Brotherly Love By Rosi

Antonio waited impatiently for Gabi. The Java web was full of people and he was starting to think it may have been a bad idea to ask her to meet him there. He knew that what he was going to say to her needed to be said in private. He hoped she would agree with him, but he had no way of knowing. Ever since they had slept together everything had been awkward between the two of them.

“Antonio,” Gabi said, sitting down across from him. He smiled.

“Hello Gabi,”

“Why did you want to see me?” She asked.

He reached over and took her hand. He looked at her meaningfully. He braced himself, hoping her reaction to what he was about to say would be positive. “I’ve been thinking...,” He started.

“And?”

“Gabi! Antonio!” They looked up to see Maria. She pulled a chair up from the neighboring table and sat down. She called over a waiter. “Coffee, black,” Then said, “I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” She gave her brother a hug.

“Actually,” He said, but changed his mind. “No, not at all,”

“Good, well I can’t stay long. I’m on the way to see momma but I saw you two sitting here and thought I’d come over for a few minutes,” The waiter came back with her coffee.

“That was nice of you,” Gabi smiled warmly. She was always glad to see Maria, but she couldn’t help but wonder what Antonio had wanted to talk to her about. She looked over at him and saw that he seemed to be deep in thought. His eyes drifted absently around the room.

“So, what are the two of you doing here anyway?” Maria asked.

Antonio looked up. Talking,” He said solemnly.

“I see,” Maria said. She laughed. “What’s on your mind little brother?”

“A lot Maria. The last few weeks have been pretty hard,”

“Well..if you ever want to talk,”

“I’ll call you,”

“Yeah. Well, I’ve got to go. You two have a good afternoon. I’ll call you later Antonio,” She gave him a kiss on the cheek and threw down two dollars for the coffee. She waved bye to Gabi and hurried out.

“As I was saying...,” Antonio started. “I’ve been thinking,”

Gabi nodded.

“About us,” He said. She looked questioningly at him.

“And?”

“I’ve come to a decision Gabi,” He said.

“You have?”

“Yes,”

“Gab!” They both looked up to see Ricardo hurrying over to them.

“Wow, I guess the whole family is around today,” Antonio said, beginning to think they would never get a moment alone. Ricardo leaned down and kissed Gabi. She pushed him gently away, not wanting to hurt Antonio, who couldn’t help but smile when he saw this. Ricardo momentarily looked offended, but it quickly passed and he sat down.

“How’s it going T?” He asked. He put his arm around Gabi.

“Alright,” Antonio lied. He really wished Ricardo would just leave. Everyone kept interrupting him, and he needed to say what he was going to say, before he lost his confidence.

“I was wondering, do you guys want to grab some dinner later? Maybe pick up Maria, and momma, and we can all go out? Now that momma has realized their's no other man in Gabi’s life, I’m sure she’d agree to come,” Ricardo said.

Gabi looked down. Antonio’s guilt from the cave-in returned. But, despite this, he said, “Sure Ricardo, that sounds great,”

“Good. Well I’ve got to go to the station for a while, so why don’t we all meet back at my house in an hour?”

“Sure,” Gabi said. He bent down and kissed her, and hugged Antonio.

“See you guys later,” He left.

“Listen Gabi, why don’t we go somewhere else, where there aren’t so many people, or I’m afraid I’ll never be able to say this,”

“Yeah, okay,” They stood, and headed out the door. Antonio drove to the beach. It was getting darker and he guessed not many people would be there. He was wrong, but they were able to find a secluded spot under a tree. He spread out a sweatshirt he had had in his car trunk, and they sat down on it.

“Gabi, I think we should tell Ricardo the truth,” he said. Something he had said many times before, but it had different meaning this time.

“But Antonio, I thought we agreed not to tell him?”

“We did. But, I’ve changed my mind,”

“Why?”

“Because, ever since the cave-in, I’ve been trying to ignore the intensified feelings I’ve been having for you...,”

“And?”

“And, I haven’t been successful,”

“What are you saying Antonio?”

“I can’t ignore these feelings I have for you any longer, Gabi...,” he paused, “and I don’t want to,”

Chapter 2

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