Josh had missed his opportunity to tell Gabi how he feels about her on the night he called off his wedding, when Cooper showed up.
Josh was devastated that she and Cooper were dating.
Yolanda tried to persuade him into telling her how he feels.
"She's with Cooper Yolanda, its too late"
Did you ever stop and think that maybe the reason she is with Cooper is because she doesn't know that YOU have feelings for her? Because YOU never told her. The last she knew you were going to be marrying Caroline, which she was devastated by, by the way. Tell her you have feelings for her, then if she still chooses Cooper so be it, but at least you will have your answer." She said before walking away.
Later that day Gabi brought him his lunch in the office. She greeted him excitedly and described the meal she had made him. He stared at her, nervously, trying to work up the courage to say what he needed to say.
"Looks delicious" he said, after too much silence
"Okay well enjoy" she smiled and started to leave.
"I love you!" he blurted out, stopping her in her tracks.
"You mean you love the food?" she asked, confusion on her face.
"Yes, but also you" he smiled adoringly.
He stood up to face her. "Gabi, I've been trying to figure out how to tell you for a while now, but I love you" he said, waiting anxiously for her response.
"What is happening?" she asked, unable to process what was happening.
"I love you Gabi" he repeated.
Finally she snapped out of her shock "No you don't" she said.
"I think I would know" he said annoyed at her blowing him off.
"Really? Would you?" she asked condescendingly.
"Yes, I would" he insisted.
"Lets just think about this for a second, a matter of months ago you were ready to marry Caroline, like literally a day away from it. I've never been engaged but that seems pretty serious to me. Then there was a random girl one night stand, Lauren was it? Or Laura?, you didn't even know then, followed by Jilly, then Shauna, then back to Caroline. When could you possibly have had time to fall in love with me Josh?"
He started to speak but she cut him off. "The answer is never! You're just doing that dog peeing thing because we slept together and you don't like seeing me with Cooper" she said.
"What does that even mean?" he asked, gesturing with his arms outstretched at his sides, frustrated with her not believing him.
"You're jealous of Cooper, again!" she said accusingly.
"Of course I am. I just told you I love you and he has you" he said, frustrated.
"Look, if you can honestly tell me you don't have any feelings for me, I'll never mention it again and genuinely try to be happy for you, with Cooper or anyone else you're with" he said honestly. "But what I said is the truth and I had to tell you".
She stared at him, contemplating.
"So do you?" he asked hopefully
She closed the distance between them and pulled his face down to hers, kissing him.
He was slow to react due to the initial surprise of what was happening.
Once he registered the incredible feeling of her lips on his, he wrapped his arms around her waist, securing her body against his. He opened his mouth to deepen the mouth and they got lost in each other.
Gabi immediately got a flashback of the first night they were together, the taste of champagne on his tongue as those kisses turned into a passion that wouldn't be stopped that night, which turned into feelings she couldn't deny, even now.
They slowly separated but kept their eyes on each other, their faces still close together.
Elliott entered the office "Ewww. Don't tell me this is going to be a thing, Josh is much too good for you and aren't you dating Cooper?" he asked, sitting down.
"Cooper" Gabi said, snapping back to reality and stepping back away from Josh.
"I gotta go" she said, not looking at him and hurrying out the door.
Josh looked at Elliott, annoyed at the interruption.
"Elliott, please come in, sit down, great timing" he said sarcastically.
"Well excuse me, I didn't think I would be walking in to you making out with your employee, especially because I've been trying for years" he said snarkily.
Gabi found Yolanda in the living room "I need you" she said, grabbing her hand and pulling her into the laundry room to talk.
"Damn, slow down Gabi, my wig is about to fly off. What's the emergency?"
"Josh and I just kissed" she said, smiling at hearing the words out loud.
Yolanda's face lit up and she smiled from ear to ear.
"Finally!" she said excitedly. "Now give me the juicy details, how was it?"
"It was incredible " Gabi smiled, a slight blush coming to her cheeks.
"I knew it, you two are hot, hot, hot together" she said emphatically.
"It was so hot. I've never had a kiss feel like that." She sighed. "But I need your help Yolanda. I'm so confused, I thought I was over Josh and that I love Cooper but when Josh told me he loved me I couldn't stop myself. I just grabbed him and kissed him and boy did he kiss me back" she smiled. "What should I do Yolanda?"
Yolanda took her hand "It sounds like you already know" she smiled knowingly.
"Thanks Yolanda" She said hugging her. "But I'm going to run away and hide from my choices right now. I'll see you tonight" she said and exited the laundry room and hurried out the back exit of the penthouse.
"So now what? Are we going to have to deal with Gabi 24/7?" Elliott frowned.
"I don't know. You saw her take off. But that kiss was amazing" Josh grinned thinking about it.
"There's no way it wasn't for her too. She wouldn't choose Cooper over me right?" he asked, hoping for confirmation.
"She would have to be a total idiot to choose anyone over you" Elliott agreed, making Josh smile.
"But she is, so I don't know" Elliott said, causing Josh to drop his head.
"Ugh. This is killing me" Josh said, running his hands over his face.
"I wouldn't worry, she's been into you ever since you got drunk and hooked up with her" Elliott said, putting his hand on his reassuringly.
"Thanks Elliott"
"How hilarious was it that you proposed to Caroline the next day" Elliott smiled deviously "in front of Gabi" he continued, laughing uncontrollably, as he got up to leave.
Josh shook his head "Goodbye Elliott" and went back to work.
They all went to the opening of Alan's karaoke bar that night. Gabi was catering the event and was making the rounds serving food.
She turned and almost ran directly in to Josh. He grabbed her arm to steady her. She looked down at his hand on her.
"Hi" he greeted her.
She looked over at Cooper and felt guilty.
"Hey Josh, appetizer?" she asked.
"Sure" he said taking one.
"Ok well I gotta keep serving" she said nervously, walking away.
"Yeah I'm gonna get a drink" he said, pointing toward the bar.
Cooper came up to her "Hey come take a break, I feel like I haven't had any time with my girl" he smiled lovingly.
"Uh, yeah I guess a minute wont hurt" she said.
"Great, let's sit down" he said taking her hand, and leading her over to the table with Sofia and Yolanda. Once they were seated he put his arm around her and leaned in to give her a quick kiss. She couldn't help but look over at Josh but he was talking to Elliott and hadn't seen.
Alan got up on stage to make his speech. "Thank you all for being here tonight to help me realize my dream of opening this place. But there's another dream that has recently come true that I want to talk about. Twenty years ago I developed a crush on the most amazing man and we shared a life altering kiss, but sadly we didn't get together back then. I didn't tell him how I felt, or it wasn't the right time, who knows what other dumb reason I came up with at the time, but I regretted it every day.
Josh and Gabi both turned to look at each other at the same time.
Recently, my new friend Gabbala schemed to get us together and it worked" he said smiling tenderly at Gabi, causing her to smile brightly back at him.
Elliott glanced over at Gabi with a side eye, not willing to give her any credit for his happiness.
"Well long story short, I'm never making that mistake of letting him go again" Alan said walking off the stage and over to Elliott.
He knelt down on one knee and held out an opened ring box.
"Elliott Park, Will you marry me?" he asked.
"Oh my God" Gabi said.
"Yes! I will marry you Alan" Elliott said excitedly, accepting his proposal.
Everyone got up to go congratulate them but Gabi walked away, needing some space.
Josh noticed that she took off and followed her.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked.
"No. because I have Cooper and he's great but its like Alan might as well have been talking directly to me with that speech"
Josh smiled. "It felt familiar to me too"
"I don't want to regret never knowing what we could be" she said.
He grinned and took a step toward her to kiss her but she stopped him.
"I have to talk to Cooper first"
"He already knows" Cooper said from behind Josh.
Gabi's face fell. "Cooper, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen"
"Well Josh did. He couldn't wait to swoop in and tell you he loves you. Bet he didn't tell you the whole story though did you Josh? Cooper said, looking at him.
"See there are some things you don't know. Like Josh first thought he loved you three months ago when he called off his wedding but then he changed his mind and got everyone else to lie to you to cover it up, Sofia, Yolanda, Elliott, they were all a part of it. Now he loves you again, I guess you'll have to see for how long this time."
"And how did you know that?" she asked, staring him down.
"Uhhh" he stammered.
"So you lied too"
Gabi looked at Josh, then Sofia, Yolanda and Elliott and knew it was true.
"You know what, screw all of you" she said storming out