Chapter 1

I was walking down Buchanan Street in Glasgow, passing H&M as I saw him at the steps of the other entrance to Buchanan Galleries. I looked around and realised I could not hear a thing, yet the people around me seemed to be talking. I looked back at him as he stood up, in no control of my body at all I fell down the moment our eyes met.

I woke up in a bland room, with blue grainy walls and a curtain around whatever I was laying on. I looked to the end of the bed and saw what sort of resembled a shelf. On the shelf was a box of chocolates, a card that had already been opened and a bouquet of flowers, white lilies. My favourite flowers, but from who? How could anyone possibly have known this fast about what happened? Or so I thought to myself before looking at the clock which had the time and date. June 13th. 3 days! I had been out cold for 3 days! What the hell had happened to me for three days? I look around and press the button on the headboard to call for a nurse and soon enough a young lady was attending to me.
"How may I help you Jacob?" She asked quietly in one of those fake I'm happy to help voices.
"Where am I? And who are these gifts and the card from?" I asked with a completely blank look on my face. Sure, I was okay now, but I didn't know where I was nor did I know who had come to see me.
"You are in the Western Infirmary Jacob and those gifts are from a young man named Kaileb. He said he would be back to see you in… um… well he should be here now" She said almost too excited to actually be real.

"Hello stranger" I heard from across the room. It was him. From the street on the 10th.
"Who are you?" I asked him absolutely confused as to how he knew who I was.
"I am Kaileb, you don't know me but I have a feeling you soon will." He told me shortly.
"And why do you say that now?" I asked him, wanting to know more about this strange yet extremely beautiful young man sitting right in front of me.
"Because you are about to be discharged and I am taking you for coffee." He explained to me.
Looking around the room and pinching my arm to check that this was real, I finally looked back at him with a smirk on my face and said "And what makes you think I will go anywhere with you?"

Eventually he got me to agree to go for coffee with him, we went for coffee then for lunch and then we went to Kelvingrove Park in the west end of Glasgow. We had coffee at Costa Coffee on Buchanan Street across from the Apple Store, the decor was the same as every other cosa, with maroon seating and walls. Though I was not particularly concentrating on the coffe. I was more drawn in by his moss green eyes and that dimple which showed up slightly when he would smile at something I say. His great complexion and smooth jaw were just extra perks to the fact that he was actually a very interesting person. He told me more about himself, like how he worked in a restaurant waiting tables for over snooty customers and how he had to put on a smile even though he really wanted to kick most of them. His short brown hair was all in place with his fringe flicked over slightly to the right and his short hair at the back and sides perfectly lined out his ears and neck. He had a perfectly long neck with muscular features to his collar bone. He was just beautiful.

We left costa and went to a restaurant called Browns at George square across from Queen Street train station, it was a very nice place with a warm cocoa colour to the walls with nicely set tables with a candle and a single flower in a vase. A waiter approached us almost as soon as we sat down to ask what we would like for drinks and Kaileb ordered a dry white wine and a rosé for me. How he knew what I drank god only knows but he knew which impressed me all the more. We sat for another twenty minutes chatting about our daily lives and what we do and don't like about the country. Polotics, not a conversation I enjoy getting into, but for some reason with Kaileb it seemed appropriate. He didn't particularly take much of an interest in polotics either and the subject quickly changed again to ourselves. He told me more about his job and said that he received more money in tips than his actual wages. He was not a smoker (which I was really thankful for, as I do not smoke either.) He didnt drink much but on a special occasion or on a date he would have a single glass of dry white wine. That was the easiest thing to remember about him besides his boyish good looks. He told me about his mother and father and that he has a younger sister named Claire. His mother was an accountant and his father was in real estate. His younger sister was still in school. He then went on to ask me about my family and what I did. I told him my mom doesn't work and my father left us when I was little so I dont personally remember all that much about him. I have two sisters, Nicole and Tracy. I told him I have a dog named Harry and a cat named Mikey. He didn't seem bored with this conversation like he did with polotics. I asked him why he came to me in hospital and he told me that it was his fault, we shared eye contact and I fell so he felt bad.
"Oh so this is a pity date?" I asked him.
"No, not at all, I want to get to know the young man who literally fell head over heels for me." He said smiling and in a very light tone of voice.
"Well I wouldn't say for you, must have been the girl next to you." I said, slipping him a cheeky grin.
"Oh definitely. Because you are clearly into women." He said with a chuckle and a bump in his voice.

After lunch at Browns, we walked up to Sauchiehall street and continued down towards the west end of Glasgow.
He took me by the hand and my first reaction was to pull away and look at him like he was crazy.
"What are you doing?" I asked him quietly "Do you want to get us killed?"
"Jacob, calm down. We are safe here" He told me, looking around showing me that nobody was batting an eyelid at us.
I took a glance around to check that no body was going to come for us and after a minute of registering that we were safe I took his hand and we continued to walk across the junction. It took us about five minutes to get to the park from the end of Sauchiehall street, the trees all looked so fresh and beautiful in the summer. The people of the west end were mainly students and young couples with small children. The inhabitants of the park consisted of grey squirrells, pidgeons and ducks at the pond. We walked around the park five times and finally stopped at the fountain and spoke some more about daily life and made jokes about how much better we must know each other than most of our friends.

A good few hours later he took me back home to my house in the southern suburbs and even walked me to the door.
"Would you like to come in for a drink?" I asked him, hoping that he would say yes.
"Sorry, I actually have somewhere I need to be; in fact I kinda needed to be there a few hours ago."
I looked at my phone and realised that we had been out for over four hours.
"alright but call me okay?" I asked of him as he turned to walk to his car.
"Sure thing, I'll call you later" He said aloud from his car door.

I got in and waited for him to call me, another few hours had passed and he still hadn't phoned me. Oh well, I guess today was okay and so what if I don't see him again. He's nothing special. I thought to myself. And then the phone rang. It was him. Oh crap! What do I do? Should I answer? Should I leave it? I'll just pick up!
"Hello?" I said as I picked up the phone.
"Hey stranger, how are you doing?" He asked across the phone?
"Sorry who is this?" I asked teasing him.
"Don't be like that now, wouldn't you like to see me again sometime?" He asked me, to which I really wanted to scream yes. But that is not polite now is it?
"Yeah, that sounds nice Kaileb." I said to him "What were you thinking?"
"Friday, dinner with me at Buzzy's?" He asked me with a little upturn in his voice at the end of his sentence.
"Kaileb?" I asked.
"Yes, Jacob" He said.
"Tomorrow is Friday." I told him.
"Indeed it is." He said "Will you join me for dinner at Buzzy's?"
"Sure."
"goodnight Jacob"
"goodnight Kaileb"
And with that our conversation was over. Over. Until Friday when he would pick me up from my house for dinner at Buzzy's.

Friday morning came and I got up and showered and chose out some clothes. I picked out a grey teeshirt with no pattern on it, plain I went for plain. A pair of black jeans and my plain red shoes. Nothing special, just casual attire for the day ahead. I had almost forgotten about our date before I got an SMS from Kaileb reminding me about dinner. I had no idea what I was going to wear, I didnt have many clothes and those that I did have weren't particularly fancy nor were they appropriate for a date really. I had to go out and get some new clothes but had no money to buy any, so I SMS'd Kaleb back and told him I didn'y have any formal wear to put on tonight. He replied saying just to keep on whatever I was wearing. So with that I dried my hair off and set it in place, moved at my own slow pace to the kitchen and started making my coffee.

Later on that day I went out to the shop to buy some milk and bread, I looked down at the list in my hand and continued through the shop to the confectionary aisle. I saw my favorite biscuits there, they were the Cadbury's Finger biscuits. I had a feeling that Kaileb would come inside for tea and biscuits after our date. I continued through to the alcohol section and picked up a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. I know Kaileb likes his dry white now, as i said it was probably the easiest thing to remember about him. I looked at my watch and saw that it was already approaching two o'clock and Kaileb would be at my house at six.
I rushed home and as I got through the door, ran into my mom and younger sister.
"Why in such a rush Jacob?" My mom asked as i rushed up the stairs to my room to get everything clean.
"Got a date, need to get ready!" I shouted down the stairs as I heard them giggling to each other.
"That's nice, you finally found a girl. What's her name?" She shouted back up the stairs with a slice of excitement in her voice.
Before I could stop myslef from shouting down the stairs I yelled "Kaileb, really please don't bother me, I need to get ready!""Darling? I don't think I heard you right, what did you say her name was?" She called back up confused.
"I told you, Ka-yleigh!" I stopped and hoped I had managed to save myself this time realsing what I had just shouted to her.
"I don't think that was it, is there something you would like to tell me Jacob?" She called as she climbed the stairs and strode into my room. She sat on the end of my bed as I rushed to make sure my hair was brushed. She stopped and just looked at me.
"Did you say Kaileb darling?" She asked me as I turned to her and hung my head.
"Yes, I will explain when I get home mum." I said to her as I pulled open my wardrobe door and pulled out a faux leather jacket and swung it on.
"Can't we talk about this now?" She asked another question, difficult to answer, honestly I didn't know what to say to her. I just told her that he would be here soon and that I would explain everything to her when I get in later on tonight.

Six o'clock came and sure enough Kaileb was on time and rang the doorbell, I was out the door and walking to the car as soon as I got downstairs. He asked what the rush was, and I just looked at him as if to say Come on! He didnt argue and got into the car and drove out of the estate.
"Whats wrong?" He asked me turning his head from the road for a few seconds and then back.
"I accidentally told my mom that I was going on a date tonight." I told him. My whole body language had changed from the previous day, before I was completely open and talkative. Tonight I was closed, my arms folded over and my head hanging low into my chest.
"It's fine, she will understand." He told me and continued looking ahead at the road.
"No, you don't understand Kaileb, in my area no one is gay. no one." I told him my body beginning to shake.
"Calm down sweetheart" He told me "It will be fine, when we get back, I will be here if you need me and we can sit her down together and explain it to her.""Thanks" I said to him and began to loosen up. At least now I knew he wasn't going to ditch me in it and leave me to my moms wrath, he was going to take it up with her by my side.