Memories Of Paris

𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞

He had it all figured out.

As he had told Gabriel, this was their second chance, a fresh start, new beginning. That was why he got the idea of getting the a new first date too. New relationship, new dates.

There was only one problem with that and it was trying to make even better first date than their first one. Although, it shouldn't be a problem since he had taken Gabriel to Louvre where he had visited about a million times before.

That wasn't their official dirst date, though. No, it was that day when they had gone to the Mexican restaurant and had talked for hours. That was when Gabriel had shared secrets about Cece and Leo while he had also shared stories about his past, the death of his parents and what it was like to grow up with Maggie.

But he liked that Louvre day too. Not only was it a success not only because Gabriel loved art but also because that was when he had realized how much more he wanted to get to know the blonde man he had just met.

Thinking about it afterwards, he had fallen in love with him that day already without even knowing it. But considering that he couldn't think of anyone else even then, he should have known.

Although he never blamed Gabriel, he had to put much more into consideration this time when it came to planning dates. With him on the wheelchair, it was harder for him to do everything such as skating. Alex couldn't even imagine how much it really bothering him even if he tried to look unaffected.

But he was confident about what he had planned for them tonight. He just hoped that Gabriel would like it too, especially because he would have to go back home soon because of work.

Ringing the doorbell, he waited and a few minutes later the door opened and Gabriel smiled at him from behind it. "Was this really necessary? You know, picking me up and giving me those roses? I mean, I'm assuming that they're for me."

It was a hot July evening which was why he was wearing a beige turtleneck t-shirt that had red flowers in it, brown pants with a black belt and white sneakers. Alex, on the other hand, was wearing a simple grey t-shirt and blue jeans with similar sneakers but only black.

"I told you that this has to be perfect! And yeah, they're for you," he mumbled and gave the yellow roses to him. Smiling shyly, Gabriel took them and rolled himself to the kitchen where he put them on the vase.

"I have a question," Alex started, not knowing what was the best way to approach this.

"Yeah?" he asked without looking up from the flowers.

Taking a deep breath, he almost took back his words but then he realized that this would be good for Gabriel too. "Can we use your car? I mean, we could use buses too but we could get there faster by a car."

There was a reason why he still went to work by a bus. He also knew that Gabriel hadn't even sat in the car since his accident and he didn't need to be Einstein to understand why. Something like that could really affect a person and give traumas that wasn't so easy to get over with.

Accepting that he was probably stuck in the wheelchair was one thing but going back to the car where he had lost his ability to walk was another, much scarier thing. And until tonight he hadn't mentioned it, wanting to give him time to deal with his fears without him pressuring too much.

It has been five months and maybe, just maybe someone helping him with it was exactly what he needed.

For a while, Gabriel just kept staring at the roses in front of him without saying anything or even acknowledging that he even said anything. It lasted so long that he was about to apologize but then he spoke again.