Not So Geekular

Chapter Two: Scott

            "Come in," Gabriel yelled out and winked at me before heading over on his side of the desk. Walked in is his assistant: Hannah, who is very different from most of the women here. Well, she and Pauline are the two I'm comfortable with. Before speaking to Gabriel, she threw me a genuine smile and a little wave, which I returned to her with the same gestures. I zoned out while Hannah and Mr. Gabriel talk about some urgent stuff. Here and there, I would listen and get bits of their conversation. From the hear of it, it does sound very urgent, so as I grabbed his attention, I motioned the door and mouth-worded him that I'll come right back. Before I could dismiss myself, Gabriel dismissed Hannah, telling her that he'll get on whatever she informed him about and to remind everyone about today's monthly meeting.

            Hannah nodded and exited out of the room, closing the door on her way out. Once she was out of the room, I heard Gabriel sighing frustratingly and mumbling vulgar words as he got up from his chair. Frustratingly pulling the hairs on his head, he walked over and stood in front me; I was still sitting on the armchair. "I called you in for some debriefing on our percentages for last month, but now, I am put with more work and I still need to prepare for our meeting. Can we discuss this an hour before the meeting? We can discuss this when we go out for lunch."

            Never in my time working here has he asked me out for lunch, even if it's a business purposes. For months and months of hiding and keeping a professional appearance at the workplace, he had not once showed any affection towards me in front of anyone – not even his assistant who actually knows about Gabriel and I. Hearing about going to lunch together could be a step forward of releasing our status as lovers to the building. As my excitement burst inside, Gabriel clarified one thing, "So you'll go first and I'll head out ten or fifteen minutes after. I'll text you the restaurant and the reservation name."

            Like a needle entering a aired-up balloon, my excitement burst into pieces and replaced with sorrow.

            I quickly hid my change of emotion, but putting on a well-acted smile and giving him a stern nod before exiting out his office. I managed not to burst in tears as I left his floor, but Hannah could see how disappointed I was as she threw a look of sympathy towards me. The rest of my morning went by like a breeze and before it was lunch, Gabe texted me the place and the name. After getting there, being brought to a private area of that restaurant, and waiting about thirty minutes of waiting, Gabriel showed up with a hearted smile and we, then, had lunch.

...........

            For the rest of the day, everything went by so quickly. After having lunch, we went back to work, which meant the rest of the day of not seeing or talking to one another. Everything he asked in the morning, we talked it over at the restaurant. During the meeting, stuffs were going to be finished, some needed clarification, and some needed to be work on. Being beat and busy from today, I had a feeling of exhaustion as I entered my flat. Entering my flat, I quickly changed out of my working clothes into something more comfortable. I, then, walked to my kitchen area, grabbed out the chicken that's already pre-cut from the fridge along with some spices in the cabinet, and started to fry them for dinner.

            As the chicken was frying in the pan and as I was taking a look of the 'mysterious show-up' invitation, the door to my flat opened and walked in was Gabriel with his suit jacket hanging on his shoulder, his white button-up shirt out from his suit pants and the top two button un-buttoned. I didn't get to acknowledge him and vice versa because as soon as he saw me, he dropped his jacket on top of our white posh couch and headed straight towards me. Once he was an inch standing in front of me, immediately, his arms wrapped around my waist, squeezing me tightly, and he leaned down and planted his lips on mine, kissed me with raw passion and longing.

            Giving him the same feeling within my kiss, I slid my hands on his torso, feeling the soft fabric of his shirt, but also his hard, rippling muscles beneath the shirt. Tugging him closer, begging for a deepen kiss, he bit my bottom lip hard, making me gasp. He used that advantage to shove his tongue in my mouth, which granted my begging. We were too lost in our embrace and face sucking and the smell of the cooking chicken brought me back to my senses.

            "I forgot for a minute that I was cooking dinner," I mumbled against his lips, regaining my breath from that. His chuckle was very deep, very masculine, and it was a wake-up call to my lower region.

            "I'm sorry, love. All day I wanted to do that. I'll let you finish," he kissed me one last time before heading towards our bedroom, but first, he threw me a wink as he walked away. Couple of minutes had past and the chickens were all cooked. Gabe came out to the living room a minute before the finished cooking and he was now wearing cargo shorts and a muscle t-shirt; beads of sweat dotted his forehead, which meant that he went to his personal gym and did some workout. Putting the plated-food on the counter, I kept glancing over at Gabe as he casually sat on one of the couch and watched some TV show on the plasma TV.

            "Food is ready," I announced, grabbing his attention. Gabe looked over to me, showed me a big smile before turning off the TV and headed to me. Leaning down, he kissed me on the cheek and said to me, "Thanks love. Let's eat."

            We both sat next to each other at the counter with our food out front. He had a bottle of beer while I had a glass of water. We ate silently for a while. Since I finished before him, I headed to the sink and as I was in the midst of washing the dish, daydreaming as I do so, he brought me out of my reverie, asking the inevitable question,

            "Have you made up your mind? You know ... about the invitation?"

            Gabriel knew the situation; I told him on the third date we had – the very date to which he asked me to be his. Ever since that invitation came to us, once or twice a day he would bring it up, asking me if I wanted to go, if I wanted him to come along, etc. Moreover, every day of him asking, it all led to one exact answer; I don't know.

            "I –," I was about to say once more an 'I don't know,' but he interrupted me.

            "Do not give me that 'I don't know!' It's been a week or two now and from the voicemail this morning, your friend sounded eager to hear from you. Most likely, he's waiting for an answer ... and so am I."

            He got up from the barstool to walk and stand in front of me. Deliberately, he wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him; we are skin-on-skin at this point. "Love, do you want to go? I know what happened and it's been years since you last saw your friends."

            We both remained silent in our embrace.

            "Do you love me?" he whispered enough for me to hear. My head shot up and my eyes immediately stared onto his.

            I told him, "of course I do. Why would you ask that?"

            He just smiled and kissed me quick. "Because I love you and I know I'm not gonna lose you. I think you should go. See your friends again. You two were once best friends – ever since in diapers; I think he would want you there if he didn't send you an invite. Both of you had moved on, but yet, none of you made a move on retrieving that old friendship; on communicating with another at least."

            "Yeah –"I mumbled. "I guess you're right. Just to let you know though – the date had been pushed up."

            Gabriel chuckled and stepped out of our embrace.

            "We'll leave tomorrow then."

            He took out his phone from his cargo shorts as he walked over to the living room and dialed some numbers. "George, it's Gabe. Prepare the jet for tomorrow. I'll be going to America..." he glanced over at me and winked. "... Okay ... Great ... Have a nice night."

            Gabe was right. It's been quite so long that I've talked and seen my friends back home; years had gone by after what happened. In the beginning, they tried to get in contact with me, but no avail for them. After a couple of years, it all started to diminish and then all at once, it stopped. How did anyone know what I've been up to or where I'm working, staying; I do not know. Are they ready to see me? To hear from me? Would they hate me for years of exiling myself? Am I ready to see them? To see their new life?

            Am I ready to see Nolan's new life?