Chapter 05

Gael

Sitting at the table of one of the tents that have been set up around the stadium, I am watching how beautiful the Texan landscape is. Although Allan has been living in Texas for a few years, this is the first time I've come to visit him, I hardly have any time off from the hospital and when I do I prefer to visit my parents. Because of this, although we are very close, we usually hardly see each other, since he makes a living traveling the country to compete in rodeos, so we see each other more in Atlanta, where our parents still live, or when he is near Miami and goes to visit me.

Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to live in a coastal city, and after graduating, I chose Miami to be my home, I managed to buy a nice house in Allapattah, with three bedrooms, one of them en suite, and even with a pool in the back. For a long time, I lived alone, and since I spend more time at the hospital than at home, it never bothered me.

It's a bit strange not being with my family on the holidays, every year the hospital splits the staff, half the employees have Christmas off, and the other half New Year's off. I choose to work on Christmas so that Dr. Loriany can spend Christmas with her husband and son, although she is the head of the pediatric department and therefore my boss, she is a great friend, and on her days off I cover for her.

It was in Atlanta that I would be right now if I hadn't been convinced by Allan to come and see his house and go to that party yesterday, when he heard the word party, Bryan quickly got excited to come along, he said that there was nothing like a party and a lot of women to start a new year well, and since Charles didn't want to go to his family's house in Nashville, he came with us too.

I've known both of them for a few years, first meeting Charles who is Hillary's nephew, during a stint in Nashville during college. When he decided to live in Miami after college, she asked me to help him, so I decided to invite him to share the house bills with me, since we both stayed home little. And since Bryan was coming too, I extended the invitation to him and so we all three started living in the same house.

Not satisfied with watching yesterday's ride, Allan went to accept the challenge to ride today, euphoric to prove that he is the best. But although I know my cousin is a great rider, with what I saw yesterday, I don't know if he will succeed today. And with Allan's feat not being enough, Bryan decided to call his sister and friends to our meeting.

“So, Bryan, what are these girls like?” Charles asks.

“Well, my sister Ness is beautiful, of course she pulled my beauty.” Bryan starts talking.

“Then the poor thing must be ugly as hell.” Charles laughingly interrupts him.

“Or maybe, she inherited all the beauty in the family.” I say laughing.

“You two are very funny, I am beautiful yes.” Bryan says as we continue to laugh. “And besides her there are three more friends coming, Liz who is the girl I told you about.”

Unfortunately, he says that the girl knows it's just sex, but I think she doesn't think so, which will make her suffer and that's not nice. But since this subject does not concern me, I prefer not to pry.

“The one you go out with every 2 years?” Charles asks.

“That's the one, apart from her, there's Sarah who is more of her own and Rayka who I call a pitbull.”

“Why do you call the girl a pitbull?” Allan asks.

“Because when she's angry she looks like a rabid pit bull, if she doesn't hold it, she bites it.” Bryan says laughing.

I've known Bryan for about five years, since he moved in with me and started at the hospital as a resident, and I know that when he wants to, he knows how to be annoying, so I think it's most likely that this girl is like that because he must annoy her a lot.

“If that's the case, it's better to leave her with Allan, he's used to angry bulls, he should be able to handle her.” Charles laughed.

“I don't want to, I've had enough of the challenges in the arena, outside of it I want peace and quiet. Better to leave it to Gael, he already has practice, after years of enduring the attacks of the sisters.”

I can't believe I'm hearing this; we haven't even met the girls and they're already deciding who will be with who, I don't like to judge someone without first meeting them. And having three sisters, I know I'd hate it if one of them went through a situation like that, I don't know how Bryan doesn't mind it since his sister is in the group.

“You could wait to meet them first, since you're just basing it on Bryan's account, besides, have you stopped to think that they may not be interested in relationships, or even if they are, they may not like us.” I say a little angry.

“Calm down Gael, we're just joking.” Allan says trying to calm me down.

“Your cousin is right; you need to relax.” Bryan laughs and looks at his cell phone. “Let's go meet the girls and each one draws their own conclusion.”

We get up and go to the front entrance of the stadium, when we are approaching, I notice a group of four girls coming towards us. Bryan waves to them and a blonde girl wave back. When we are all close, I see that the girls are all beautiful and different from each other, two are blondes, one redhead and one brunette.

“What's up little sis?” Bryan asks as he hugs the blonde who waved at him.

So, this is his sister, Ness, you can see some similarities, like the green eyes and blonde hair.

“Yes, you are, now let me go.” Ness pushes him.

“Friends, this is my sister Ness, this is Liz.” Bryan indicates the other blonde. “This is Sarah.” He indicates the redhead. “And this is Rayka.” Bryan indicates the brunette.

I can't help but notice that she looks angry at him when his name is spoken. If the brunette is beautiful, I imagine that smiling must be even more beautiful.

“And girls, these are my friends from the hospital, Charles and Gael, and Allan, Gael's cousin.” Bryan introduces us.

“Hold on, you're Allan Callahan? The two-time PBR world champion and this year's Iron Cowboy.” Rayka asks.

And apparently, she already knows Allan, which is not surprising, since we are in Texas, and he is a rodeo champion. Now it remains to be seen if she's just a fan or if she likes him.

“Himself, darling.” Allan replies in his gallant way.

“I'm not your darling.” Rayka says to Allan and turns to me. “Please tell me there is another cousin of yours and that he is the one who will compete tonight.”

“I'm sorry, I only have this crazy cousin.” I say with a smile to her.

“That's too bad.” She shrugs her shoulders and makes me laugh.

“No need to worry darling, I'm good at what I do, and that little face will still be beautiful after it's put together.” Allan speaks.

“I told you, I'm not your darling, and you’re not-so-beautiful face is the last of my worries.” Rayka retorts.

“I told you that the pitbull is angry, and the only way to calm it down is with food.” Bryan laughs and gets a deadly stare from Rayka.

As I imagined before, he teases her, the funniest thing is that seeing the two of them now, reminds me of my relationship with my sisters, always one picking on the other, but deep down we love each other too much.

“Rayka, I know you want to kill my brother now, but how about doing it after lunch and give him the right to his last meal?" she says laughing.” Ness laughs, she must know both of them well not to give importance to this implication between them.

“Okay, let's go.” Rayka says rolling her eyes.

And so, we all go to the food area, the smell of food is very tempting here, we look for a table for eight, without much discussion, the girls sit on one side of the table and the boys on the other. So, I sit at one end, with Allan on my right followed by Charles and Bryan. In front of me sits Rayka, followed by Liz, Sarah, and Ness.

I look at the menu on the table, wondering what I'm going to order, I'm not very familiar with Texan food.

“So Rayka, what will our lunch be today?” Sarah asks.

“Why is the pitbull going to pick our lunch? - Bryan asks.”

“She's not going to pick yours, just ours.” Liz speaks with a sweet way.

Her way of looking and talking confirms to me that the girl is clearly in love with Bryan.

“Once again, why does she choose?” Bryan asks.

“Because it's our tradition, and this is Rayka's year.” Ness speaks with a firm tone. “Rayka make our choice, and as for the boys, make your own choices.”

“Okay, our lunch will be baby back ribs, which are grilled pork ribs with black barbecue sauce, smoked turkey, which is smoked turkey breast, chili cheese and fries.” Rayka speaks looking at the menu.

She speaks with authority and clearly understands the subject, and although I have made only her and her friends' choice, I will follow her choice of option.

“I will have the same.” I says.

“The girl made a nice choice; I will have it too.” Allan says.

“I've never eaten a Texan barbecue, so I will take the suggestion and order the same.”

“Well, since everyone will order the same, I will not be different, so let's all go with Rayka's choice.” Bryan speaks up at last.

Rayka signals to one of the waiters, who comes over to us and writes down the order.