When The Sun Sets

FIREWORKS

We all dedicated the days that came after to study for midterms. There weren't many classes to study for, but there was a lot to study about. Our exams were designed to test our reasoning skills by explaining and defending our answers to four questions on a single sheet of yellow paper. You had to be concise, but more importantly you had to back your statements with facts and supporting literature.

Hailing from a different department, Gab's tests were different. So he just studied like his normal ways while looking at the three of us furrow our brows, bite our lips, and frantically write our answers to the practice tests we made for each other. He's fully integrated into the Godfathers now. Sometimes he would workout with Tristan and John as I would take my gym classes in the dance hall. Sometimes he would play computer games with them while I sat comfortably in the cafe reading my book. But for most part, he would spend most of his time with me. We texted each other often. He would come over to my room bringing food. We'd watch tv series together, cuddle on bed, or talk all night.

Midterms finally passed and I could finally let out a sigh of relief. I wanted to celebrate this moment.

"Let's go somewhere." Gab suggested to me as if he heard my thoughts.

"Sure! Wanna come, Tristan?" I invited Tristan. He gave me this surprised and nervous look.

"Uhm, I'll pass. I have some things to do." He replied awkwardly as he looked from Gab to me.

"Okay... What about you, John?"

John scratched his head and declined my offer saying he too had some things to do.

"Where are we going?"

Gab smiled in excitement, "to the sky."

The streets were packed, every detour we took led us from one traffic jam to another. I was starting to get irritated as I can see the red glows from the tail lights and hear the beeps of cars honking in every direction.

"What the hell is happening? Traffic has never been this terrible?" I complained as there didn't seem to be any respite from all these jams.

"Try to sleep. I'll wake you when we're there." Gab noticed my annoyance.

He woke me up three hours hours later. He looked exhausted and I could only imagine how that would feel like. I've had my fair share of terrible traffic, but living within the city meant I didn't have to travel far so I didn't take that much time on the road.

When I got out of the car, I instantly hugged myself and rubbed my arms noticing the unexpected chill. I've never been in this part of the city where it was this cold. But this wasn't your regular part of the city, this was in the mountains. I could tell by the slope on the road. Gab took out two coats. I picked the black coat with a faux fur attached to the lapel. Walking on my left, he kept me warm by rubbing my arms. We got to the restaurant and Gab told the host his reservation.

"The Godfathers were in on this, weren't they?" I knew something was up. Those two would never, under normal circumstances, resist an offer for an adventure.

"I might've ran over the plan with them." Gab was proud of their little secret.

The host led us to a table overlooking the city. I don't know which view was more surprising. The beautiful skyline adorned with glowing warm lights or the candlelit table in the gazebo.

"What on earth?" I was still trying to process what my eyes were taking in. What on earth possessed Gab to take me out to a romantic dinner. Sure we've hung out more, texted more, kissed and cuddled, he slept over more, but we never made a thing out of it.