Chapter 5 #2
The Biergarten served classic American bar food with a Michigan twist—juicy burgers with cherry maple bacon jam, nachos with local Michigan cheeses, house-made brisket with a delicious spicy apple glaze, and fries with the best aioli you’ve ever had.
All the beer served at the Biergarten came from local breweries, many of which were owned by people Gabriel knew personally. He also knew the owners of Lakeside Biergarten, which was one of the reasons he’d suggested it.
His best friend in the world was Aubrey Wozniak.
They’d grown up together, raising hell during their years in the Orion public school system.
Her parents had owned and operated Lakeside Biergarten for Gabriel’s entire life, and Aubrey, though she now had a job teaching English down in Grand Rapids, often picked up shifts at the Biergarten when she returned to Orion for the summer.
Before leaving his cottage to go to the Biergarten, Gabriel had texted Aubrey to let her know that he had a date tonight at the Biergarten.
He asked if she was working that night, and she told him she was.
She’d keep an eye on him and his date, and would report back about how she read the vibes.
Even when she pressed, he didn’t tell her who the date was with.
From what he’d gathered, Drew wanted to keep his presence in Orion rather discreet.
Gabriel was determined to find out why. He knew that Drew had sustained a minor injury in the Crawford Cup, but that couldn’t be the only reason he was hiding out in a small corner of Michigan.
Gabriel got to the Biergarten early and, while he waited in his car outside, did something he had been debating. He wasn’t sure if it was appropriate or not, but he was curious, and his curiosity got the better of him.
He looked Drew Moreau up online.
His search returned millions of results instantly.
Drew’s biographical and professional information was immediately available on the Internet.
Gabriel didn’t look at all of it. He didn’t want to go too far, because he knew that would be inappropriate.
If he and Drew were going on a date, he wanted it to be fair.
There was next to nothing available about Gabriel on the Internet, because he hadn’t done anything that the public would deem worthy of putting out there.
If Drew looked him up, he might find Gabriel’s LinkedIn or a few articles about his time in college when he’d done some stuff with the University of Michigan business school.
Whatever he found, though, would not be as much as Gabriel could find about Drew.
Most of the information online about Drew was related to his long and illustrious hockey career.
Gabriel liked hockey and followed it casually, but he wasn’t familiar with the extent of Drew’s career.
He was a very talented player and had played with the Boston Minutemen for his entire career.
He was one of their staple players. He was known for his quick, focused, precise playing style.
From what Gabriel could tell, he was well-liked by his team and well-liked by the press.
He didn’t give many interviews, but when he did, he was personable with the reporters.
He was discreet about his personal life.
Various tabloids had linked him to different models, actresses, and influencers over the years, but nothing had ever been confirmed.
He seemed to keep to himself and kept his circle small.
Based on a few paparazzi photos Gabriel found, it looked like Drew favored summers spent in international locations, though he wasn’t known for a hard partying lifestyle.
Gabriel was undeniably intrigued by Drew.
He was very masculine, as well as kind and personable.
He was easy to talk to, though Gabriel wondered if that ease would translate now that he knew of Drew’s fame.
He had no experience interacting with celebrities of any kind, including professional athletes, and he worried that he would stick his foot in his mouth during dinner.
He hoped that he wouldn’t. He liked Drew, and he wanted Drew to like him.
He didn’t want Drew to mistake him for a fan, someone who saw Drew as an object rather than a person.
He wanted his genuine interest in Drew to show.
He thought Drew was very attractive, very handsome, and very interesting.
There was no public indication that Drew was queer, but Drew had said that dinner was a date, so Gabriel was willing to take him at his word.
Though, he supposed, there could still be some level of misunderstanding between them about what a “date” meant.
He didn’t want to overthink that now, though, and so he decided, again, to just take Drew at his word.
If there was confusion, they could clear it up directly and maturely, like adults.
His only other concern was their age difference.
Gabriel was twenty-three. He felt old for his age, whatever that meant, and everyone always told him he was mature and thoughtful for someone so young.
Even so, he knew that twenty-three was young.
He was only a year out of college and didn’t have the benefit of much life experience.
He liked to think that he had grown up quickly, not from anything traumatic, but simply because his parents had raised him and his siblings to be mature.
Their parents had treated them like full, intelligent people since they were very young, never babying them or talking down to them.
If Gabriel or his siblings had ever had a question when they were children, they were given a straight answer.
They were expected to give straight answers for themselves, too.
His father’s sudden illness last summer and his return to Orion to run the hockey camp had also forced him to mature rapidly. He had suddenly been in charge of a full staff, overseeing the entire boys’ camp, and working alongside his mother to make sure that the girls’ camp was running well, too.
Drew, on the other hand, was thirty-one, according to information readily available online.
He was eight years older than Gabriel. That wasn’t an insurmountable difference, but it was notable.
Gabriel didn’t want Drew to see him as a child.
He knew there was a significant difference in their life experiences—the mid and late twenties were important for personal development—but Gabriel hoped Drew would see him as someone who was mature, wise, and thoughtful.
He realized he was getting ahead of himself.
They had gone on one walk, had really only interacted twice, and hadn’t even gotten dinner together yet.
There was no reason for Gabriel to spiral about things like this, yet.
There was never a reason to spiral, he imagined himself.
Before he got out of his car, he did some breath work to interrupt the spiral of unhelpful thoughts.
He told himself a series of affirmations he knew were true.
His worth was not tied to what anyone else thought of him.
He did not need another person to complete him.
He knew his own character, and he had integrity, and that was enough.
If something was meant to develop with Drew, it would.
Gabriel could not, and should not try to, control the outcome of this situation or any other.
All he could, and should, control were his own actions.
Those were his responsibility, nothing else.
Feeling better, he got out of the car.
—
Aubrey Wozniak, Gabriel’s best friend, waved to him when he entered Lakeside Biergarten.
Like most of the employees there, she wore a black T-shirt with the Biergarten’s logo (a beer stein shaped like a lighthouse), blue jeans, and non-slip shoes.
She was an attractive young woman who spent her free time training for marathons.
Gabriel had run one with her when they were seniors in high school, a fundraiser marathon for children with cerebral palsy.
She had kept up with running, but he had not.
Gabriel preferred swimming and other water activities for his exercise.
He thought running should be reserved for when someone was chasing you.
Aubrey was carrying a tray of empty glasses, but she came over to Gabriel and gave him a one-armed hug. She had thick dark hair pulled out of her face in a bun, and he could smell her lavender perfume.
“Excited for your date?” she asked. “You look good.”
Gabriel had agonized over his outfit. The Biergarten was a casual place, but Gabriel didn’t want to just show up in shorts and a T-shirt, which were his usual summer uniform.
He had decided on a pair of seersucker boat shorts that came to the mid-thigh and a white linen shirt, which he left open at the chest. His sleeves were rolled up, exposing his tan, muscular forearms. He wore plain white shoes.
He looked preppier than he felt, but it seemed like a good first date outfit.
“It’s not too much?” he asked. “I didn’t want to be too dressed up for a brewery.”
Aubrey raised an eyebrow. “Are you insulting my family business? Are we not worthy of high fashion?”
“I would never insinuate such a thing.”
“Good, or I’d stop giving you free beer.”