The intern

chapter three

Eric was scanning the street for a familiar face. He thanked God - as he always did - that he had an idea of the other man's distinct features; his full lips, the small mole that moved with them, and his straight dirty blond hair. It was only then that he realised that they looked nothing alike.

Gabriel had multiple beauty spots sprawled across his face; one underneath and another on the edge of his lip. He had very few; three he knew of, placed randomly. Gabriel's hair was short and straight and sometimes not completely neat, not long enough to move freely if the wind prompted it to, whereas his hair was always kept tidy, without a hair in the wrong place.

Wait, how could be remember any of this? Eric was never good with faces or names.
Was I checking him out when we met or something? 
Eric was angry with himself, and made an internal note not to let his eyes linger on him for too long.

His eyes were tired, or rather simply giving up on searching for this stranger, when he noticed a hand waving in the crowd of customers near the entrance.

"Eric!" He quirked his hand up once more, this time making his way to him.
"I didn't think you'd respond to me, you know, after leaving me on read for a day and all."

It hadn't even been a day, yet. Or had it? That didn't matter. What slightly annoyed Eric was the fact that this stranger was addressing him by his first name. It didn't matter too much for him to say anything about it, so he'd just have to get used to it.

"Right. So, where were you gonna take me? As an apology or whatever?" Eric asked him, his tone a tad flatter than he intended for it to be.

"Oh, yeah! Actually, I didn't really think you'd respond, so the message kind of left my memory a bit."

What? Why the hell would he come through and say he wasn't busy then?

"Were you hoping for me to plan something?" Eric was pretty sure he disrupted whatever Gabriel was saying.

Gabriel nodded.
"That would be great."

Eric eventually came up with somewhere to go, after thinking for not a long time.
"I've got somewhere we can go, it's just down the road."

They arrived and were directed to a table for two, where they sat and ordered their food. The restaurant was fancy, clearly too much so for the likes of Gabriel. He knew he wouldn't be the one paying, and that both orders would be paid by himself. That didn't totally bug him, in fact, it didn't bother him at all. 

There was a clear awkwardness between both males, which made sense. Gabriel himself was an awkward person, as observed by Eric. Eric didn't feel the need to completely diminish the tension between them, and instead asked basic questions.

"So, Gabriel," Eric began. "Why'd you opt to study medicine? Is it not difficult?"

The man that sat across him have the question some thought, before answering,
"I guess I've always wanted to be a doctor? Any other field seems... How do I put it? I guess, less interesting? I'm sorry if that's a boring answer. Medicine has just been my calling for a long time, and have always had it set as my goal."

Eric thought about his answer. He wasn't completely satisfied with it, but he chose not to probe. He observed Gabriel's features once again, something he found he'd never get bored of. He noticed a few new things about his face:

He often looked down or to the side whenever in an awkward situation like this. It was a correct observation, in his opinion, because many other people did that as well. He also noticed how the other man would pout very slightly and briefly whenever presented with a thought provoking question. His eyes continued to trace Gabriel's features, when he noticed their waiter approaching from behind the other man. He placed each of their dishes in front of them, quickly putting the sauces and dressings they thought would be used inbetween them, in the middle of the table. After doing so, the waiter collected their menus and left.