Re: Rafe/Gabe - Cabanas - 7:45 p.m.
His cigarette having dwindled to nothing, Rafael leaned down and crushed it out on the concrete. He dropped it and its predecessor into his empty cup, and settled back to enjoy his friend's presence for as long as it would last. His head canted on green mesh, his eyes ever on Gabe's. He told himself he was only watching the way the lights danced on his face, the way the wind blew now and then and stirred a lock of hair. These were objectively lovely things, irrespective of any feelings he still harbored.
"Oh, no. I want to stay," he said. "That's probably stupid, considering... but I like being here. I like being near my friends." Near you. "And it really isn't such a bad place, most of the time." He smiled, an off-kilter, unsteady thing. "You're stuck with me for now."