”

Her mood had notably improved and I raised my eyebrows as Andy said, “Anabel, why don’t you order first?”

I nodded and placed my order for their seafood enchilada; Andy ordered steak fajitas. Melinda wrote our orders down and recited them to us perfectly, then promised to return with fresh chips and salsa. Andy had the balls to request queso just as she was ready to walk away.

“So what are our plans after this?” I asked.

“Maybe that’s for me to know and you to find out,” he said teasingly as he reached across the table and took my hand.

“Oh, you know I hate surprises, Andy!” I said with a frown. This was typical of him on a date, though he knew I had no patience for surprises.

He grinned and placed a finger on each side of my face, pulling my mouth up and into a smile. “Don’t frown, baby. You’re going to love it, I promise.”

I felt my heart melt as I looked into his sparkling blue eyes. He was right- I did always love his surprises. “I know I will, Andy,” I said with a genuine smile. He took his fingers away from my face.

“That’s my girl,” he said happily.

The waitress brought out our chips and salsa, along with fresh drinks. Andy made funny faces behind her back, and I was having a fit of giggles as she walked away with a funny look on her face, not quite sure what I was laughing at.

“Andy!” I laughed, swatting at him. “She thinks I’m laughing at her!”

He shrugged, and then took a sip of my coke. “Oh, come on Anabel, she deserves to be tortured a little- look how she treated you earlier.”

I swirled my straw around, making the ice in my glass clink together. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. You made me forget about it when you said you had a surprise for me.”

I watched as he took a chip and scooped up a ton of salsa with it. He quickly shoved the whole thing into his mouth, and chewed it up. His eyes watered slightly. “Whew, that salsa is pretty spicy!” he said with a small cough.

I pushed my coke towards him at the same time he reached for it, his hand colliding with the glass and knocking it to the tiled floor. “Oh, shit!” he exclaimed loudly.

Melinda came rushing to the table quickly, shooing Andy out of the way as he stood to clean up the mess. “Please, allow me to get that, sir,” she said, then grabbed a nearby broom and swept the glass into the dustpan carefully. A busboy brought over a mop, but Melinda stopped him.

“Would you two follow me, please?”

Andy and I exchanged puzzled looks, and then stood. He placed a hand at my waist and guided me around the wet tile, then held my hand as we followed the waitress. She led us to a quiet corner booth; it was dimly lit and slightly fancier than the booth we’d been sitting in previously. A single candle flickered in the middle of the table.

I smiled, wondering if this was one of Andy’s surprises. “Did you do this?” I asked.

“Surprisingly… no. Although, I must say I wish I’d thought of it,” he said honestly.

My response was interrupted by yet another person approaching us. This time, it was a man, and he was carrying a bouquet of flowers. “Anabel Hunter?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s me,” I said, glancing at Andy quickly. He shrugged, and looked as confused as I felt.

He plucked a small envelope from the flowers, then handed them both to me, and left as quickly as he’d come.

I handed the flowers over to Andy while I opened the card. As I looked at the name on the card, I felt myself go pale. Anabel, Enjoy your evening with Andy. I apologize for making you late. -Jinxx.

“Are you alright, Ana?” Andy asked.

“What? Oh, yes. I’m fine. They’re from Jinxx, an apology for making me late,” I told him, sliding the card back into its envelope.

Andy sat the flowers next to him on the seat. “Now, see? He didn’t mean it,” he said happily.

I didn’t reply, and was thankful for the interruption that the sizzling of our approaching food provided.

Our plates were put down in front of us, along with fresh drinks, and we dug in. I moaned as a piece of spicy shrimp seemed to melt in my mouth. “We have got to come here more often!” I said as I savored the exquisite food.

“You think so? It’s my first time here too,” Andy said. “Actually, Jinxx was the one who suggested we come here; he said it was his and Sammi’s favorite place to eat.”

I struggled not to growl; instead, I took another bite of my food so I wouldn’t have to reply. Those two were everywhere, it seemed.

The rest of the meal was silent, except for the scraping of our forks on the plates. I gave up after polishing off my enchilada, and settled in to watch Andy scarf down everything on his plate.

Finally, he put down his fork and sat back, rubbing his stomach. “Damn, that was good,” he said in satisfaction.

“It must’ve been,” I teased. “You devoured everything but the plate.”

Andy grinned. “So, are you ready for our next adventure?”