GABRIEL

Not too long after Shane left, Gabriel woke up. He yawned and stretched and walked into the bathroom.

As he took a shower, all he could think of was Shane. He was perplexed because in his past, women would have died to stay as long as he'd have them in his presence and he'd make all kinds of excuses to get away from them as soon as possible. With Shane it was the exact opposite. She was not one for morning after pillow talk. Whenever they'd spent the evening together at her house, she would find excuses of getting him out so she could "run her errands" as she had said on several occasions.

"It's not that I'm trying to get rid of you Gabriel honestly." she pleaded. "I just have so many things going on in my head and I can't seem to compartmentalize them into anything more than chaos right now."

Gabriel took Shane at her word and went on deciding that after time it would work itself out. But now after having had such a terrific night at his place he couldn't figure out why this wouldn't be the moment of change into a true coupled relationship with time dedicated to it and moments spent with no agenda other than being with one another.

After he was dressed he logged onto his computer thinking she might be online and he'd be able to send her a greeting message. When he didn't see her "light" on he signed off.

"Ok That's it, I am going to let her chase me for a while." he thought.

Just then Gabriel's phone rang. He looked at his caller ID on his cell and saw that it was his best friend from Italy, Max.

"Ciao?" said Gabriel.

"Salve a voi! " Max said in return.

"Ahhh, How are you? Tell me, Tell me, why are you calling?" Gabriel said excitedly into the phone.

"You never get in touch with us lately Gabriel, what is the reason?" Max replied.

"Work, life, no excuse really, what is going on there?" Gabriel continued.

"You should come for a visit my friend, too much time has indeed passed!" Max told him.

Gabriel agreed with his friend and told him, "You know, How's tomorrow? I can be there late evening. I do need to get away"

Max laughed, "Well I was not expecting such an answer from you, this is good news and I await your arrival. Call me when you have flight details"

Gabriel agreed happily and hung up. "Wow, that was a rash decision!" he thought.

As he went to pack a few clothes into his suitcase Gabriel thought about how he would tell Shane. "Wonder if she'll even notice that I'm gone".

He went back into his den and picked up his cell phone and called her. She had been a little preoccupied while talking to him but seemed glad for him to be able to go home to see his family and friends. It was not that he was too expectant of her to say much in protest but Gabriel did feel a little bit of resentment that Shane didn't seem to linger in conversation with him since he would be leaving soon to be across the other side of the world. They agreed that he would call as soon as he was settled into where he would be staying in Italy.

When Gabriel mentioned to her that he wanted to talk soon in depth about their relationship, Shane agreed that they would just as soon as he got back. Being too early in the relationship to declare love to one another they uttered pleasantries and then hung up with each other.

The rest of the day Gabriel packed and prepared for his trip spending the early evening watching television with his roommate and then heading to bed to get a jump start on the looming jet lag.

Lying in bed with his hands above his head on his pillow Gabriel looked at the ceiling and thought about Shane and wondered what she was doing at that exact moment. He wondered if she was thinking about him too as he slowly drifted off to sleep.