Memories Of Paris

𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐠

He's going back to her

That was all he was thinking while waiting for the clock to reach 2pm which was the time for Alex to leave. They still had about twenty minutes together to spend at his home, just sitting on the couch together.

Although they had spent two days together, he hadn't invited Alex to sleep over and he had slept at the hotel. That would have crossed a line already considering where their relationship was, plus Iris probably wouldn't like Alex sleeping at his house.

On the first day, there was his welcome back-party at the bakery where Alex had surprised him with a visit and yesterday they had spent a day at his home, just talking and hanging out together. He had even cooked them a dinner, nothing romantic but they had to eat something.

And he had loved it! Just for a while, he had forgotten all about Iris, Leo and everything that went wrong in their relationship in the first place. It had been a while since they had just had fun together that way.

But now reality hit hard when he realized what was waiting for Alex in Michigan. Or more like who. Once again he was reminded that Alex wasn't his anymore even if he wanted to.

He was prepared to make awkward small talk about the weather but Alex surprised him, "I think I'm gonna break up with Iris."

Although he heard the words, it took him much longer to actually register the words and even then he was questioning if he heard right. There was no way Alex had just told him that he was going to break up with his girlfriend, right? Not when he was just about to leave again?

He was struggling to find words that weren't selfish and very inconsiderate like are you doing it because of me? Because the chances of him being the reason were close to zero. They had probably been fighting a lot lately about something that had nothing to do with him which led to Alex wanting to end the relationship.

Still, the voice inside him kept screaming that there was also a chance that Gabriel was the reason. Very unlikely but he liked the idea. After all, he never forgot about Alex or stopped wishing for a second chance with him. And if this lead to them getting back together - and that was a very big if - would he be a rebound for Iris?

Realizing that he was once again overthinking, he took a deep breath and said okay because what else there was to say? What did Alex wish for him to say? One part of him wanted to ask questions but the other part didn't want to hear any details about their relationship. What if he was going to say such things as their sex was weird?

Neither of them continued the conversation and Alex was already looking like he regretted admitting the truth. "Why? Have you been fighting?"

Sighing, Alex shook his head and almost looked confused with the way he was frowning. "No, nothing like that. It's just... she's so great and beautiful and funny" why was he telling this? "And I just don't think that I'm... I mean... she deserves better."

Better than him? What did that mean?Had being with Iris lowered his self-esteem this much? Gabriel's mind was full of questions but he didn't know how to say them out loud. The way Alex kept talking made it sound like he did something wrong. Oh no, he hadn't cheated on her, had he?

Opening his mouth, Gabriel was about to ask more questions but then he saw the way Alex was looking at him. There was barely any space between them and the intense stare made it feel even less. As cliché as it sounded, it felt like everything else in the world disappeared and there were only the two of them left.

It felt like the silence continued for years but had to be only a minute or so. Swallowing nervously, Gabriel was the first one to break eye contact before taking a deep breath.