Who | Gabriel Carlyle and Jennifer Cooper What | Anniversary-of-sorts! Where | Longfellow #22 for starters When | Freedom Day July 4th, late afternoon and onwards Rating | C for Cuuuuute Status | In progress
When you were a kid, relationships were somewhat more clear-cut. You asked a girl to be your girlfriend and she said yes or no. Then you decided not to be a pair anymore and that was it. As an adult, dating worked in somewhat different ways, at least for some. When Gabriel had first met Jennifer, he'd enjoyed her company right away, but he would never have dreamed that he would be lucky enough to be sharing a house and a life with her further down the road. He remembered the day the two had shared their feelings for each other - how could he not, he'd been the happiest man in the world at that point - but if he thought about it, they had been together before that. Maybe not officially, the way kids did it, but thinking back, there was no doubt that Gabriel had fallen in love with Jennifer Cooper the first time he'd met her.
As the fourth had come closer and closer, Gabriel had remembered last years Independence Day and the pleasant happenings of that day. It hadn't been anything special, apart from the fact that he had randomly wandered over to Jenn's place and whisked her away to a barbecue. Still, it felt like it would be appropriate to acknowledge that it had been a year since... Since what? Their first date? That was kind of what it had been, right? Gabriel felt like it had been and so he'd decided to make something special to honour the day. Being British (though now carrying an American citizenship) July 4th wasn't as big a deal to him as it was to some of his friends, so it didn't feel out of place to be focusing on his girlfriend rather than his freedom.
He'd convinced one of his brothers to distract Jenn for a few hours during the afternoon, so that he could prepare his little surprise. Now he was more or less ready for them to return and he kept checking the time as he finished up his preparations. He had no idea whether Jenn was thinking along the same lines as he did or if she considered the day to be anything other than what it was, but that didn't deter his entusiasm for what he was doing. He'd made food, the main detail of which were the red, white and blue steaks on the barbecue. Dubbed 'Freedom Steaks' last year, they were steaks dyed with food dye and he hoped that Jenn would remember them. Other than that, there was a small mix of pasta sallad with mushrooms, fruit cut up in fancy ways (well, as fancy as Gabriel could cut them, including melon fruit bowls), various dishes with finger food and a bottle of sparkling strawberry wine. During the occasional lull in preparation, Gabriel had even tied striped ribbons around some of the cats' necks - only on the ones who accepted them, of course - and the house was full of cats looking all dressed up for Independence Day.
Feeling like everything was done, Gabriel looked over the food once more before venturing out into the garden to check on the steaks. Once he'd made sure they weren't burnt, he moved over to the hammock and the little side table next to it, where he'd placed a little open jewelery box. Inside it was a modest but pretty display made up of small branches and summer flowers, with a necklace carefully placed in the middle of it. The white gold charm was a sun, the chain trailing over the branches around it.
Gabriel smiled to himself. He was ready for Jenn to come home now.