Firsts

Author's Note: This is my first submission, and all comments are welcome. All characters are 18+ at the time of any sexual acts. Huge thanks to coloryourworld for her essential editing help.

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INTRODUCING...ME

Like many red-blooded American girls out there, I had a crush on my brother's best friend. It was hard not to with Gabriel. One look into his flashing green eyes and most girls were lost. But I was also a practical gal. Yeah, when I was younger, I shared those magical dreams most young girls do about marrying the handsome prince and living Happily Ever After; but at the same time, reality was never a problem for Kesare Ramirez. I learned from a young age that the world wasn't perfect.

When my twin brother Tomas and I were six, our parents had died in a car crash. After that, we went to live with our father's spinster Aunt Marie along with our two older brothers Luis, who was then nine, and Mateo, who was thirteen. I guess we were lucky we weren't in the car with our parents, but it didn't feel like that at the time.

Great-Aunt Marie was nice enough, she loved us and looked after us well, but not having had any children herself and more used to playing the over-indulgent aunt, she never knew what to 'do' with us. We used to get away with murder. The best thing about living with Aunt Marie was that she still lived near Gabriel, not down the street like it used to be, but only a couple of blocks, so we still saw him all the time. I swear he ate more at our house than he ever did a home. Gabriel had been Luis' best friend since kindergarten, had become a thick as thieves with the other two in no time, and a surrogate over-protective brother to me. (As if I didn't have enough of

those

).

By the four of them I was 'endured'. I always wanted to go with them on their adventures, and after a few stern words from Marie about 'looking out for your sister' she'd let me go. I proved useful to the boys though. I became the willing prisoner of wild 'injuns' or evil warlocks, Sith Lords, and on one brief occasion, evil mushrooms (Tommy always was a little...weird.) I wasn't an idiot. I knew straight off that being tied to a tree all day while they ran around fighting was not my idea of fun, but one pleading look from Gabriel was all it took and day after day I became good friends with that tree.

As we got older, I went from prisoner to lookout, from scrawny little sister to scrawny tomboy. When I was thirteen, our aunt died of a stroke, peacefully in her sleep. At that point, Matt had still been living at home, attending the local collage. Lucky for us, our Aunt had owned her house outright, and had enough money saved up that we could get by for a few years, though we'd need jobs to pay for anything beyond the basics. Mateo, the former football star got a job as a night guard at a local law firm, which allowed him to continue his studies, and Gabriel got Luis part-time apprenticeship at Juan's Auto Shop, where he had been working after school for a couple of months. Juan liked us all, and didn't mind if Tomas and I hung around too, as long as we didn't get in the way.

At that point, Luis and Gabriel were the heart breakers of the neighbourhood, and Tommy had been slowly realizing the merits of the opposite sex, fast following in their footsteps. Luckily for me I had gotten my first period two days before my twelfth birthday, and had been able to talk to Aunt Marie about that 'stuff' before she passed. (I'd have HATED having that conversation with Mateo).

The thing about Gabriel was that even though he was hot, (and damn was he

hot

!) he was also a good friend. When I needed someone to talk to, I'd go to him, 'cause if I tried talking to my brothers about anything remotely grown-up, they'd start yelling at me and follow me around to make sure I wasn't dating boys or anything. I suppose my brothers aren't

that

bad, I'm just their little sis, ya know? (Except for Tomas, he's 15 minutes younger than me; I don't know what

his

excuse is.)

I still had my crush on Gabriel, but I knew there was very little chance that Gabriel would ever think of me as more than a friend, and that what I was feeling was pure lust that would dissipate if anything ever

did

happen.

Or so I thought.

When I turned sixteen, a new boy transferred in to our school, and I decided I liked him. His name was David Parker. He was seventeen, about 6" with sandy blond hair and brown eyes. He was cute, although not the cutest guy in school, and wasn't super-cool either, but just a 'normal guy.' But I liked him, and I think he liked me, but I didn't know how respond the few times he tried to start a conversation with me, so he kept his distance.

I wasn't like I hadn't had guys ask me out before, but that was with no other encouragement from me other than a friendly smile, and I hadn't been interested. Most of them didn't even know me, but just thought I was pretty. Back then I was about 5'5", still slim but with a hint of burgeoning curves. I wasn't one of those girls who thinks she's hot; I didn't wear enough make-up for that. But I did turn a few heads with my thick, waist-length, lightly waved chestnut hair, my warm brown eyes and my full red lips.

I knew what my problem was. I had never tried to make friends with someone. I spent most of my childhood studying or hanging out with my brothers and Gabriel. I enjoyed it. I never needed any other friends. I tried making friends with girls my age in junior high, but all they wanted to do was talk about make-up and boys, and I had to try

really

hard not to throttle their empty little heads. I suppose on reflection I probably should have listened closer when they were gossiping about Cosmo Girl's 'Ten Ways To Get Your Guy.'

I thought long and hard about how to solve my problem. I figured that if I had a little more experience with guys, I wouldn't get quite so stressed when I was talking to one I liked.

Which is why one Wednesday afternoon three years ago, I found myself standing in front of Gabriel, asking him to kiss me.

THE KISS

"You want me to

what

?!" he asked from his seat on the couch.

"I want you to kiss me," I repeated, standing in front of him and staring at my Sketchers.

"Uh, Kes, I think you should explain where in hell's name

that

came from," He said, his bewildered green eyes watching me.

"There's a boy at school I want to ask out," I replied, shifting nervously.

"What does that have to do with me, you know...

kissing you

?" he said, whispering the last part, even though we were alone in the house.

"I'd feel a lot more confident if I had some experience with guys. I just want you kiss me, nothing more. You're the only guy I know that I'm not related to." Plus, before they split up, his ex-girlfriend had told me that he was the best kisser she knew, but I wasn't gonna tell

him

that.

"I don't know, it's kinda weird Kes, you're like my sister," He said, frowning.

"If it's not you, I'll just ask some other guy to kiss me. You know Rico down the street has always had a thing for me. Anyway, you don't have a sister," I added.

Mentioning Rico was pure genius. He had about five different girls going at once, and rumours were, one of them was knocked up. I knew I had him.

"Hey, okay Kes, I'll do it, but you've got to swear to stay away from Rico. And not to tell your brothers. You know they'd kill me." He said, jumping up from the couch.

He took a step towards me and stopped, reluctant to close the distance between us. I moved forward, placing myself just inches from him, his 6'4" frame towering over me. We stood like that for a moment, not quite looking at each other. I found myself staring at the scar on his chin he got playing street hockey with us one summer. I could feel the heat from his body, the smell of his sweat and spicy aftershave mixing to make my stomach flutter.

"Are you sure?" he asked, using his finger to tilt my chin up so I'd meet his searching gaze.

"Yes," I whispered.

He nodded, looking away, his hands running through his dark brown hair, then suddenly cradling my cheeks, his lips descending on mine.

The kiss started soft, his lips warm on mine. His tongue slipped between his lips to caress mine into opening for him. Which they did, allowing him to deepen the kiss as I lifted my arms to his broad, well muscled shoulders. The kiss was still slow, but gut-wrenchingly sweet, our lips shifting, our tongues caressing. His mouth was hot, tasting mildly of coffee. The warmth I could feel in his body seemed to match the heat rising in mine, and sent shivers up my spine. After what seemed like an eternity, Gabriel ended the kiss, catching my lower lip between his teeth, and tugging a little before letting go.

I had to hold back a whimper of disappointment; although I suppose I did have to breathe.

He still stood temptingly close to me, his eyes locked on mine, our breath mingling. I wondered for a moment if he was going to kiss me again. Then he stood back, flashing his trademark crooked grin before saying, "How was that for a first kiss then?"

There was an edge to his voice I didn't recognise, and that put my guard up.

"Fine, thank you. The guys shouldn't be to long, but I've got homework to do, there's some leftover pizza in the fridge. Bye," I replied, heading quickly for the stairs.

"Glad I could be of service

Princess

," He angrily growled as I reached the first step. He only called me Princess when he was pissed at me, but I wasn't hanging around to ask him about it.

I made it to my room in record time, quickly shutting the door and sliding down against it.

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I swear when I asked him to kiss me, I wasn't expecting it to be that good. I also thought that maybe if we kissed, I'd realize there was no chemistry and get over him. But there

was

chemistry, a lot, at least on my side, and I knew I was in big trouble.

I had started changing out of my school clothes when I realised I was wet. Not just wet. My panties were soaked through.

All that from one kiss?!

I thought, my mind drifting to imagine what it would feel like if Gabriel did more than kiss me, what it would feel like to have him inside me, our bodies sweating together... My stomach began to flutter again and I shook my head, trying to snap myself out of it.

Pull yourself together girl, life isn't all about boys and you've got a chem test to study for.

Thinking of that, I decided a shower was in order. A cold one.

As I was towelling off my hair, I heard Matt's old pickup pull into the drive, threw on some clothes and went to meet him, running a comb through the damp strands.

"Hi Sis!" smiled Matt as he came through the front door, brown eyes shining with laughter. I wondered what got him in such a good mood on a workday, at least until Tomas came pushing through after him, hopping from one foot to the other.

"HeysisigottapeeheyGabe." He mumbled running for the bathroom.

"He's like a trained monkey, only without the training," laughed Luis, who had followed Tomas through the door.

"Hi Luis," I said as he pecked my cheek. "You've been watching Firefly re-runs again, haven't you?"

"Of course, can you blame me?" he asked, throwing himself on the couch next to Gabriel.

"Never!" I cried. "How do you think

I

know the line? It's from the start of Jaynestown, you know," I added sagely, revealing just how much of a geek I was. Am.

Sam just laughed, taking the soda Matt handed him from the fridge.

"Sorry we're late Gabe. I hope you haven't been

too

bored waiting," Matt said flopping down in an over stuffed armchair, opening his own Diet Coke.

"Uh, no, I um, watched TV," He said, picking up the remote, as if to prove he was telling the truth. Matt eyed Gabriel.

"Okaaaay... We were going to go to the DQ for sundaes. Kes, you wanna come?" he asked, his eyes shifting to me.

"Nah," I replied. "I've got a chem test in the morning, so I'd better study. Don't stay out too late though." I was already moving back towards the stairs. And I really did have a test tomorrow and it had absolutely

nothing

to do with avoiding Gabriel. At least that's what I kept telling myself.

THE DATE

Kissing Gabriel

did

give me the courage to talk to David, and it turns out he

did

like me. After a few 'testing the water' chats, he asked me out. I think he was pleasantly surprised that I said yes. We planned for dinner and a movie on Friday night. As far as my brothers were concerned, I was helping a friend out with homework. There's no way I was going to inflict my brothers on David, especially not on the first date.

Mateo was working, Luis and Gabriel would be out till the wee hours and Tomas was also 'helping a friend study,' so I didn't have to worry. I was dressed in my nicest jeans and a red beaded tank top with a black jacket on top. My feet were adorned with my same old worn out Sketchers, and I had gone all-out with my make-up. I was wearing lip gloss. For me, this was dressed up.

David picked me up at six, and we decided to go to the movie first, then dinner at the local pizza joint. As we stood trying to pick what movie to see, David hesitantly suggested we see the latest romantic comedy, the fear apparent in his eyes. I laughed, saying I'd much rather see the blockbuster action movie he'd been eyeing. It was the truth too, not even at my soppiest did I like RomComs. I was an action girl all the way. I hate football though – see, I'm not perfect!

The movie wasn't as good as I'd hoped, it seemed to have given up the idea of a plotline before the opening credits had finished, although it did have a few good explosions. (I'm not a pyro, I swear!).

The rest of the date was more of a disappointment. All through dinner, David wouldn't stop talking about how awesome the movie was or how hot the triple D was. (Something the guys and I came up with – a double D damsel.) Every time I tried to steer the conversation to a new topic we'd end up back at the movie. Or about how awesome the PS2 game must be.

The drive home was pretty quiet, and much to my relief he didn't try to kiss me at the door. He didn't call either. I think he realized I was no longer interested.

GROWING UP

Eventually, things went back to normal with Gabriel. That is, he still treated me like his little sister, and I still liked him, although I was content with being just friends. I think knowing that I was dating helped him, stopped him from worrying that I had a crush on him or something

silly

like that.

Some of the guys I dated were nice and I let them kiss me, but none of them stuck. I found I kept comparing them to Gabriel, and none of them quite measured up. Then, in my senior year of high school, I stopped dating to focus on schoolwork. I wanted to get good enough grades to get into a decent University. Which I did.

The thing was, I didn't want to actually go to uni yet. I had spent a lot of time and energy working to get such good grades, and I wanted a little time off. Partly to figure out what I wanted to 'do' with my life, and partly just to have fun. The only problem was my brothers.

I knew none of my brothers would be happy about this. I was the only one who hadn't needed to get a job, my brothers all had jobs. Matt was using his degree in Phys. Ed. to work as a manager at a local fitness centre, Luis was studying Journalism, while Tommy had been planning to go to collage to study partying, both of them still working at Juan's. Gabriel still worked there too. He was studying business management at college, and Juan, planning to retire, and was grooming Gabriel to take over running the Auto Shop. If I had any chance of them letting me be, I had to have a job. Fortunately, I had one lined up. Unfortunately, I knew my brothers weren't going to like it. I knew this conversation was not going to go well.

"What the hell do you mean, you're not going to college?!" Luis shouted.

"Just a year off okay? Not forever!" I yelled back.

"Why the hell do you need to take a year off?!" Luis demanded.

"I've spent the last god-knows-how-many years with my head stuck in my school books, I just want to take a year to figure out what I want to do," I replied. "I checked, I'll still have scholarship next year."

"If you want to take a year off, fine. But you're not sitting on your ass all year while we work hard. You've gotta get a job Kes." Mateo said, a little smugly. He thought I hadn't thought of that.

"I have a job." I quietly stated. Gabriel, who had been pretending to ignore the argument, suddenly snapped his head up. Apparently, he had underestimated me too. It seemed they all had.

"What?" Tommy asked in surprise.

"I have a job." I repeated louder.

"Doing what?" Luis was instantly suspicious. I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

"Working as a tattoo artist."

Silence.

Then things got loud for a few minutes while all three of my brothers tried to out-shout one another, yelling various profanities. Gabriel was leaning against the kitchen counter with a very amused look on his face. I waited silently until Matt got control of the other two.

"Kes, you can't just decide to be a tattoo artist." He added.

"I know that. I talked to Jeanie, the girl who did my piercings..." (And my tattoo, not that my brothers knew about

that

, it wasn't anywhere

they

would ever see it.) "...and she spoke to her boss, who looked at some of my sketches from art class and said she'd take me on as her apprentice for a year. Afterwards, if all goes well, she'll take me on part time while I go to collage, and working there will pay better than waiting tables or something."

"You've really though this through, haven't you?" Matt asked, somewhat impressed.

"Yeah, I have." I answered, my voice exasperated. After a long pause, Matt spoke.

"Okay. If the tattoo job doesn't work out, you get another. Next year you

do

go to collage. And no turning into the Illustrated Sister, alright?"

"Yes! Absolutely!" I quickly said, hugging Mateo. "Thank you," I whispered in his ear. He just smiled.

"So we're not mad?" Tommy asked Matt.

"Nope," He replied.

"What do you know about tattoos anyway?" Luis asked, still suspicious.

"That's what the apprenticeship is for, dumb ass. To learn," Gabriel laughed, finally joining the conversation now that the argument was over.

"Oh." Another thought occurred to Luis. "Hey, does that mean we get free ink?" he asked hopefully.

"No," I answered, joining Gabriel in laughing. "I'm gonna make burritos for dinner. You staying Gabriel?" I asked once we calmed down.

"Definitely. Need help?" he asked. I just nodded.

"Pussy," Tommy joked, going to watch TV with the others. I started laughing. The one thing Gabriel was not was a pussy. Gabriel laughed too, but gave me a strange look as we started to set up the kitchen.

"What are your orders, Oh Wise Chef?" he asked.

"You grate some cheese and nuke the refried beans, I'm gonna do the rest of the vegetables and make salsa and guac. When you're finished, you can chop and sauté some onions." Gabriel saluted and went to dig out the cheese grater while I got the ingredients together.

As I was chopping up the vegetables, I started thinking about what I was going to do with my time. Now that I didn't have to study all the time, I could think about having a social life again. Not that my new job wouldn't be difficult, but it was mostly hands-on stuff, so I wouldn't have a ton of homework to do, with would leave my evenings and days off wide open.

Hey, I might even start dating again!

I thought.

At that moment, when my head was full of sinful thoughts, Gabriel unconsciously leaned into me, pushing his front into my side as he reached into the cabinet above my head to get a frying pan. The warmth seeping from his t-shirt clad body sent shocks to my belly.

Yes, definitely dating!

my body screamed.