Chapter 3

"Sara! Oh Sara!"

I rushed out of my room when I heard my father's voice boom through the house. He sounded like something had happened, or a big emergency. It was a Tuesday afternoon and I was in my room finishing up my history homework.

"Dad?" I asked as I met him in the hallway of our house.

"Guess what?" he asked happily.

I shrugged. "I give up."

He sighed. "You don't even want to take a guess?"

I rolled my eyes. "Dad what is it?"

He grinned widely and showed me six concert tickets.

My eyes widened. "The Foo Fighters?" I shrieked.

He nodded.

"For me?"

He nodded again.

"Me and you?" I asked.

He shook his head no.

"For me and my friends?"

He nodded eagerly.

"Are you serious dad? Oh my god!" I threw my arms around my father. I couldn't believe he was giving me concert tickets to one of my favorite bands. The tickets had been sold out for months already. It helped having a father be a famous DJ at the hottest rock station in the city. He had managed to get me tickets every now and then when there was a big band playing in town. "How did you get them?"

"I got connections," he winked at me.

"I got to tell Wendy!" I yelped and then blushed. "And Jack."

My father shrugged meekly. "You can invite whoever you want honey."

I knew deep down my father wanted me to invite Jack. I wanted to invite Jack too.

"You want to come along daddy? You and mom?"

My father nodded. "Just invite your friend's sweetie. And you know your mother doesn't like The Foo Fighters. She's more of a Sheryl Crow fan."

I laughed. "True. I think The Foo Fighters might make her ears bleed."

"Besides," he added, "I'd like to spend some alone time with your mother. She and I have been really stressed out about this paternity test."

I smiled. "That's true. You two need to talk about a lot of things."

"So go on, I know you're dying to call your friends."

I squealed and hugged my father once again. I ran back into my room and called Jack right away.

"Are you serious? For tomorrow night?" He asked in that deep cool voice of his.

"Yup, I got six tickets! Unless you can't go?" I couldn't hide the hurt in my voice.

"Believe me, I'll go! I won't miss this concert for anything! That's so nice of you to ask me ... sis," his voice was smooth. "Are you sure you don't want to invite other friends of yours instead of me?"

"You are my friend ... you're my possible brother. How could I not WANT to invite you?"

He laughed. Oh that laugh...

"Ok then, that's cool, I'm down for it."

"Cool! I'll call Wendy and then we'll see who else wants to come along."

"Ok, but call me back."

"I will!" I said with excitement. I hung up and called Wendy. She yelled so loudly I had to take the phone away from my ear.

"You got six tickets? Who else are you going to invite?" She asked eagerly.

"I already invited Jack. Why don't you bring Marvin?" I advised.

"Really?" She squealed.

"Yup, go ahead."

"Are you going to invite Gabriel?"

I paused for a moment. It hadn't even crossed my mind to invite Gabriel. If I invited Gabriel, and Wendy brought Marvin that would leave just one ticket left. I almost hesitated to do it, but I thought about Jack bringing Megan along. That way I could actually meet her and see if she was good enough for my possible brother. Well, that and the fact that I was dying to see what Jack's love interest looked like.

"I'll invite Gabriel I guess," I groaned.

Wendy laughed. "Yes! Invite him! That way you can consider this your first actual date with him and then maybe he'll have the balls to finally invite you to the prom."

"Yeah, yeah, that'll be the day," I joked.

I returned Jack's phone call and told him I had invited Wendy and her on again off again boyfriend.

"Ok, that sounds good," Jack said.

"Um ... I also invited Gabriel," I said quietly.

Jack stayed silent.

"Jack?"

"Y-yeah, I heard you," his voice changed somewhat.

"So I was thinking..." I was feeling so nervous I don't know why. "Maybe you could invite Megan? I mean I have six tickets. So that way we can make it a group thing. You know, everyone hanging out."

"Uh ... yeah sure I can invite Megan. I'm sure she'll be down for it." Jack's voice didn't sound as excited as before.

"Great!" I said trying to sound cheerful. "So I finally get to meet this Megan girl. I just want to make sure she treats my brother good."

Jack laughed. "Oh? You're being protective now huh?"

"That's right," I teased.

"Well that Gabriel guy better be on his best behavior or else my brotherly instincts might come out."

I felt my stomach do flips. I just found it so cute that Jack would be protective of me.

"Ok bro ... tomorrow night then."

"Ok I'll see you tomorrow Sara ... I mean sis..." He laughed heartily.

"Yeah I know it's going to take some time to learn to call me sis."

I heard him breath softly into the phone. "Yeah ... might take a while."

"So ... we'll meet up at the arena then?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, see you bro."

"Bye sis," he whispered into the phone.

I held the phone to my ear until the call dropped.

The next day in class, I saw Gabriel walk in and take his seat a few rows away from me. I turned to look at him and I smiled. He smiled back at me. A few days ago, having Gabriel smile at me would have made my knees weak, now ... it was a different story.

After class, I caught up to Gabriel before he go to his locker. I tapped him on the shoulder and he stopped walking and turned to face me.

"Hey," I said sounding casual.

"Hey Sara, what's up?" He tossed his backpack over his shoulder.

"Um ... my dad gave me some tickets to The Foo Fighters concert tonight. I was wondering if you'd like to come along?"

Gabriel's green eyes lit up. "Hell yeah. Tonight?"

"Yeah ... sorry such short notice but I just got the tickets last night."

He nodded. "I'd love to go. Is it just you and me?" He smirked.

"No ... I invited Wendy and she's bringing Marvin."

"Oh..." Gabriel said sounding slightly disappointed.

"Oh and I'm inviting my ... brother," I felt my entire face glow as I said that.

Gabriel raised a brow. "Your brother? I didn't know you had siblings."

Now it was my turn to be surprised. Gabriel and I had never really hung out and when we had, we never talked about family. "How do you know I didn't have siblings?"

He grinned slyly. "I asked around."

I felt somewhat flattered that Gabriel would ask about me. "Well ... it's a long story. He's my possible half brother but I'll tell you more another time."

"Alright Sara Evans. Here ... let me give you my number and give me yours too," Gabriel took out his cell phone from his back pocket and began to key in my number. I keyed in his on my cell as well.

"Ok, be ready about five thirty since the arena is way across town. I'm picking up Wendy and Marvin and then we'll pick you up. I think my brother might want to come in his own car with his ... girlfriend." I hesitated to say girlfriend.

"Alright Sara. I'll call you." He winked at me and walked away slowly.

I noticed how my heart wasn't racing like it once did when I was around Gabriel.

That night, I was busy getting ready when my mom knocked on my door. I turned down the radio. "Come in!"

She walked in with a weak smile on her face.

"Hey mom," I said and turned back to the mirror to finish applying my mascara.

"Hi sweetie," she said and took a seat on my bed.

"What's up?" I asked and turned to face her.

"Nothing, I was just stopping by to see how you're doing."

"I'm fabulous mom. Dad is the best for getting those tickets."

She smiled sadly. "Yes he is. I'm glad you're happy sweetie."

I frowned. "Mom? You sure you ok?"

She nodded. "I'm fine. You're father and I are going to go have dinner later today and have some time alone to talk about things."

"You mean about tomorrow's paternity test?"

She nodded.

"Are you worried?" I asked and took a seat next to her.

"A little."

I held her hand. "Don't worry mom. I mean if the test says Dad is in fact Jack's father, then think of it as you gained a son. Jack is really a great guy mom."

She shrugged. "I'm sure he is sweetie. It's just ... I still can't fathom the fact that your father might have possibly made a child with another woman."

"Mom, it's not like he cheated on you or anything. He met Debbie first and they just have a little too much fun. But, it was you he married, not Debbie. Think of it that way."

My mom looked down. "But what if ... what if once he discovers Jack is in fact his son, he starts having feeling towards Debbie?"

I couldn't believe my mother was so insecure. "Mom, don't say that. Daddy loves you so much."

"I don't know sweetie. I mean you met Debbie. She's a beautiful woman. She's even younger than me."

"Mom, that's enough." I cupped her chin and made her look at me. "You're a gorgeous lady too mom. I want you to stop this nonsense about dad falling for Debbie."

My mother's face softened. "Thank you sweetie."

"Now go get dressed for your hot dinner date with dad," I teased.

She laughed softly. "Will do. Hope you have fun tonight sweetie." She stood up and kissed the top of my head.

"Oh believe me I will," I said happily thinking about seeing Jack.

After picking up Wendy and Marvin, I was on my way to pick up Gabriel. He only lived four blocks down from Wendy and Marvin had gone over to Wendy's house. I called Jack to see if Megan would be coming along after all. He said she would and that sort of left me with mixed feelings.

Gabriel rode shotgun while Marvin and Wendy talked in the back seat. The sun was already setting and the night breeze was pleasant. It was a great night to be out, even though it was a school night.

On the way to the concert, I filled Gabriel and Marvin about the details concerning my possible brother.

"Whoa! So you're dad was the playa huh?" Marvin asked in a very bad gangster voice.

"No, I wouldn't go that far Marvin," I said laughing.

"I think that's pretty cool though," Marvin added.

"Yeah and he's cute," Wendy chimed in.

"Cute?" Marvin questioned her.

"He's good looking, that's all I'm saying."

"Uh ... awkward! You're telling me this?" Marvin said sadly.

"Chill Marvin. You know I like you more than anyone else in this world," Wendy assured.

I looked over at Gabriel who just rolled his eyes. "So this dude is your brother or he says he is right?" Gabriel asked.

"Yup," I answered.

"Well do you have proof he's your actual brother?"

Oh God! Gabriel was beginning to sound like my mother. "Not yet. They are going to do a paternity test."

"Good, that's good. I wouldn't want some stranger claiming they're my sibling and then turns out they're not." Gabriel said.

I sighed. "Jack is really great. You know, even if the test results say he's not my brother I'd still like to hang out with him. He's really cool."

"And hot," Wendy added.

I pursed my lips and kept my eyes on the road. I felt Gabriel staring at me.

"Wendy..." Marvin warned her.

"I'm kidding darling. I'm kidding."

"You better be," Marvin said sounding hurt.

I didn't deny the fact that I thought my possible brother was hot. I think that only made Gabriel act the way he did later that night.

We arrived at the arena thirty minutes later. I searched for Jack right away. He had said he'd meet me by the ticket booths. No one was at the ticket booths of course since the concert was sold out. We passed by a few people trying to buy tickets off of us and then I finally spotted Jack.

He was wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt. I saw a girl with him and knew right away that had to be Megan. "I see him over there," I announced to my friends. We all headed towards Jack's direction. He smiled as soon as he saw me. I ran towards him and held him. I don't know why. It was as if I were seeing him for the first time. After we broke our embrace we both felt somewhat awkward I could tell.