The Door to Love

"So what do you think?"

Gabriel leaned against the lobby counter, his elbows firmly planted on the faux marble. All the better to act as a prop for his head in his hands while he waited for an answer to the question he had just asked. Cristina stared up at him from her the chair behind the counter where she had been busy with clerical tasks to wrap up the end of her shift at the hotel for the day. Her incredulous expression and the slow shake of her head starkly juxtaposed themselves against Gabriel's obvious excitement.

"Gabes, babes. I know we joke about being partners in crime, but I'm pretty sure this an actual crime," Cristina said. Twenty plus years of being best friends had definitely seen a fair share of said comments and the actions to back it up, but the latter was more youthful mischief than anything else. They were supposed to be older and wiser now that they had entered their thirties. They weren't, but at least they tried. Sometimes.

"I'm not asking you to give me their credit card info or room numbers. Just names to work with. And also to pre-screen with because I refuse to date anyone with a J name."

"You know. Valid. No J names. Not after the last one."

"My last one or your last one."

"Yes," Cristina said and both of them laughed before she sighed. "Fine. If anyone comes in that you find interesting then I will slip you their name." Gabriel raised any eyebrow. "Cris, you know I find almost everyone interesting," Gabriel replied. She smirked. "Yeah, and that's why you date so many losers." Not that she was any better. Then again, no one could compare to...

"Earth to Cris."

"What?"

"You were doing that thing where you look off into the distance like you're a sitcom character lost in a day dream."

"That's funny coming from you, romcom boy."

"Hey, what's wrong with wanting to give fate a little help in setting up my own meet-cute."

Cristina rolled her eyes and was about to reply when Gabriel tensed up like a deer caught in headlights. She followed his line of sight to the man who had just stepped free from the elevator. "Roger Whitmore," Cris whispered.

Gabriel didn't know how Cristina knew the man's name off the top of her head. The hotel could accommodate hundreds of guests, and, judging by how packed the parking lot was, it was currently doing so. Then again, Roger Whitmore was hardly the kind of man a person could easily forget.

Though half a foot shorter than Gabriel's own six-foot frame, Roger carried himself with undeniable confidence. His bold aura engulfed the room making his presence larger than life and his swagger was further complimented by the sharp beige suit worn open at the collar that made his already dark skin deeper and more vibrant with the contrast.

Before Gabriel could make any semblance of a move toward the man, Roger swept past and out the door with barely a nod of acknowledgment toward Cristina. Gabriel gawked after him and Cristina laughed.

"Gabes, babes. I say this with all the love in the world, he's out of your league. He's out of everyone's league. Besides, didn't you clock the ring? He's married."

Gabriel groaned then slumped back over the counter. "I can never love another," he declared. Cristina rolled her eyes just as the digital bell above the entryway chimed. On one hand, Gabriel was devastated to see that the source wasn't Roger returning to profess love-at-first-sight with him. On the other hand, he was ecstatic to see the next love of his life walking straight toward him.

"Welcome back, Lucia," Cristina said. The woman smiled in a way that unveiled almost too perfect teeth. In fact, everything about her face seemed perfect. Not in a traditionally attractive way, but like someone that had been photoshopped to fit Da Vinci's ideal ratio of features. Except the woman in front of Gabriel clearly wasn't the result of imaging software.

"Cristina! Lovely to see you as always."

Music is how Gabriel would have described Lucia's voice in his smitten state and her words were heavily accented in a way that made him assume she was Italian or doing her best impression of someone from that region. Lucia shifted her focus to Gabriel, who was still slouched across the countertop. "Is this a friend of yours," she asked, concern obvious given Gabriel's posture. He immediately righted himself.

"You could say that," Cristina replied. "This is Gabriel. Gabriel, this is Lucia." Gabriel stammered trying to get a greeting out. "Is he in need of some medical attention?" Her expression was still one of worry. Cristina smirked as she stared at Gabriel, offering no help in the situation. It wasn't often she got to witness him at a loss for words. He had always been the chatterbox out of the pair.

"Oh, no."

Gabriel managed to get the two words out and was working on forming another coherent sentence which was more difficult than he expected under surveillance by the greenest eyes he had ever seen. Unfortunately, Lucia appeared satisfied by the brief answer so she turned her attention back to Cristina.

"Cristina, dear. Have you given anymore thought to my offer?"

"Fun as it sounds, I already have plans."

Lucia adopted the kind of pout often adorned by those use to getting their way. "Maybe next time, yes?" Gabriel caught a quick glance from Cristina in his direction before she looked back to Lucia. "Yeah, we'll see how my schedule looks before you head out next time!" Her tone was upbeat, but Gabriel knew Cristina well enough that her being vague really meant no. Lucia, on the other hand, didn't know that. She smiled, placated for the time being, then waved before making her way to the elevator.

A long sigh of relief whooshed out of Gabriel and he resumed his post hunched over the counter. "Do you exclusivly give rooms to attractive people?" Cristina snorted at Gabriel's question as she began to type away at the computer. She did have an actual job she was doing after all.

"Those two aren't the norm," she said after a few seconds of steady clicks from the keys. "They're both regulars though, traveling for work. Roger does something with like, lawyer stuff? And Lucia is a model from Italy. She travels here for agency stuff." Cristina paused, the smirk on her face once more. "I also could have told you from the start that you weren't her type. She gave me her number the first time she stayed here."

Both of Gabriel's brows arched so high that they threatened to disappear into his hairline. "And you haven't jumped on that because?" She shrugged. "Not interested right now," she said then resumed working.

"What do you mean not interested right now? She's a super hot model, Cristina!"

She shrugged again. Gabriel squinted at her and then a light bulb went off in his mind. "You've got to be kidding. You like someone else?" Cristina whipping her head away from the screen to look at him confirmed his suspicions. "Why didn't you tell me?" He scrunched his face up to feign being hurt, though it wasn't entirely an act. They always told each other everything, so it was odd that Cristina had withheld something like this from him.

"Because it's embarrassing."

Cristina didn't elaborate, but Gabriel wasn't going to let her get off the hook so easily. "You realize I'm going to start listing everyone we know in order of most embarrassing to least embarrassing until you tell me, right?" It was a rhetorical question because Gabriel immediately launched into a lengthy list of names. Each one was met with an eye roll, scoff, or outright snort from Cristina until Gabriel finally exhausted the pool of contenders.

"Cris, just tell me," Gabriel whined in defeat. "Nope," she said then stood up from the desk. Gabriel had taken so long that Cristina's shift was over and her relief was walking over. "Hey, Erica," Cristina said in greeting. The older woman looked from Cristina to Gabriel and then back again. The corners of her eyes crinkled with barely contained amusement at Gabriel's presence which was just as frequent as her own these days.

"Hello, Ms. Cris. Nice to see you too, Gabriel."

Gabriel peeled himself off of the counter one last time. "At least someone is happy to see me today," he said. Erica furrowed her brow, but Cristina shook her head. "Don't ask."

"Well, okay then," Erica said. "How's today been?"

"A disaster," Gabriel replied before Cristina could. She walked around the counter to allow Erica to take her place. "It's been fine. Slow day all things considered," she said, fully ignoring Gabriel's answer. Erica settled down at the desk, her gaze flitting between the pair before she caught Cristina's eye. Cristina shook her head again, an act missed by Gabriel who was eyeing the newest guest that had just walked through the door, a significant amount of luggage in tow.

"Alright. Third time's the charm. Back in a minute, so wait for me," Gabriel said, eyes still on the door. Cristina sighed as he walked away to help the person with their burden. "I always do," she muttered under her breath.