Catch The Tide (Gabriel)

[Deleted]

Going to the AAA was brave and admirable. Gabriel possibly felt ashamed that such measures were necessary, but he had no idea just how proud Kiara was of him. While it did make her sad that he had stooped to such low level, she felt relieved that the man was getting help. Part of her hoped that one day he would be capable and willing of talking about it with her as well though. Things had been piling up, which in turn had led to him crashing down immensily hard. If only he could expose his emotions, she could have a shot at helping him to be happy. At the moment, it still seemed to be difficult for him to let anyone in. Kiara, however, wasn't going to give up on him. Keeping that in mind explained why she had decided to wait for him after the session of that evening.

It hadn't been hard to detect Gabriel's vehicle on the parking behind the building. Carefully, knowing how sacred Tina was to him, she had taken a seat on the hood. Blue eyes settled on the entrace (which was also the exit) before checking the time on her cell phone. One more minute and the digital digits would change into 8:00. It made her look over again, spotting two guys and a woman exiting the building. Now it would only be a matter of time before Gabe would step out as well. This conclusion subconsciously brought a smile to the blonde's lips. She hoped it had been a good session though. And she also hoped he wouldn't mind her having showed up there. Kiara wasn't even sure if it was something he would appreciate.

Not that she got a chance to mull on it any longer though. With that on her mind, the young woman hadn't spotted Gabriel already approaching the car. She was quick to shuffle of the hood, offering him a sheepish smile while readjusting her coat. "I was keeping the engine warm." God knows where that came from. Inwardly Ki cursed herself.

[Gabriel James]

Ashamed wasn't the proper word to describe how Gabriel felt about his AA meetings. He definitely wasn't proud of it, however. He had been convinced, enough, by Everett and Kiara that he should be proud of the steps he was taking to reach sobriety, but he wasn't happy that this was what it came to. Sitting in a circle of people and rattling off about their life problems, what drives them to the bottle, how they can improve themselves... it sounded fine in theory, but Gabe was convinced none of them could quite understand how he felt. Still, he was trying. And he'd been doing fairly well. With Everett's help, he got rid of or locked up all of the alcohol in the house. He quit his gig at the bar for the time being, and he promised himself that he would spend his Friday nights doing anything other than being at the bar.

He'd slipped up, sure. And he would probably slip up again. But he had kept his promises to himself for 2 weeks now, and that was the longest Gabe had gone without a drink in years. He felt pretty good about that, too. That wasn't what put a smile on Gabe's face after his session, though. It was the image of a blonde sitting on the hood of his car as he approached from across the parking lot.

Gabe smiled crookedly when Kiara suggested she was keeping the engine warm. "Oh well that makes sense," Gabe noted with a chuckle. "And to think for a moment I thought you were here for me," the man Joked, laugh lines pulling at the corners of his eyes. His gloved hands were stuffed in his pockets, and a grey and navy striped beanie covered his head, protecting the tips of his ears from the cold air. Winter was coming so quickly. "What are you doing here?" he asked curiously, not that he minded the woman's presence at all.

[Deleted]

The smile on Gabe's face was enough to make her day perfect. Despite the wide grin on the girl's face, she could feel herself melt within. He effortlessly took her guard down, so when the question was asked, it took her a few seconds to gather her thoughts. "Oh.. Oh!" Excitement immediatly took over, in both her actions and voice, as she spun around to pluck a small plastic bag from the hood. "I didn't want you to miss out on Halloween during the session!" Proudly, the blonde handed over the candy that had been gathered not too long before.

"Earned them myself. I sang in the shower and decided it was worthy of half of my candy storage. My own personal trick-or-treating especially for you." It possibly came across as childish, and it took a few moments for her to consider that option. And to remind her of the other reason why she was here. "That," she mused before sheepishly pursing lips for a second. "Aannnddddd I was kind of maybe hoping we could get some hot chocolate?"

In case that hadn't convinced him yet, Kiara quickly reached over to the bag in his hands, taking out whipped cream - hidden underneath all the candy. "With this?" While one hand held it up next to her head, the other was held under it as if she were promoting the item. In addition she tried to add a sensual and playful (in a joking manner) look. It probably looked more funny than anything though. And it earned her weird looks for his fellow session mates.

[Gabriel James]

As Kiara excitedly thrust a bag of candy toward him, Gabe took his hands out of his pockets to receive the offering. He chuckled when he realized what it was, as Kiara explained it, and opened up the plastic bag to peer in. It was full of all sorts of chocolates and chewy candies - the little kinds that people usually handed out to kids on Halloween. Gabe had nearly forgotten that the holiday was today. He had a bowl of candy sitting at home for trick-or-treaters, and had visited the Burlington Children's hospital a few days before for a costume parade. But Gabe had pretty much lost track of the days and not realized it was, in fact, the 31st.

"Thanks," Gabe said, but soon realized there was something else in the bag as Kiara reached in and grabbed the can of whipped cream from beneath all the chocolates. He raised an eyebrow at Kiara's sensual look as she promoted the whipped cream, suggesting hot chocolate. His face relaxed and he shook his head laughing at the look on the woman's face. He wasn't even paying attention to the weird looks from the others walking to their cars, but rather the sweet, funny, expressions coming from the blonde.

"Hot chocolate sounds great right about now," Gabe agreed to the invitation. He looked around, trying to see if Ki had driven or walked, but didn't see her car anywhere. "Come on, lets get out of the cold, he offered, unlocking his car so they could at least get out of the wind.

[Deleted]

The smile on Kiara's face said enough when the man accepted the invitation. She happily skipped to the other side of the car and slid into the passenger seat. "Also, since I knew that you could not turn down such offer and since it is Halloween, I have a surprise at home." No further details were being shared. She liked to tease him, to make him curious. When it was the other way around, however, the girl was prone to playfully mock and trying to fish for more information. Either way, the fact that her bonding with Gabriel had approved meant a lot. While she did not have a clue on where they stood, she happily settled for the platonic relationship.

During the ride back to her place, Kiara tried to ignore all the little kids walking the streets. She wanted to point and flail at the cute costumes, but it quite probably wouldn't do Gabe any good. The festivity possibly stirred some memories. It was why she mostly kept quiet. When the man pulled up at the apartment building, the blonde made sure to take the can of whipped cream and bag of candies with them. She was already fishing for the key by the time Gabriel locked the vehicle, and successfully plucked it from the pocket of her coat once they reached the entrance.

With the elevator out of service they had to take the stairs, but it wasn't too bad. Kiara hoped that her 'surprise' would lighten up the rest of the evening. "Wait here!" She chirped once they were standing in her small hallway. She shed her coat, thrust the bag into Gabriel's hands and rushed over to the couch where both items had been placed down.

A second later, the blonde was holding up a blue unicorn onesie. "I have a matching pink one. Because it's Halloween and all, and I didn't want you to miss out on it." Excitement radiated from delicate features. She hoped he liked it!