About ten minutes into the movie, Ba realized that she does not care about it. She never liked superhero movies; they are exaggerated with shallow characters. The only good thing was special effects, but after several explosions, the next ones look more-less the same.


    Ba was too full to eat the buttery popcorn, so she ended up sipping soda.


    To keep her mind busy, she mentally revisited thest few hours while trying to engrave every moment into her memory before it fades away. His expression when he gave her flowers, how he nced at her during the car ride when he thought she is not looking, and the dinner.


    Considering their almost-fight when they arrived at the drive-in movie theater, the movie part didn''t start well, and this now is not very enjoyable. She would rather do so many other things that toy on this hard hood of Gabriel''s car and stare nkly at the movie while pretending to watch.


    Ba exhaled. Dating and rtionships are aboutpromise, and at least Gabriel is having fun. Right?


    She turned toward him and held her breath when their eyes met. How long is he watching her?


    "Are you not interested in the movie?"


    "I am more interested in you.", Gabriel said with a smile.


    Ba was unable to prevent herself from blinking. She was never this anxious. "Oh… What about me?"


    "You said that this is your first date. I can assume that you previously rejected many invitations. Why did you ept mine?"


    "I didn''t have many invitations. First, I was moving so much that I didn''t have time to meet people or make friends. It''s not that I was not interested, but I was too busy adjusting to the new environment and the local school system. And when I finally settled in Los Angeles, I was upied with catching up. Now, high school ended, and I am on a break until college starts. Other than preparing in advance for my uing courses I don''t have much going on so…"


    Ba stopped talking when she saw Gabriel''s frown, and his next question was not out of her expectations.


    "If someone else asked, you would ept?"


    Ba''s frustration was bubbling. "What do you want me to say, Gabriel? That I have a secret crush on you for thest few years and that I was waiting for you to make a move? The truth is that I heard that you work for Steve and a few other stories rted to you from my dad, but I found out how you look only three days ago. You are handsome and you seemed nice, and I decided to give it a shot. It''s not like I epted to spend my life with you. It''s a date. One evening. We should get to know each other and hopefully have a good time, and if it works out we can decide to meet again. But that''s it. Don''t tell me that I am your long lost love because I would not believe it. And if you are trying to pull off some double standards where your previous love life is OK, while I should be a maiden with eyes only for you…"


    "Stop, please…", Gabriel interrupted her. "You are working yourself up for no reason."


    Ba exhaled. He is probably right. "Did I answer your question?"


    "Yes. I wanted to know if you epting my date invitation was a random thing or not."


    "And?" She was not sure how much he picked up from her rambling.


    "You said that I am handsome and nice.", Gabriel said smugly.


    Ba felt a knot in her throat. Of course, he picked up thepliments. Well, he is not wrong, but his smugness is mixing with possessive behavior and that is spoiling all the sweetness he usually showers her with, and she is not sure what to think. Ba decided to ask some questions of her own. "Why did you invite me?"


    Gabriel was surprised that Ba returned the question to him. "I''ve hit a hard patch and I was depressed for some time. When I met you at Jeff''s house… I was not depressed. I wanted to confirm if that was a fluke or not."


    Ba made a face. "So, for you… I am an antidepressant. I was called worse."


    Gabrielughed. "It''s not that simple. Ba, you are a wonderful girl with a contagious smile, breathtaking beauty, and spunk I never saw before. When I look at you, I forget about all the bad things and I can''t believe how an amazing person like you has such low self-esteem… but, that is all part of you and I can''t say I dislike it because if you are more confident, you would probably not give a broken man like me a chance."


    Ba was not sure if she is breathing. Her heart thundered at all thepliments Gabriel threw at her and Ba wished that she recorded him so that she can hear it again because she was not sure if he really said all those things or if she imagined it.


    She thought how this is a good opportunity to get closer, hug him and maybe even kiss, but there was a tray with popcorn and two sodas in-between them so that was not an option.


    "Ba…", Gabriel called. "I hope that you can keep in mind that I have no intention of taking advantage of you. No games. OK?"


    Ba nodded in response.


    He was happy that she agreed. "Since you said that we should get to know each other… tell me something about yourself. Something I don''t know."


    Ba thought for some time. What can she say? "Hmm… I suck at sports."


    "Which one?"


    "All of them."


    "Impossible. You must be good at some."


    "I''m not lying. Everything I tried, was a failure.", Ba said dejectedly.


    "How about horse-riding?"


    "I never tried that."


    "How can you say that you are bad at all of them if you didn''t try something so elemental as horse-riding? Let''s check your theory tomorrow."


    Ba made a face while he spoke. Only rich people call horse-riding <em>''elemental''</em>. Normal people don''t have ess to horses and stables and trainers and whatnot. But her iing sarcastic remark was cut off when she realized thest part he said.


    "Tomorrow?"


    Gabriel hummed in confirmation. "Unless you have something else nned, we can go to a club and I can show you how to ride a horse. By end of the day, if you don''t learn, you can fail me as a teacher…"


    "Will I get a reward if I''m a good student?", Ba asked cheekily.


    "Sure.", Gabriel responded without missing a beat. "How about… If you are a good student, you will taste the best angel food cake in the world."


    "What if I fail?"


    "Then you pay for the cake."


    Baughed. It seems they will have that cake one way or the other, and the only thing pending is who will pay for it.


    Gabriel and Ba chatted in a light atmosphere until the movie ended. Neither of them paid attention to the movie.


    ---


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