No Rulebook for Flirting Page 4

He kissed Aitor sweetly when they got to the door.

  “Thank you.”

  “She’s a sweet girl.”

  “Yes, she is.”

  “Now, this afternoon. Can I kiss you in front of her? Or is that completely out of the question?”

  “Not like you did last night, you can’t.” Gabriel laughed. “But I don’t think I’d enjoy having you within arms’ reach and not touching you.”

  Aitor’s smile softened, his eyes trained on Gabriel’s and echoed his words from yesterday. “I’ll make a note of that.” He caressed Gabriel’s cheek, and he melted a bit right there. “Give me your phone number and I’ll let you know when I’m coming to pick you up.”

  After they exchanged numbers and a few more kisses, Aitor left with the promise of returning soon.

  Gabriel went back inside, fully expecting both Clara and Judith to interrogate him.

  * * * *

  Gabriel gave the women in his living room an edited version about he and Aitor meeting at the convention and clicking while playing board games and chatting. He, of course, left out that part about the kiss in the bathroom and the amazing sex they’d had last night, though they would have likely already guessed about the sex part, if not the amazing bit.

  Clara left for work after finishing her coffee and telling her daughter to behave. Gabriel walked her to the door, where she kissed him on the cheek.

  “I can’t believe you’re still wearing that shirt.”

  “I love this shirt!” He didn’t tell her about how he was pretty sure it played a big part in him getting to know Aitor. “But I think I still have my old rainbow one around here somewhere, if you’d rather I wore that instead.”

  “I told you to get rid of that one!”

  “I’m not your daughter, and I don’t have to listen to you.” He crossed his arms and resisted the urge to stick out his tongue at her.

  “Speaking of daughters, take care of her today, will you?”

  “You know I always do.” She was worrying him. “Has something happened?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing. But I think she has a crush on a boy and I’m worried about her getting hurt.”

  Every protective instinct Gabriel had rose to the surface. “If any boy ever hurts her, just send them to me.”

  She laughed and patted his arm. “I’m sure it’s nothing. But I’m her mother, it’s my job to worry about her.”

  “Well, you don’t need to worry about her today. We’ll stick in a movie or something until Aitor comes, and then we’ll have an afternoon and evening of gaming. I’m sure she’ll manage to beat us more than once.”

  She smiled. “Drop her home once you’re done? We should be back by nine.”

  “I will.”

  “And have fun yourself!” With that, she left.

  Gabriel went back to his niece, who was still playing with her phone. “Break your record yet?”

  She showed him the screen. “I’m stuck in this level, and I’ve run out of bonus. Can you help?”

  Gabriel wondered what it would feel like being young again and having his biggest worry be a Candy Crush level he couldn’t beat. He couldn’t imagine it. “Sorry, poppet. My fingers are too big for those games. Maybe you could ask Aitor later since he’s got small hands.”

  Skilled hands. But he couldn’t tell Judith that; he shouldn’t even be thinking it.

  He looked around for a distraction. “Okay! Should we watch a movie? I finally got Finding Dory and I haven’t seen it yet.”

  “‘All right,” she spoke as if doing him a favor. God, teenagers were weird. “Isn’t your boyfriend coming to pick us up?”

  “I told you, he’s not my boyfriend.” Yet, Gabriel thought. They would definitely have that conversation soon. “It’ll probably take him a while, and he’ll call when he’s on his way. So, movie?”

  “Okay.” She moved from the armchair to the couch in front of the TV, abandoning her phone. More than everything, that surprised Gabriel, since she was usually glued to it. He remembered Clara’s words about a crush and vowed to keep Judith happy and distracted for the day. “Shall I make some popcorn?”

  “I’m not supposed to have any.”

  “I won’t tell if you don’t,” he said, winking.

  “Then can we please have the buttery ones?”

  “You got it.”

  While the popcorn cooked, Gabriel got the movie ready and took out a small blanket they could throw over their legs while watching, tossing it over Judith’s head and laughing when he got an indignant “hey!” in response.

  They enjoyed the movie, which Judith declared to be better than Finding Nemo, and demolished the popcorn. Just as the credits started rolling, Gabriel’s phone beeped with a new message.

  Aitor: I’m on your street. Come down?

  Gabriel turned off the TV, and he and Judith left the flat, talking about all the games she wanted to try that afternoon.

  Chapter 8

  Aitor

  Aitor waited in his car for Gabriel and his niece to come down. He knew it was stupid, but he was nervous about spending the afternoon and evening with them. Even though they’d known each other for only two days, he really liked Gabriel, and he knew enough about him to realize that if Judith didn’t like him, they would be done before having really started.

  They both got into the car, smiling, and Aitor gave Gabriel a quick kiss. When he checked the rearview mirror, Judith was making a big show of looking at her phone, but she was still smiling.

  “You taste like popcorn,” he whispered to Gabriel before starting the car and pulling away from the curb.

  “We had some while watching a movie.” He didn’t bother keeping his voice down.

  “What did you watch?”

  He hadn’t expected Judith to answer, but she was the one to speak up. “Uncle Gabri insisted on watching Finding Dory.”

  “Uncle Gabri insisted, eh?” While waiting for a green light, he made sure Gabriel saw his smirk.

  “Shut up,” he said between his teeth.

  “Don’t you like Disney movies?” Judith asked. Aitor dared to glance at her, and she looked as if her full appreciation of him depended on his answer.

  “I do, very much. And baby Dory is super cute!” He was a bit jealous of Gabriel, being able to take Judith to the cinema and see all those movies. He always felt weird going to see a Disney movie on his own.

  “She is! I almost cried when she was asking for help because she was lost. It was so sad.”

  Aitor nodded, and saw Gabriel’s smile from the corner of his eye.

  While Gabriel and Judith discussed the movie, with Aitor making small remarks here and there, he kept driving, then parked right next to Gabriel’s car when they reached the convention center.

  Judith left the car first. Once she’d closed the door, Gabriel kissed him, more deeply than he’d had before, murmuring “thank you” when they separated.

  Aitor smiled at him and squeezed his hand before joining Judith outside the car.

  “Okay, poppet, we need to get you a tag and ID.” They went inside together and Gabriel swore softly when they saw Raúl at the table in charge of the entrances.

  Aitor put his hand on the small of Gabriel’s back. “Go look for a table. We’ll take care of the ID.” He looked at Judith. “We’ll be fine, won’t we?”

  She probably had no idea what had upset her uncle, but she was smart and adapted quickly. “Of course, we will. You can even get a game of Settlers of Catan ready while we’re here.”

  Aitor laughed at Gabriel’s groan. “Go on. The sooner we play that one, the sooner we can try something else.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll see you both inside.”

  Aitor and Judith approached Raúl at the table. Despite their previous encounters, Aitor hoped the man would behave himself in front of the teenager.

  “Oh, it’s you again? What do you need?”

  “We need a tag and ID for her.”

  “You do know today’s th
e last day of the convention, don’t you?”

  “Yes. That doesn’t mean someone new can’t come in and play for the afternoon.”

  Raúl sighed. “Is she going to be with you two all the time?”

  “Yes.” Aitor approached Raúl and spoke low enough that Judith wouldn’t hear. “Is that a problem?”

  Raúl’s eyes got wider, and he swallowed. “Of course, it isn’t.” He made a show of checking something on the computer. “But maybe she doesn’t need an ID. You two can request games, and she can go inside right now instead of waiting here while I get something she doesn’t need anyway.”

  Huh. It turned out he could do civil after all. “Okay, thank you.”

  Judith said her thanks, too, and together, they found Gabriel, in the middle of setting up the board for a game of Settlers of Catan.

  Judith sat in front of him. “You’re not cheating, are you?”

  “How can you even ask that?”

  Aitor sat next to Gabriel and observed what looked like a familiar conversation between them.

  “Remember that time you set the board in a way you could get all the resources?”

  “I never did that! I always set the pieces randomly.”

  Judith stared at him until Gabriel raised his hands in the air.

  “You don’t believe me? Fine.” He took out all the pieces. “Then you can set the board.”

  Aitor tried hard not to laugh when Gabriel turned on him. “Don’t you dare!”

  “Never!” But he snorted and every bet was lost. He laughed so hard he had to support himself on Gabriel’s shoulder while he took lungfuls of air to recover. He felt a small pressure on his head, and it took him a few seconds to recognize it as a kiss.

  When he’d stopped gasping, he abandoned his comfortable spot at Gabriel’s shoulder, dropped a kiss on his cheek, and looked at Judith.

  “So, are we playing or what?”

  * * * *

  They played two games of Settlers of Catan, which Judith won. Gabriel hadn’t been kidding; she was really good at it. After that, they played a few games of Dominion, which worked well for playing more than once because they could change which cards they were using to build their decks. Aitor was more experienced with that game and won more times, until he allied himself with Judith to make sure her uncle lost. After the final game, Gabriel pouted and Judith and Aitor laughed so hard they cried.

  “Aw. You’re adorable when you pout.” He kissed Gabriel, making Judith giggle. Aitor didn’t miss the fond look Gabriel shot his niece before returning the kiss.

  “I shouldn’t have introduced you two. You have too much fun at my expense.”

  “You love it,” Aitor said and Judith nodded.

  “I love that you’re having fun. That’s all I’m willing to admit.”

  “That’s good enough for me.”

  “Do we have time for another game?” Judith’s eyes had a light in them that hadn’t been there when Aitor had met her that morning, and he hoped Gabriel would answer in the affirmative.

  After checking his watch, he said, “I think we can squeeze in another. But just one.”

  “Great!” At that moment, Judith lay every sullen teenager stereotype to rest. She was happy and perky.

  “What are we playing, then?” When no one answered Aitor’s question, he looked at Gabriel. “Shall we play Rock, Paper, Scissors? Loser chooses the game.”

  “I was starting to think there wouldn’t be any kind of betting today. I should have trusted you would come up with something.”

  “Is that a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’?”

  “Bring it on.”

  Gabriel lost and left the table, ruffling his niece’s hair on the way.

  She shook her head and ran her fingers through it. “He always does that.”

  Aitor smiled. “Are you having fun?”

  “I am. I always like hanging out with Uncle Gabriel, and I’m glad he has you now.”

  If he’d been drinking anything, that would have been the perfect moment to choke on it. “Has me?”

  “You keep telling me you’re not boyfriends, but you totally act as if you are, with the kisses and the holding hands and everything.”

  Aitor thought back to how the afternoon had gone and he had to concede her point; they’d been behaving like a couple. “Fair enough. But we still need to talk about it ourselves, okay?”

  “That’s okay, I just know what you will say.” She shrugged and didn’t say anything else. Teenagers were hard, so complacent one minute, then suddenly all spikes and giving off Don’t Come Any Closer signs.

  Aitor almost breathed a sigh of relief when Gabriel came back with a blue box for a game he hadn’t seen before.

  Judith perked up. “Mysterium! Can I be the ghost, please?”

  “You got it, poppet.”

  Aitor cleared his throat. “Excuse me. Mysterium? Ghost? What on Earth are you two talking about?”

  They explained the game to him while they unboxed and prepared it—there was a ghost, and the rest of the players were mediums that, with the clues the ghost gave them, had to guess who had killed them, where, and with which weapon. It sounded more complicated than it was, and once they started playing, Aitor decided it was as if Clue and Dixit had had a child and this was it.

  He had fun, mostly bantering with Gabriel through the game while Judith handed them clues and despaired of them ever finding out the right solution. By the end of the game, she looked like she wanted to give each of them a piece of her mind, but she chose to just tell them how the ghost was disappointed and they’d condemned it for eternity. Aitor had never felt bad for a fictional ghost before, and Gabriel looked contrite.

  “We need to get going. I have to get you back to your parents before they think I’ve kidnapped you.”

  “They know you wouldn’t do that. You’d have to feed me, and you don’t know how to cook.”

  Aitor snorted and ignored Gabriel’s glare by kissing him. “Don’t worry, I can cook for both of us.”

  “You’ll have to prove that.”

  “I will.”

  Judith insisted on being the one to give back the game. That girl was too smart for her own good.

  “We do have to go. Are you staying? I could come back after dropping her off.”

  “Actually, I should go, too. I have to work tomorrow and I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, and whose fault was that?”

  Gabriel kissed him as an answer. “I do want to see you again. Soon, if possible.”

  “Weekdays are usually difficult for me. How about next Saturday? Make a proper date out of it?”

  “That sounds like it’s too long to wait, but I’ll take it. Can I text you during the week?”

  “You better!” Spotting Judith waiting by the door, Aitor lightly pushed Gabriel. “Now go, and guilt Clara into letting you stay for dinner.”

  “That’s a good idea. I knew there was a reason I liked you!”

  “You mean it is not just for my amazing body and good looks?”

  “That’s a really nice bonus, I’ll admit.” He went all quiet. “I can’t wait to see you next weekend.”

  The kiss they shared wasn’t quick or light, and they separated only when someone from a nearby table whistled. Aitor would miss Gabriel’s blush, and he vowed to put it there the next time they saw each other, and every time after that.

  Epilogue

  Gabriel

  One Year Later…

  Gabriel was heading into a convention center when a car horn sounded behind him. He experienced a strange sense of déjà vu at seeing Aitor hanging out of the window of his car.

  “I thought you were going to wait for me?”

  “And I am, but inside. Or do you want me to freeze?” Gabriel crossed his arms and rubbed his hands over them, trying to warm them. For an August evening, the wind had picked up and he’d been unprepared for the temperature drop.

  “I told you to wear something else.”

  Another car made it
into the parking space, leaving Aitor no choice but to move.

  “I’ll park and be right with you.”

  Gabriel headed into the center, sighing in finding shelter from the wind and he could start warming up.

  He spotted Aitor coming towards him and braced himself for the kiss he expected. He’d had a hard week at work and they hadn’t seen each other since the previous weekend, having had to skip their weekly date on Wednesday. There was nothing chaste about the kiss, and Gabriel was about to suggest they skip the convention and go straight to one of their flats when a voice spoke from behind them.

  “You two couldn’t even make it to the bathroom this time?”

  Gabriel growled. “Are you jealous, Raúl?”

  The other guy rolled his eyes. “Oh, yes, I just don’t know who I envy more.”

  The three of them laughed. They’d gotten to know Raúl when he’d opened a gaming café in the city. It turned out he wasn’t such an asshole after all; he just had an abrasive personality. Or so he said. They would never be good friends, but these days they could be civil to each other, even if Raúl and Gabriel communicated mainly in sarcasm.

  Raúl handed them their IDs. “I supposed you two were coming and took the liberty of getting these ready.”

  Aitor took them. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “No worries. I did it so I didn’t have to look at you longer than is strictly necessary.”

  Aitor snorted, and Gabriel laughed. Raúl and his snark had grown on him.

  Aitor took his hand and pulled him into the main room. “Come on.”

  They found a table for two, and Aitor went to choose a game. Gabriel looked up in surprise when Aitor dropped The Witcher Adventure Game and Hive on the table.

  “What’s this?”

  “I thought we could have a rematch. Maybe make a little bet out of it.”

  Gabriel shook his head. “I should have known there’d be a bet.” He smiled, remembering how they’d gotten together last year during this same convention. “Tell me, what do you have in mind?”

  “The loser moves into the winner’s flat.”

  Gabriel choked on his own saliva and studied Aitor’s expression. Aitor looked completely serious, although Gabriel knew him well enough to understand he was also nervous; the way his fingers tapped the table gave it away. “What happens if there’s a tie?”