More Than That - Chapter 15: Friends & Lovers (Gwen/Luis)
by Jamie Witter
 
 

Chapter 15: Friends & Lovers

No greater sorrow than to recall in our misery the time when we were happy.
-- Dante

Luis watched as Gwen’s eyes widened and as she let her gaze leave him and shoot over to the intruder. Slowly, Luis followed and met amused brown eyes. Clearing his own throat, Luis let his hands drop from Gwen’s waist and forced a nonchalant smile to his lips. “Hey Hank.”

“Luis,” Hank smirked and then looked at the woman in Luis’ arms. “Gwen.”

After a moment of awkward silence, Gwen let her hands drop from Luis’ chest and she slowly took a step away. Pushing her hair behind her ear, she indicated the girls’ bathroom and stepped in its direction. “I – um, I’ll go take a quick shower and change. Excuse me.”

“By all means.” Hank was still amused. Luis glared at his friend but then looked down at Gwen and nodded. She quickly disappeared into the girl’s room. Luis turned around to face Hank again and watched as the smirk changed to a full-fledged grin. Pocketing his hands, he ran his tongue over his lips and then stuck it into his cheek. Luis rolled his eyes and then fixed Hank with a serious stare. Hank smirked again. “So, this is new.”

“It’s not as it seems,” Luis answered shortly.

“Oh so you weren’t kissing just Gwen Hotchkiss and you’re not sleeping with her?” Hank asked in mock seriousness. “Damn, I thought I nailed that one in the head.”

“You know what I mean,” Luis said as he rammed his fist into his hand. Hank had the most unusual knack for frustrating the hell out of him. He was so damn self-righteous most of the time.

“No, I don’t.” Hank answered feigning ignorance. “Pray tell what you’re doing with Gwen Hotchkiss of all people. I know this has got to be good.”

“Hank,” Luis’ voice held a warning tone and Hank raised his hands in surrender, laughing loudly as Luis’ relaxed the muscles in his jaw and started to grin as well. Leave it to Hank Bennett to get a guy laughing after being caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Luis thought wryly. I should’ve known.

“So you’re doing Gwen Hotchkiss?”

“Dammit Hank!” Luis said. “Would you just shut up for a second and listen to me?”

“Explain away!”

“I’m sleeping with Gwen,” Luis said with a deep breath. “But we’re not dating. I’m not sure what we’re doing exactly but I think this is what I need. Maybe this is all I’ve needed all a long. I’m just not cut out for real relationships.”

“So you’re having sex with the nearest unattached woman?” Hank asked raising an eyebrow. Luis shook his head. “Then what? If it’s not a relationship then it’s just sex. My only question is…why Gwen?”

“She’s a good person!” Luis replied immediately, jumping to her defense. “She’s smart, she’s fun to be with and she’s nice. I figured if I was going to have sex with someone, it should be someone who I at least respect.”

“Respect?” Hank asked looking confused.

“We have a lot in common.” Luis continued to argue as if Hank had never spoken. “We both know what it’s like to lose someone we really love. We both know what it’s like to screw up in relationships.”

Hank studied Luis’ face intensely for a moment but Luis didn’t squirm under his gaze. He was used to Hank trying to read his mind. Fixing his friend with a blank stare, Luis gestured for Hank to say something. What he said was something Luis hadn’t expected. “You like her.”

“Of course I like her,” Luis answered. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Hank just grinned. “Never mind, buddy. I just…I guess it was a shock. So this is the new woman you wouldn’t let anyone know about. I wonder how Pila – oh…”

“That’s right,” Luis nodded as the two friends sat down at a nearby bench. “Oh. If Mama or Theresa ever find out about this – it’ll tear my family in two. I don’t want to do that to them. Not when Papa and Antonio are back in our lives. And Paloma is moving back soon. Gwen isn’t exactly a family friend. The only person that knows is Antonio.”

“Antonio knows before me?” Betrayal was clear in Hank’s voice.

“He was home when I came back from Gwen and I knew if I didn’t tell him, he’d find out and get the wrong impression. It’s not something I wanted to do.” Luis explained.

Hank cast his friend a sidelong glance. “So you’re just waiting for your relationship or whatever it is with Gwen to end and hoping that no one that could get hurt finds out?”

“I don’t know what else to do. I like what I have going with Gwen,” Luis explained, looking at Hank hoping that he would understand. “I’m attracted to her. It’s not something I can control.”

“Wow,” Hank said slapping Luis on the back. “I’m feeling a major role reversal here. Aren’t you usually the one that helps me get out of tough situations? When did it change?”

“When you learned to hold on to the love of your life,” Luis answered instantly and looked at Hank. “True love always makes a man a better person.”

Hank’s smile was lopsided. “That was deep, man. Don’t worry. You’ll find her.”

“I thought I already had,” Luis answered; hating that he was letting the pain of losing Sheridan was attacking his heart again. He just wanted to forget about. He needed to forget about it. Hank nodded in perfect understanding. “Speaking of true loves, can you please not tell yours about this?”

“Buddy, she’s on her way here,” Hank informed. “She wanted to stop for groceries and she dropped me off here to try and convince you to catch a movie with us. There’s a chick flick she wants to see and I could use you to talk to while she cries her eyes out. But I can see that you have other plans.”

Luis grinned and glanced in the direction of the girls’ bathroom. “Yeah, I kinda do. Tell her I’ll take a rain check. Could you possibly leave before Beth sees Gwen here and asks questions? And promise me you won’t say anything.”

“I can’t do that, buddy,” Hank replied and Luis frowned. “Okay I will keep quiet but if she bothers me endlessly about it, I will tell her and swear her to secrecy.”

“Swear who to secrecy?” Beth asked appearing at the door of the gym. Both men stood up in a rush, smiling at her. Hank rushed to her side and tried to maneuver her out of the gym. “Hank! I want to talk to Luis. Why are you pushing me out of the gym?”

“I’m not pushing, baby. I’m mane - “ He was cut of by Gwen who picked that moment to walk into the gym.

“Luis, is Hank gone…” she trailed off as she saw Beth and Hank standing at the doorway. Hank looked apologetically at Luis and Beth’s eyes widen. Luis looked between Gwen and Beth, wondering how he was going to get out of this one. “I guess he isn’t.”

“What’s going on here?” Beth demanded.

Hank exploded. “Luis is sleeping with Gwen!”

Beth gasped, Gwen blushed furiously and Luis looked at Hank witheringly. “She sure had to beat that one out of you, Hanky.”

“Sorry buddy,” Hank said but there was no trace of apology in his voice. He was actually enjoying Luis squirm.

“She’s who you’re sleeping with!?” Beth asked, her eyes wide as she fixed them on Luis. She turned to Gwen and smiled slightly. “Sorry but he isn’t someone I expect this from. No offense.”

The color started to drain from Gwen’s face as she smirked. “None taken.”

The next five minutes were spent explaining to Beth what was going on and why she wasn’t allowed to tell anyone. After a lot of consideration, Beth nodded and looked at Luis like he was a new person. “This day is getting way weird. Hank, I say we just go to bed and skip the movie.”

Hank grinned. “You read my mind, baby.”

As the two waved goodbye, Luis rolled his eyes and shook his head at his crazy friends. Then he turned to Gwen, who was still standing beside the girl’s bathroom, all the way across the gym. He felt that there was too much distance between them. As if she read his mind, she crossed the room to him and picked up the picnic basket that lay in middle on her way. “Well that was certainly interesting. Are Hank and Beth always like that?”

“No, sometimes they’re actually amusing.” Luis joked. He held out a hand that Gwen immediately took. “You wanna get out of here?”

She smiled up at him as they made they’re way to the door. “You read my mind, baby.”

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Gwen laughed as Luis finished telling her a ridiculous story about Hank and Beth when they were in children. Luis’ own eyes were soft and brown and to Gwen they seemed almost magical. He was an excellent storyteller and his fondness and love for his two best friends came shining through with each word. From what she had heard from Sheridan and what she had seen of Luis when she had first met him, she had never gotten the impression that he was such a passionate person. She remembered thinking that his only passion was to put criminals in jail. Or rich people. To him, it didn’t make a difference.

But she had never him for what he could be. As she sat in his police cruiser, listening to him talk about his childhood and his family, she saw what Sheridan had seen. What people close to Luis could see in him. And she was glad she was allowed to see it too. When she looked away from Luis finally, she realized he had stopped in front of an ice-cream parlor. She turned to him with a grin. “Didn’t you have enough dessert for one night?”

“There’s always room for ice-cream,” he said seriously. “Do you want to come in?”

She looked around uneasily. “I think we’ve had enough people find out about us for one night. I’m not sure if I really want ice-cream anyway.”

“Well a small cone then,” Luis urged with a grin. “My treat.”

She caved and then thoughtlessly ordered what she wanted. “Okay, I’ll have vanilla. With colored sprinkles. Sheridan and I used to add tons and tons of sprinkles on our ice creams in Europe. She loves them so much.”

When she got nothing but silence from him, she met his sad gaze and then realized what she had just said. He looked up at her and gave her a small smile. “Yeah, I know. One vanilla ice cream with colored sprinkles coming up.”

“Luis - ” she started to say but he had already slammed the door shut. With a weary sigh, she rested her head against the seat and cursed. She was just trying to talk about her favorite memories with her best friend like he had. She meant to upset him or remind him. He knows that, her conscience soothed. But Sheridan’s a sensitive subject. Talk about your other friends.

She closed her eyes and ignored the stab in her heart. Was she going to have to walk on eggshells with Luis about Sheridan forever? Not forever, Gwen. You know that this will never last forever. He loves her too much. Isn’t that evident? But why couldn’t he open up to her? Talk about what he thought went wrong with Sheridan? Maybe that will help him. Help him to do what? Her conscience battled. Return to Sheridan’s arms?

That thought didn’t sit well with her, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it as Luis opened the door to her side of the car and handed her a vanilla cone. He was smiling, any signs of sadness gone. Locked up in his heart and safe behind that wall, she mused. She smiled gratefully as he leaned down and pecked her lips with his. “Would you mind if we stopped at my place before we head over to yours?”

“No,” she answered. “I don’t mind.”

The drive to the Lopez Fitzgerald was short and Luis didn’t say anything there. He drove with one hand and ate his ice cream with the other, occasionally glancing at Gwen. When he pulled up to the drive way and shut off the engine, he turned to her. “I think you should come in.”

“What?” she asked surprised as she glanced between his house and his profile. “You’re kidding right?”

“Nobody is home,” Luis answered. “Mama and Papa went out for dinner, Miguel’s out with Charity and Antonio doesn’t live here. It’ll take me some time and I don’t want you waiting in the car.”

“Okay,” Gwen answered slowly. “Just don’t take too long. I don’t want anyone in your family to walk in and I don’t want to have to explain anything.”

“Believe neither do I,” he answered as he undid his seatbelt. He leaned in closer and grinned. “Besides, I want to get to your place as soon as possible.”

Her lips curved and she reached up to touch his face. She closed the distance between their mouths and kissed him, losing herself in the moment. He responded eagerly and soon they managed to knock the kiss up to NC-17 as he pulled her closer and molded her body to his. The broke away, panting. “Hurry. I have very little patience.”

He laughed and they got out of the car and headed up the gravel path. He inserted his key into the lock and swung the door open. They rushed inside and entered the living room, stopping short as the people in the room turned to see who had come in. Gwen’s eyes widened and Luis froze in the act of putting the keys on the nearby table. Gwen looked up at him briefly and saw his jaw tighten and his fists curl at his sides. “Ethan, Theresa…Sheridan…hey.”