A Thousand Red Tulips

I rushed down the corridor and thrust the key into the door. I quickly opened Room 22 and rushed inside. I was late, very late. I ran into the bathroom and began to change. I looked at the time and threw my jet black hair into a messy bun.

"I'm late....I'm so late." I kept chanting over and over again. I slipped on my shoes and grabbed my bag while heading for the door. I was just about to open it when it swung towards me and hit me right in the middle of my forehead. I tumbled backwards and landed flat on my butt.

"Ouch" I mumbled to myself while rubbing the large bump that was forming on my face.

"Alex! I apologize!....I did not know you were behind the door." Gabriel yelled while panicking.

I smiled at his worried expression and he held out a hand for me to grab. He helped me up and we simultaneously burst into laughter. I noticed he was holding something and I looked down at his free hand to see flowers. Tulips to be exact. Gabriel had been buying me tulips non-stop since he was let out of the hospital. He said that they were beautiful, just like I was. I naturally blushed and he placed the flowers in a vase. I just stared after him. It had been exactly two weeks since he was let out of the hospital and I couldn't believe he was actually here.

He was still trying to adjust to the time period and all the machinery....he nearly took a heart attack when he saw the cars in the Hospital parking lot. He thought they were metal monsters. I chuckled as I remembered all the silly things he had done the past two weeks. I suddenly remembered I was late! It was crazy how I seemed to loose track of time when thinking about Gabriel.

"Gabriel...I'm so late for work!...Would you be interested in going to the mall?" I asked him.

"The mall...the place in which people buy many different things?" he replied in a confused tone.

I laughed "Yes exactly."

"Okay then, I will go with you." he smiled.

I grabbed his hand and tugged him out of the apartment. I decided to take the stairs because the elevator freaked Gabriel out last time. Once at the ground floor I waved at Frank
and he grinned at Gabriel and I. We made our way out of the front door and into my car.

Gabriel felt it was necessary to open every door for me...so he ran over to my side of the car and attempted to open it. I laughed as he grabbed the car door handle and tugged on it with all his might. I placed my hand on his and he looked up at me with a sad expression.

"I can not do anything right, not even open the car of the door." he stated.

"Gabriel, it's the "door of the car" and you can't open it because it's locked." I said while detaching his hand from the handle.

He gasped "Ohh okay." he said a little embarrassed.

I laughed lightly and unlocked the door. "Try it now." I said.

He hesitantly put his hand on the door handle and tugged on it. It opened smoothly and he grinned like a three year old.

I chuckled and sat down in the car, patting the passenger seat. He was still adjusting to it...so he slowly lowered himself down into it. I started the car and made my way to the local mall.

Once there Gabriel ran out of the car and quickly opened my door. I thanked him and grabbed his arm. We ran into the mall and his head looked like it was spinning. He was
looking in all sorts of directions but keeping very keeping close to me. I was about to step onto the escalator when I saw his face. He looked like he would rather jump off a cliff then get on the "moving stairs." I quickly changed directions and headed for the non-moving stairs.

I ran into the small music store in which I was employed and waved at a girl who was sitting at the register. She had dark brown hair and brown eyes.

"Your half an hour late Alex." she said in a chastising voice.

"Sorry! Hayley." I replied while tugging Gabriel into the store.

"I see you brought lover-boy with you" she said while wiggling her eye-brows and smiling.

I rolled my eyes and Gabriel laughed. Hayley was my best friend and the first and only person to know that Gabriel was from a different time period. 1861 to be exact. We communicated through an old book by writing letters to each-other. And I guess me falling in love with him was part of fates plan....now that I think about it...I haven't told him exactly how I feel. I shuddered at the thought of rejection and Gabriel looked down at me with a worried expression. I faked a smile and began to walk to the counter.

The work day went great. It consisted of Hayley and I answering the thousands of questions that Gabriel asked about the year 2010. I didn't mind them though. I felt bad that he had to leave all the people he knew to come and be with me. Once my shift was over Gabriel and I made our way out of "Stream Music" and towards the first floor of the mall.

The whole way to the car I was thinking. And thinking too much can be a dangerous thing with me. I was thinking about the little old lady....Elizabeth. Gabriel and I hadn't talked much about what had happened when he had been placed into Travis's body. I knew that Gabriel knew something about it....and I guessed that he was waiting for me to ask him.

I had made up my mind. Once we get home....I'm asking him.