Eddy spied the smile on Gabriel's face. The man had a singular smile, something Eddy could never manage to capture but that was okay. Some things were not meant to last, like those rare flowers that bloomed every 7 years, all the more precious for their scarcity.<br/><br/>"Luke..." Eddy answered. A biblical name, like Gabriel and Paul. Wonderfully thematic.<br/><br/>"He's.... he's something else, Gabriel," Eddy admitted, his voice tinged with longing. He wasnt sure why though, or more he had a list of reasons that were slightly contradictory and ever shifting.<br/><br/>He knew if he had met Luke before his retirement the boy would have gone the same route as Precious and Gabriel. Weeks spent together as Eddy captured their form, a friendship forged as slowly and carefully as the statue. Eddy made it a policy never to sleep with his models, it kept things neater.<br/><br/>But Eddy wasnt an artist anymore, Luke was not his model, and they had fallen into bed, quickly and recklessly.<br/><br/>Perhaps it was the midlife crisis again, making things more than what they actually were, but Eddy couldnt stop thinking of last night. The perfection of their moments shared together. It was all sex, but it had felt more than sex.<br/><br/>Eddy wanted to scoff, feeling foolish for finding metaphor in a night of passion. He was never one for romanticism despite how the critics labeled his work. Didnt believe in true love or love at first sight. It was probably all just the infatuation of a lonely old man.<br/><br/>Eddy sighed and drained his glass.