Midnight Rider

Chapter 15

I woke up Thursday morning determined that I was going to have a good day. My surprise date with Gabriel is tonight and nothing is going to ruin that. I don’t understand why the Rider thinks I shouldn’t be with Gabriel OR Tanner. I want to believe that it’s all just jealously but I have this nagging feeling that he could be right.

I was dealing with scanning my morning patient’s when I saw a familiar name on the list. Imogene, that’s the woman that Vanessa was with last time. I spotted them in the waiting room and brought them back.

While walking around to scan the patient Vanessa asked, “So how are you doing?”

“Oh I’m good”

“No crazy ex again?”

“Thank God no, I’ve started seeing someone else.” I smiled.

“I know,” she wasn’t at all surprised, “my friend told me. He’s got it bad for you. I’ve never seen him like this.”

“Really? He talks about me?”

“All the time.” she winked. I was surprised to hear that. I assumed since he couldn’t tell me who he is that he probably didn’t talk about us/me with other people. I guess he really does care about me. I walked them out and went to help Ciara in the infusion room. Jay called me over when I walked in.

“Angel!” he pointed to a empty chair next to him.

“Hey! How are you doing?” I leaned down and gave him a hug.

“I’m doing good, how’s things going with Gabriel?”

“Oh he’s probably the sweetest guy I’ve ever met. We have a date tonight actually that I’m pretty excited about.”

“He gets that sweetness from me,” he laughed and winked at me.

“Haha I’m sure he does”

“I can tell he really likes you, I’ve never seen him this happy with someone.”

“Aw, I really like him too. I have to go I’ll talk to you later.” Ciara had called me away needing my help.

My phone beeped with a text while I walked over to her.

I can’t wait to see you tonight, I hope you like the surprise!

-I’m very excited! I’ll see you later!

“Why you smiling so big?” Ciara asked.

“Jay was just telling me how he’s never seen Gabriel this happy with a girl before and then he texts me saying how he can’t wait to see me tonight.”

“Do you think you have more feelings for Gabriel than Tanner?”

“I don’t know, it’s hard to describe. I’ve known Tanner for so long that it’s really easy to be around him, where as Gabriel is someone new and I really like that too.”

“So what are you going to wear tonight?”

“Well, I don’t have many nice dresses and I only have a couple like club dresses so Dominque is bringing some over after work for me to try on”. I rushed home after work to shower and fix my hair.

I heard Dominique’s voice from downstairs as the door opened, “Hey I’m here!”

I met her at the top of my stairs, “Oh my gosh! How many did you bring?”

“I don’t know like ten? I figured you’d want options.” She laughed and laid them all on my bed. I tried on a couple but decided to wear a flowy red one and black heels.

“How’s this look? Do you think it’s too much?” I asked spinning in front of my mirror.

“It looks great! I think he’ll love it and no it’s not too much he did say it would be a little dressier.”

“You’re right and I like it, thanks” I hugged her.

“Welcome, ok I’m getting out of here before he comes, have fun!” I walked with her downstairs.

“Dang!! You look great!” Dru yelled from the kitchen.

“This must be some date he’s taking you on” Christian said over his shoulder with his head stuck in the fridge.

“Thanks! It’s another surprise date but he did say it was would a little bit fancier so I hope this is ok.”

“Better to be over dressed than underdressed” Dru answered.

Christian stood up when we heard a knock at the door, “I’ll get it”.

I followed a little behind him. I heard Christian open the door, “Hey man what’s up?”

“Hey Christian I’m here to pick up Angel.” Gabriel answered.

“I’m here, ready to go?” He gave that amazing smile and although he tried to be quick I saw his eyes look me up and down. I waved bye to Dru and Christian and pulled the door closed behind me.

“Well hey good looking! I didn’t think it was possible for you to look any better than you usually do but dang!” Gabriel took my hand and gave me a spin.

“You’re not so bad yourself, you clean up real nice,” I gave him a kiss on the cheek. Now it was my turn to eye him up and down. He was wearing black dress shoes and dress pants with a white button up. He had the first couple of buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up.

He opened the truck door for me. I watched him walk around the truck, I could barely take my eyes off him. I slid over to the middle as he got in. He laid his right arm over my legs as he drove.

“So where are we going?” I asked.

“Well I thought we could have dinner first, I know a little place.” He smiled at me. We drove into town not far from the strip. We pulled up to a old brick building with an empty lot attached. The windows in the front were painted saying “Jay’s Bike Shop”.

“This is your grandpa’s shop? Wait, we’re eating dinner at the shop?” I asked confused. We pulled around the back to park. I could see garage doors in the back of the building. That must be how they get all the bikes in and out.

“Well, yes and no. I currently live in an apartment above the shop. So I cooked us dinner.” He smiled at me and got out and walked around the truck.

“You cooked for me?” I asked as he opened the door.

“Of course…anything for you” he kissed my hand. My heart is swelling the more he talks. He opened a door in the back of the building that lead to a staircase. I followed him up to the apartment. We entered into the open kitchen, dining and living room area. It was clean too, for a guy to be living there. As I walked into the dining room I noticed the table hand lit candles and flowers in a vase.

“This is amazing, you have the best surprises!”

“Well, I knew I had to go above what we did last time.” he pulled out a chair and motioned for me to sit. He poured us both water and reached into the oven and pulled out two plates.

“So what did you make for us?” I asked, “it smells delicious.”

“I made tamales, elote, and rice,” he placed the plates down and sat.

“You made the tamales?”

“Ok I had some help from my mama and my abuela. But I did a lot of it myself.”

I took my first bite, “Mmmmm Gabriel it tastes as good as it smells, you did great. I’ll need to thank your mom and grandma too I guess.”

“Actually we are having a surprise birthday party for my abuelo on Sunday, I was going to ask if you’d like to come. He’d love to have you there.”

“And you? Do you want me there? To meet the rest of your family?”

“I would also love to have you there. Everyone will like you.” He smiled at me. 

“Ok I’ll come. So what’s it like living above the shop?”

“My abuelo and abuela lived here when they first got married. They moved after they started having kids. I moved in whenever I came back to the area. It makes it a lot easier to keep an eye on the shop and run it smoothly.”

“It’s a cute little place, I like it,” I said while looking around. “Do you have a lot of guys that work in the shop? Do they live here too?”

“Oh I’ve got a few guys but no I’m the only one that lives here right now. We have a tradition now of hiring people that couldn’t find work anywhere else….”

“Like with criminal records?”

“…yea so I’ve had a couple live here so they could get enough money to find a place. I’ve got a good group of guys right now. They help out a lot.”

“That’s great to have such good help. Especially since you have to help your family out.” I sat back in my chair, “I’m so stuff I can’t eat another bite.”

He stood and grabbed our plates, “that’s fine because it’s actually time for us to go to the next surprise.” He turned and put them in the sink. My mind drifted to the sight of watching him doing dishes. It’s the little things that can make guys even hotter.

He grabbed my hand and lifted out of my seat. He kissed my hand again and then gave me a small kiss on the lips. “Lead the way, I’m excited,” I followed him back out to the truck. We drove a few streets away to a dance studio.

“Can you guess the surprise yet?” he asked opening the truck door for me.

“Well I guess we’re dancing?”

“It’s a salsa dance class”

“Really?! I’ve always wanted to learn.” He smiled and led us into the studio. There were already several couples milling around and talking.  A woman in a long flowy green dress came into the center of the room.

“Everyone! Welcome to salsa class! My name is Ana and I’m very excited to meet all of you today. Let’s get started, everyone pair up!” she has a very sweet voice.

Gabriel turned me to face him, “I have a small confession to make.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“I already know how to salsa dance a little bit but I thought bringing you to the class would be fun.”

“So you’re going to help teach me?”

“Yea is that ok?”

“It’s like I got my very own Patrick Swayze, what could be better?” I laughed. He smiled down at me. Ana the teacher is an amazing dancer! I kept watching her help people with the steps.

“Ouch..” Gabriel whispered.

“Oh my gosh I’m sorry!” I was stepping to quickly and kept getting his toes.

“It’s ok” he laughed.

Ana made her way around to us, “Honey don’t look down at your feet, head up, look straight up into his eyes.” She placed her hand on my back and rolled my shoulders back. “You’re doing great,” she encouraged, “young man have you danced before?”

Gabriel blushed, “Well uh I know a little because my grandma likes to dance.”

I smiled. Imagining him dancing with his grandma is the sweetest thing. Ana completed us again and moved on to the next couple. I felt like I was just starting to get it when Ana addressed the class again. “Well everyone that’s enough for tonight’s class! You all did so great! I’ll see you next time!”

“Would you wanna come back again?” Gabriel asked opening the door for me as we left.

“Yes! That was so much fun, I feel like I was just getting the steps.”

“You were doing good, we can definitely come back,” he put his arm around me as we walked back to the truck. I leaned into his arm we walked. He let me into the truck first and I slid over to the middle. After he shut the door I grabbed him and kissed him hard. I think he was a little taken aback at first but then wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly.

“What was that for? Not that I’m complaining,” he asked.

“I just really like you Gabriel. You put a lot of thought into our dates and you do a lot of little things that make a big difference to me. Thank you.”

“Oh well you deserve it, that’s how you’re supposed to treat someone that’s special to you.” He draped his right arm over my legs. His thumb traced little circles on my leg was I held onto his arm during the drive back to my house. My heart was swelling at his words. We pulled into the driveway and he opened the door for me.

“So I’ll see you on Sunday?” I asked wrapping my arms around his neck.

He leaned down and kissed me, “Absolutely, I’ll come by at five.”

“I can’t wait,” I smiled.

“Me either,” he kissed me again, “Goodnight Angel, I’ll text you.”

“Ok, good night” I turned and walked inside. I heard his truck leaving as I walked up the stairs. I changed clothes and went into the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth. As I was drifting off to sleep I could hear a motorcycle passing by outside.