Be My Anchor

Chapter Eleven

Gabe looked just like his father. Mr. Alejos was taller with darker skin, but the same brown hair. His eyes—though they peered at me with revulsion—were just a slightly deeper shade of brown than Gabe's.

My heart beat a little faster. We hadn't even met properly and Gabriel Alejos Sr. already hated my guts. I found myself looking at Gabe for some kind of indication of what to do next, but he just pursed his lips with a painful look on his face.

I willed myself to pull my gaze back to his father. All I could think of to say was, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Alejos."

"Yes, I believe you've already mentioned that," he said gruffly. He glanced momentarily at his son, who still looked uncomfortable as all hell. "If you know my name, I assume you know my son."

"Uh- yes, sir," I stumbled out. It didn't dawn on me to introduce myself at the time, but I kicked myself for it later.

Suddenly, Gabe broke out, "She's just a friend, Dad. We met on the ship." He was looking at his father, but I could tell he wasn't quite meeting his eyes. Almost like he was lying.

But he wasn't. Right? I was just a friend.

I felt a small pang in my chest at those words. I certainly didn't expect him to call me anything romantic, don't get me wrong. But maybe a "good" or "close" friend would have been nice.

And the way he said it made it sound like we would never be anything more than just friends.

Well, fine by me.

Mr. Alejos seemed to take this information into careful consideration because we stood in silence for an uncomfortable amount of time before he did something I never expected.

"Join us for dinner, won't you?"

It's a trap. He sounded as if he was making a business deal. Yes, definitely a trap.

I looked at Gabe. He was busy looking at the ground.

"Dinner?" I said meekly. "I wouldn't want to-"

"It wouldn't be any trouble," he assured me. "If you are my son's friend then I would like to get to know you. I hope you like him enough that you will humor me and accept."

He must be a good businessman because I felt backed into a corner in which my only option was to accept his offer. He certainly had the intimidation down.

I remembered when Mrs. Alejos had given me a similar persuasive aura. I could easily see them as husband and wife, or rather, king and queen, ruling over the rest of us peasants—and bugs like me, of course.

How does he stand up so straight?

"So, what do you say?" he ventured, pulling me out of my thoughts.

After one last unhelpful glance at Gabe, I managed to say, "Well, I guess I could..."

Mr. Alejos clapped his hands together in front of his chest. "Wonderful! We'll see you at Rudi's Seagrill in an hour then."

I nodded as he walked away.

Gabe hung behind. As soon as his father was out of earshot he turned to me abruptly with a crazy look in his eyes. "Why did you do that?" he said with more judgment than I preferred.

I put up my hands in defense. "What? I didn't mean to run into the guy!"

"Not that!" he scowled. "I mean, why did you agree to dinner?"

"I don't know, Gabe," I said sarcastically, my tone turning angrier by the second. Why was he mad at me? "If you wanted me to say no then you should've said something instead of just standing there. Or are you too afraid to contradict your own father?"