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It was a normal day. A day in which repeated itself to the short man.
He had woken up rather early in the morning, early enough to see the sunrise but wasn't tired in the least. He took a shower in the dark as the sunset shined into his small bathroom and granted him with as much light as he needed.
Running his fingers through his conditioned golden locks the scorching water drapped down his tense back and smoothly slid down his face dripping off his nose onto his parted lips but never exactly slipped into his cavern. The thick liquid was slowly but surely rinshing out of Gabriel's hair and he picked up his razor for a nice long shave down. His skin was soon turned to scratchy to a smooth texture well, except for his slight stubble his body was cut and sanded.
Gabriel wasn't exactly doing this for fun, it was sort of his routine every spring.
When the soap and conditioner was washed out he turned the water off and grabbed a towel drying himself off in the now sunlight room he shared with no one but himself. He dried quickly but effectively and swiftly slipped on some pants and boxers along with a faded flannel and his usual- favorite might I add- jacket.
He was dressed, he was dried, he was ready. He hung out in his living room watching TV to pass the time. When time came though he ran fingers through his silky hair and set it in a style he liked and grabbed his house keys before leaving his house and locking the door behind him. He took in a deep breath and prepared for failure today.
He walked around town toward an office type looking building which hung up a sign of schedules on the glass sliding doors and walked in to the room he had come to know by heart. He made it down halls and through a set of two doors to a room which was large. He sat down in a random chair and waited for people to spill in. When they did, he waited and blocked everything out and no one bothered him either which was an upside.
"Welcome to the Lonely Hearts Club, I'm your leader Charlie Bradbury. Welcome any new members, your stay will be delightful and if you need any thing answered-"
'Come see me after circle hour' Gabriel plays in his head finishing the redheads talk. He finally started to pay attention and already...Gabriel is bored. Bored because he's heard this speech so many times. Gabe has been in this club for about six years now in the beginning of January, this lasts until December and they have a going away party on New Years.
Basically this program is like a dating website in real life except takes the normal aspects of online conversations and helps you do more than sext. The building is a small yet spacious building where lonely single people go to meet other people and hopefully find love. Though it usually works for many others, Gabriel wasn't as lucky as others.
It's a really accepting place where you get stickers of your sexuality on you which you wear every time your here so no body makes any mistakes and they're even nice enough to put definitions of them on the wall. So you basically can meet different people and get aware of many other peoples struggles because of who they are. You also get a pronoun sticker so you feel welcome and at home.
No one judges you. No one bullies you. It's the best thing to ever happen to the lonely man, Gabriel.
Only downside?
He can't seem to find love. I'm starting to think God's not on my side Gabriel thought to himself.
Circle hour would start after you fill in an information form and give it to Charlie but Gabriel had the same tattered form since the day he started. It was wrinkled and had a small red stain from the time Gabe dropped his saliva lathered lollypop on the paper. Of course he'd cross out the date and his age but that was all he did, never had the heart to make a new one. It'd make no sense... Not like his paper would be framed with a picture of him and his lover will be on the wall of matches. There was about two thousand frames on the wall he couldn't stand the pain in his heart when he saw that.
"Hey I know I'm kind of late but... I can still sign up right?" A new voice Gabriel had never heard before piped up. But Ididn't pay attention, all of these voices besides the leader and other helpers were new to him. Gabe grabbed a red lollypop from his jacket pocket and unwrapped the white plastic and popped it into his mouth getting the nice taste of cherry in his mouth as he got lost in his thoughts. He didn't realize circle hour started as people filled empty seats.
"Let's start with the late giant" Charlie suggested getting down from her podium and switched seats with a rather tall attractive man clearly embarrassed about Charlie's remark.
He got up to the podium and adjusted the mic a little and cleared his throat. He didn't seem that knowledgeable about what he wanted to say. Charlie suggested to start with simple things like what you'd inform a boss like you were an employer and if confident open more.
"Hello, I'm Sam-" He was cut off by the group repeating 'hello, Sam' "I'm twenty three. Um... draw a circle that's how straight I am, heh" Laughter sprung among us but only chuckles and smiles over his little joke. Gabriel was starting to like him, he was interesting. "That's all I have to say" he stepped down and Charlie took her spot again.
And that was literally the rest of the day. Gabriel however refused to stand up and talk because he'd said it already for those sad first four years and it was becoming sad. He could sense the pity radiating off of Charlie. She's tried to set Gabriel up with someone as well but it just goes downhill. I'm greedy for attention, I'm annoying, I talk too much, I'm a walking bag of diabetes, I'm just unlovable.
The same routine happened afterwards. Gabriel watched as people mingled and he just sat by the snack table snacking at the sweets stuffing his face with as much cake as he could. Gabriel sat in the small corner of the room after stuffing his face without being noticed too much and stalked the tall guy who was talking to Charlie asking questions sometimes glancing back at Gabriel which made him shift his eyes wondering if he really is looking at him.
Gabriel then wiped his mouth with his jacket sleeve not wanting to cast attention on himself more.
"Hey, I'm Sam" Sam greeted a hand held out to Gabriel who was a bit taken aback. No one just ups and talks to him, not once. Unless it was Charlie pushing him to talk to someone. Gabe was an awkward bean.
"Huh? Oh" Gabe noticed his hand reaching his hand to shake the tall mans hand which was large compared to his own and they fit perfectly with Gabriel's.
"I couldn't help but notice you didn't speak like everyone else here did. You were distant the whole time as well, thought you might need a friend"
Pity, great Gabriel thought
Sam pulled up a chair and sat next to Gabriel, facing him.
"I honestly understand though..." That made Gabe do a double take. Was this guy seriously trying to do the whole 'I understand your pain' method his family used to do? "I fell in love with people and-ahem" He cleared his throat "It didn't end well either, I know what rejection feels like, Gabriel" His name rolled off of Sam's tongue as if he had said it a million times before. Like he knew Gabriel for years and they were best buds talking about their feelings.
Then swiftly and quietly Sam got up. Just up and left without a word and deep down Gabriel, pissed and stubborn and all, had missed his presence and the sent of fresh crisp leaves Sam brought with him. He had to see him again, to talk to him. Gabe knew this wouldn't be the last time he'd see Sam though, they were in the same building for hours together. When more talks and trust exercising and mingle hour started Gabe had looked for the tall guy but couldn't even find him as he was practically drowning in conversations Charlie forced him to have with other people.
