“Reid? Is that you?”
Reid turned at the familiar voice, smiling when he caught sight of who it was.
“Mia,” he enthused, grinning at his old classmate. “That dress looks amazing on you.”
She always came to these things looking good. She’d always been big on attention to detail, and she’d gotten him out of a scrape or two in college.
“It’s so good to see you,” she said, glancing at Gabriel.
Reid blushed, realizing belatedly that he was being rude.
“Uh, this is Gabriel. He’s a rocket scientist who just got back from space.”
“Wow.” Mia looked between them, blinking. “Quite the power couple.” She beamed. “You must be so proud of him.”
“I am,” Reid said, moving his hand to squeeze Gabriel’s.
He was proud.
Not just of Gabriel’s achievements—which were awesome—but ofhim, for being here, for standing by Reid’s side, for not letting his fear stop him.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Gabriel said, offering his hand. “I’m also very proud of Reid, for the record,” he added.
Mia laughed at that, shaking Gabriel’s hand and grinning at him the whole time. “Well, I like this one best so far,” she said. “Your dates are usually so…”
Reid blushed all the way to the tips of his ears. “Can you not?”
“I’m teasing,” Mia said. “But I can tell this one isn’t just some guy you picked up and offered a free meal, so…”
“Do you… did you do that?” Gabriel asked, turning to look at Reid.
Reid shrugged. “I hate going to these things alone. But now I don’t have to, because I have you.”
“Aww,” Mia said, sighing a big, dramatic sigh. “Cute.” She glanced over Gabriel’s shoulder, waving to someone else behind him. “I gotta say hello to everyone else, but congratulations if I don’t catch you again! Totally worth letting you use all my lecture notes in college.”
Reid chuckled, bending down to let Mia kiss his cheek as she left.
“She seems sweet,” Gabriel said.
“She is. She was a big help to me in college.” Reid squeezed Gabriel’s hand again before letting go. “That wasn’t so bad, right?”
“That was amazing,” Gabriel said, his eyes glittering in the low light of the lobby. “People here know all your secrets. I’m gonna find out so much.”
Reid laughed nervously, but really, there was nothing he wanted to hide from Gabriel. He wanted to be open and honest, always, from here on out.
He wanted a future with Gabriel. He’d never wanted that before, not like this. Not so deep in his bones.
This was one of the best nights of his life, but not for the reasons anyone would have suspected.
“You’re so lucky I’m in love with you,” Reid murmured. “I wouldn’t let justanyonefish for embarrassing stories.”
Gabriel grinned at him. “I promise to defend you if anyone says you’re less than perfect.”
“And I promise that there’s a reward coming for not leaving me to face all these people alone,” Reid murmured, smirking.
He intended to make sure Gabriel had a good night so he’d want to keep doing this.
