Gabriel

GAbrIEL

I don’t take risks. Never have. It’s not in my nature.

Instead, I plan. I set myself goals and create to-do lists to accomplish said goals. I explore options and have backup plans. I prepare for worst-case scenarios and consider alternate routes and options.

It’s what I do.

Josh has always been the exception.

He ruins plans. He arrives on the scene, fireworks and bright colors paired with an attitude. He’s loud and opinionated. He picks holes in my ideas and plans and to-do lists.

We argue.

We fight.

We bicker.

We quarrel.

And my mother is right—there’s not a single boring moment with Josh.

He keeps me guessing and keeps me on my toes.

He challenges me.

He brings the fireworks and colors.

He has ever since I met him.

And I’m going to keep him and everything that comes with him. The arguments and opinions and fireworks.

“Now what?” Josh asks.

He looks disheveled and thoroughly kissed. A job well done, if you ask me, and I’m taking full credit.

I grin.

“See, this is why you should always have a plan.”

“You have a plan?”

“I always have a plan.”

“Yeah, you are weird like that.” He says it lightly though. “So? What’s this plan of yours?”

I slide my palm around to the side of his neck, and he leans into the touch immediately. I lower my head, lips almost against his.

“How about we start with a date?”

He lets out a shaky breath, and his eyes meet mine, huge and filled with want. He licks his lips.

“Are you asking me out?” He sounds both vaguely hopeful and pleased, which is not a combination Josh usually goes for.

“I’d say so.”

He studies me some more, still with wide eyes and even more hope. “That does sound like a plan.”

“It’s weird when you don’t argue.”

He snorts. “Do you want me to?”

I shrug. “I’d expect you to.”

He hums thoughtfully. “A date sounds like a good idea.” He aims a grin my way when I quirk my brow at him.

“I have to keep you on your toes,” he says. He fidgets a bit and looks down for a flash, then up again, a smile on his face. “After the holidays? I don’t have much of anything planned, to be honest.”

“I was thinking more like right now.”

He blinks. “But…” And then he seems to run out of words.

“But?”

“But…” He waves his arm around for a bit. “But Christmas. You have that whole thing with your family. You want to be there. I know you do.”

I tilt my head to the side. “Would you come with me if I asked?”

He blinks some more. “To Vermont?”

“Home, yes.”

He doesn’t say anything, and eventually I have to laugh at his puzzled expression. It’s not often Josh is caught off guard.

“You’ve been there before, remember? Somehow.” I drag my hand through my hair. I don’t know how, and I don’t think concentrating too hard on it will really help. It’ll just make me doubt whether my mental faculties are all there.

“I… It’s different this time,” he says slowly.

“This time it’d be real?” I take a guess.

He blows out a breath and nods. “And if it’s real… If it’s real, I think we should maybe give it some time first. Get that date out of the way and see what happens. I mean, we might still kill each other, and then that shared history might make things super awkward in the courtroom.”

“Why do you think I would end up dead and not you?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’m scrappy, in great shape, and I fight dirty. It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion.”

“And I don’t fight dirty?”

“Please. You’re all about honor, and you know it.”

I let my eyes wander up and down him.

“I don’t feel very honorable right now.”

Josh’s cheeks flush, his eyes get heavy-lidded, and he slowly licks his lips again. “Good to know.”

“So. A date. Today.”

He rolls his eyes. “Gabe, it’s the holidays. Go home. I can wait.”

I stare at him for too long. Long enough that he waves his hand in front of my face.

“What is it?” he asks.

“You called me Gabe.”

He frowns. “Oh. Sorry. It just slipped out.”

“No, I… I don’t mind. I kind of like it, actually.”

His smile is wide and pleased. “Yeah?”

Listen, I love my family, but there is no world in which I’m going to Vermont right now. Instead, I pull Josh against me and press another kiss to his lips.

“Tonight,” I say when I step away.

He swallows hard, then grins. “Tonight.”