Prequel to As Lovers Go 5
April 2011
Emily stood on the porch of the house David was renting and tried not to let her concern show on her face. She had rung the bell, knocked, and called his cell phone several times. Even though his black Escalade sat in the driveway, she got no answer from any of her attempts to reach him.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she wished she had brought a jacket. The sun had long since set, only to be replaced by a cloudy night sky that made it seem later than it actually was. There was a slight breeze blowing, and goosebumps quickly developed across her arms and chest.
Emily’s teeth nibbled at her bottom lip in worry. David had had an arbitration meeting for his sexual harassment case ealier that day. He said he would call her once it was over. But, she hadn’t heard from him. She had started to worry once Hart and Stephen couldn’t get a hold of him either.
Ringing the bell one final time, she stuffed her phone into her brown faux leather purse and haphazardly tried the door knob. She wasn’t expecting it to work, so, when the door turned freely and creaked open with her added weight, she gasped in surprise.
For a brief moment, she stood in the doorway and thought about what she was about to do. Entering his home without his knowledge was the last thing she wanted to do. But, at the same time, she couldn’t escape the worries that had plagued her all day.
She noticed the house was dark and silent as she peaked her head in. Releasing her shaky hand from the door, she stepped into the foyer and shut the door quietly behind her.
“David?” She called, and waited for a response. When none came, she glanced around. He had only recently moved out of the hotel. Even in the dark, she could see the outline of large, cardboard boxes stacked up in looming piles.
The house was a traditional Spanish style with authentic mosaic tiles and iron work. It was small, well, small for his standards, and she felt a pang of sympathy as she realized that he probably didn’t want a large house all to himself. He saw his kids often, she knew that, but, also knew that they hadn’t been spending any nights with him.
There was a light on towards the back of the house, and she followed it to the kitchen. She felt like an intruder with every step she took. The hair on the back of her neck prickled each time she heard a noise.
There were even more boxes in the kitchen. In fact, aside from a coffee maker and a few stray dishes, it looked like he hadn’t unpacked at all. Glancing towards the open family room, she saw the same scene there, as well.
It looked desolate and unloved. There wasn’t even a TV set up. For some reason, that thought struck her more than any other. Suddenly, the noise of something shattering echoed through the house, and she nearly gasped in shock. Turning towards the sound, her heart was still racing as she realized it had come from the patio.
Still recovering from the fright, she crept closer and closer to the glass double doors. One was ajar, and she pushed it open and took in the scene before her.
The patio was dimply lit, and in the shadows, she could see David. He was sitting on a fashionable outdoor sofa (obviously left there by the previous owners.) His back was to her, but, she watched as he threw bottle after bottle against the tile. Each time the glass made contact with the ground, she flinched and realized she had to make herself known so that he wasn’t started.
“David?” His name was barely out of her mouth before he launched himself out of his chair and faced her. The sight of him made her eyes widen. He was still in the suit he had worn earlier, but the jacket had been tossed aside. The buttons on his dress shirt looked as if they had been torn off, and his shirt hung open so that his chiseled chest was visible. His eyes were dark and wild, like a caged animal, and his hair was unstyled and standing up in all directions.
“What are you doing here?” He asked in weary astonishment, like a teenager who hadn’t expected his parents to be home so soon. Emily didn’t answer right away and he went to take a step towards her, but stumbled, and had to grab onto the sofa to keep himself up.
His stumbling caused her to take in the scene around her. Dozens of broken beer bottles littered the patio. Glass was covering almost every surface. An empty bottle of Scotch sat on the ground, along with an empty glass. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed that he was no longer meeting her eyes.
“You’re drunk!” She accused.
“What are you doing here, Emily?” He asked again, but this time, his voice was rigid and unkind. If he were sober, he would have surely regretted his tone.
“You said you would call me after your meeting.” She was shaking her head slightly, as if she couldn’t believe the scene in front of her. A tiny voice in her head told her she shouldn’t be surprised. A part of her had expected this. Though, she wasn’t ready to admit that herself.
He had no reply to that, and she continued, “but, I see you decided to go and get drunk instead.”
“You’re not supposed to be here!” He lashed out, and lifted his head. When his eyes met hers, she saw something different then she did before. Guilt? Shame? She wasn’t sure.
“I was worried about you....Hart and Stephen couldn’t get a hold of you either.”
For some reason, her words made his features turn into one of outrage. He advanced across the patio towards her, but the powerful affect was lost by his shaky movements. “Hart and Stephen don’t give a damn about me. They only care about their fucking show.”
His bitter words were almost too much for her to handle, and she looked down at the ground. With horror, she realized David wasn’t wearing shoes. “Dave...the glass...” Droplets of blood had already started dripping out from underneath the soles of his fit. He looked down then, but didn’t seem at all concerned.
“I can’t feel anything. I can’t...feel anything at all.” He wobbled a bit, and Emily reached out her hand without thinking and grabbed his muscular bicep.
“You idiot!” She spat in sheer frustration. “What have you done?”
“Gohome. Justgohome.” His words were slurred together.
“I’m not going home.” Her tone was adamant. There was no way she could leave him like this. Her mind went into over drive trying to figure out what she should do.
“I don’t want you here!” He ground out, and ran his hand through his hair. If his feet hurt, he didn’t show it. “Youneedtogo.” He tried to shake off her arm that was linked in his, but, the movements made him tilt even further to one side and she had to use all of her strength to keep him up right. Emily had never seen him so drunk.
“Stop it!” Yelled Emily, and it was only then that he stopped resisting her. “We need to get you off your feet.”
Whether he was accepting her advice, or just too far gone to argue, he allowed her to lead him into the house. Luckily, there was some furniture in the family room, and she released him so that he practically fell onto the sofa. “I’ll be right back.” She got a mean grunt in reply.
It took her awhile to find anything in the unpacked, unfamiliar house, but, she found him in the same position when she returned. Flipping on the lights allowed her to get a better look at him, and she was shocked at the man she saw before her. David wouldn’t meet her eyes as she loomed over him. She wasn’t sure if he even knew she was there. “Lean back and give me your foot.”
It took him awhile, but he did as he was told and she perched herself on her knees in front of him. The damage wasn’t as bad as she had first feared. There were a few visible shards of glass sticking out and cuts that were bleeding...but nothing that looked like it would need medical attention. Still....she wasn’t a doctor. In fact, she had no medical knowledge at all, and she worried that she would do something wrong.
He didn’t even flinch as she used a pair of tweezers to remove the glass and cleaned out the wounds with soap and water. They were the only supplies she had been able to find. His reflexes didn’t seem to be functioning, because his foot didn’t even arch as she touched it.
In her head, Emily counted the amount of bottles she had seen him throw. She added them to the remains on the patio and the empty bottle of Scotch. By the looks of it, he had been drinking since he returned home. She had no idea how long ago that was.
She held pressure to his wounds, and was so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn’t realized he had spoken to her until she looked up to his desperate face. “What?”
“I don’t want you to see me like this.” The anger was completely gone and it was replaced with utter disappointment. But, she knew instantly it wasn’t her he was disappointed in. “Please go, I can’t...” He trailed off, and it seemed he had completely forgotten what he was going to say. Allowing his head to lull back against the sofa cushion, he tensed his jaw and stared at the ceiling.
“Well, it’s a little too late for that, isn’t it?” She wasn’t going to baby him. A part of her was angry that he had escaped into a drunken stupor. He had been doing so well. But, the other part of her was too concerned to be angry. Even the night nine months ago, when he had showed up at her apartment begging her to give him a chance....he hadn’t been as far gone as he was now.
“I fucked up, Em.” His words were still slurred a bit, but she had no trouble understanding him. His piercing gaze was stuck on the ceiling, as if he were forcing himself not to look at her. “I fucked up so bad.” He repeated the statement over and over. After finishing with his foot, Emily let it drop like an anchor to the ground and it seemed to shock David out of his self hatred.
She wanted to ask what he was talking about. With the drunken state he was in, she felt sure he would answer her with complete honesty, but, something kept her from doing so. Instead, she moved to clear up the small mess she had made.
“You’re feet will be fine once you get some band-aids on them. I couldn’t find any...I think it can wait until morning.” Emily was about to head back into the kitchen to dispose of the trash when his voice called out to her.
“I ruined everything. It’sallmyfault.” He let out a strangled groan, and shifted so that he was laying on his back. Emily wasn’t sure what to make of the man who was wallowing in his own self pity. Her mind was raging an internal battle on how she should proceed. Looking towards the kitchen, she decided against leaving the room, and walked back to the sofa.
“What happened?” She couldn’t hold the question in anymore.
“I lost.” He muttered, so quietly that she had to come closer to hear him. “I lost the case.” His hand was over his eyes in a childlike pose.
“It was a settlement conference...I didn’t think there could be a loser.” She hadn’t meant to say that out loud. His ramblings weren’t making any sense.
“They said there wouldn’t be, but I’m the one that lost! So...obviously they fucking lied.”
“David?” She was trying not to read too much into what he was saying. He was drunk...and more than likely had no idea what was coming out of his mouth. But, she couldn’t help but be confused.
As if he had forgotten she was there, he pulled his hand away from his eyes and focused his dark gaze on her. There was fire in his eyes again, and she prepared herself for his anger.
“She got almost a million dollars from me! Settlement my ass! It’s fucking robbery is what it is...I never did anything to her she didn’t want done.” This time, Emily didn’t have to ask what he was referring to. His sexual harassment case had been an on going discussion between them for the past year. David had many faults. She would not deny that. But, having worked with him for five years, she could honestly say that he was in no way a sexual harasser.
She left her blue eyes trained on his until he suddenly shot up into a sitting position. The sudden movement was not a good idea in his condition, and he instantly regretted it. His eyes widened, and then snapped shut as the world seemed to spin around him. “Oh god.” He groaned.
Emily was quick to help him. Putting her hands on his shoulders, she roughly pushed him back down. “You’re not going anywhere. You need to sleep this off.” Without waiting for a reply, she left the room and minutes later, returned with a glass of water and a piece of bread. Sitting the items on one of the cardboard boxes, she took the time to really take in his appearance.
“Go home.” He said, after awhile. His tone was pleading instead of angry, but seemed to lack real conviction.
“And let you drown in your own vomit? Hart will never forgive me.” She bit back, unwilling to let on how truly worried she was.
“He hates me anyway. They all do. They’ll be glad to get rid of me.” He was speaking complete non-sense now. Emily didn’t even bother to reply. “That bitch bled the studio dry. She got two million out of them. It’s my fault. They should hate me.”
There was a piece of furniture that looked like it was a coffee table on the other side of the room. Emily quickly got rid of the junk that was on it and drug it over so that she could sit in front of David. He kept talking about everyone who hated him, until she interrupted him. “You’re being ridiculous. They don’t hate you. They have a hit show because of you.” She was attempting to be comforting, but, was quickly losing her patience. A sober person could never say anything rational to an intoxicated person.
“No, they have a hit show because of you.” He replied instantly. His gaze was glassy and it seemed as though he was looking right through her. He must have realized she was seated, because he slammed his fist against his leg and let out a strangled cry. “Dammit, Emily! Why are you still here?” David’s entire demeanour was rapidly shifting. Instead of being drunk and angry, he appeared to be drunk and upset. His body started to shake, slowly at first, and then more rapidly. Big, fat tears left his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. He tried to hide them with his hands, but, it was no use.
“I don’t deserve this.” He didn’t elaborate on what ‘this’ was, but, he didn’t have to. “You should go. I wasn’t supposed to get drunk, remember? It was part of our deal. I fucked up my chance...soyoushould just leave.” David choked out, and then he was sobbing and Emily was stunned into silence.
She had seen him emotional before, but, she had never seen him as emotional as he was now. He wanted her to be mad. He wanted her to leave. He wanted her to hate him....and yet, all she felt was deep, bone tingling sympathy and pain. David had come so far in the past few months, that she had forgotten the truly broken man that existed underneath his exterior. He couldn’t be cured in a few months. He may never be cured. But, he was trying...and in knowing that, Emily found it impossible to be even the slightest bit angry.
Putting her hand on his arm, she ran her fingers over his soft dress shirt. He was still crying, although, he was started to pull himself together. He didn’t attempt to avoid her touch, even as he scrubbed roughly at his face.
They sat in silence for a long time. His words hung thick between them, but, his emotional outburst seemed to take the last of his energy. Emily watched him intently. Every so often his eyes would drift closed and then open up again. After awhile, his eyes remained shut, and Emily squeezed his arm and shifted on the hard table. She was uncomfortable, and thought about getting up when his eyes flew open and his right hand came to rest over hers.
“Please don’t leave me.” He pleaded, like a child and her heart broke at desperation in his voice. Her eyes glistened with tears as she patted his hand.
“I wont.” At her reassurance, his eyes closed. It wasn’t until she heard his soft snores that she allowed her own tears to fall....not for herself, but, for him.
Emily stood on the porch of the house David was renting and tried not to let her concern show on her face. She had rung the bell, knocked, and called his cell phone several times. Even though his black Escalade sat in the driveway, she got no answer from any of her attempts to reach him.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she wished she had brought a jacket. The sun had long since set, only to be replaced by a cloudy night sky that made it seem later than it actually was. There was a slight breeze blowing, and goosebumps quickly developed across her arms and chest.
Emily’s teeth nibbled at her bottom lip in worry. David had had an arbitration meeting for his sexual harassment case ealier that day. He said he would call her once it was over. But, she hadn’t heard from him. She had started to worry once Hart and Stephen couldn’t get a hold of him either.
Ringing the bell one final time, she stuffed her phone into her brown faux leather purse and haphazardly tried the door knob. She wasn’t expecting it to work, so, when the door turned freely and creaked open with her added weight, she gasped in surprise.
For a brief moment, she stood in the doorway and thought about what she was about to do. Entering his home without his knowledge was the last thing she wanted to do. But, at the same time, she couldn’t escape the worries that had plagued her all day.
She noticed the house was dark and silent as she peaked her head in. Releasing her shaky hand from the door, she stepped into the foyer and shut the door quietly behind her.
“David?” She called, and waited for a response. When none came, she glanced around. He had only recently moved out of the hotel. Even in the dark, she could see the outline of large, cardboard boxes stacked up in looming piles.
The house was a traditional Spanish style with authentic mosaic tiles and iron work. It was small, well, small for his standards, and she felt a pang of sympathy as she realized that he probably didn’t want a large house all to himself. He saw his kids often, she knew that, but, also knew that they hadn’t been spending any nights with him.
There was a light on towards the back of the house, and she followed it to the kitchen. She felt like an intruder with every step she took. The hair on the back of her neck prickled each time she heard a noise.
There were even more boxes in the kitchen. In fact, aside from a coffee maker and a few stray dishes, it looked like he hadn’t unpacked at all. Glancing towards the open family room, she saw the same scene there, as well.
It looked desolate and unloved. There wasn’t even a TV set up. For some reason, that thought struck her more than any other. Suddenly, the noise of something shattering echoed through the house, and she nearly gasped in shock. Turning towards the sound, her heart was still racing as she realized it had come from the patio.
Still recovering from the fright, she crept closer and closer to the glass double doors. One was ajar, and she pushed it open and took in the scene before her.
The patio was dimply lit, and in the shadows, she could see David. He was sitting on a fashionable outdoor sofa (obviously left there by the previous owners.) His back was to her, but, she watched as he threw bottle after bottle against the tile. Each time the glass made contact with the ground, she flinched and realized she had to make herself known so that he wasn’t started.
“David?” His name was barely out of her mouth before he launched himself out of his chair and faced her. The sight of him made her eyes widen. He was still in the suit he had worn earlier, but the jacket had been tossed aside. The buttons on his dress shirt looked as if they had been torn off, and his shirt hung open so that his chiseled chest was visible. His eyes were dark and wild, like a caged animal, and his hair was unstyled and standing up in all directions.
“What are you doing here?” He asked in weary astonishment, like a teenager who hadn’t expected his parents to be home so soon. Emily didn’t answer right away and he went to take a step towards her, but stumbled, and had to grab onto the sofa to keep himself up.
His stumbling caused her to take in the scene around her. Dozens of broken beer bottles littered the patio. Glass was covering almost every surface. An empty bottle of Scotch sat on the ground, along with an empty glass. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed that he was no longer meeting her eyes.
“You’re drunk!” She accused.
“What are you doing here, Emily?” He asked again, but this time, his voice was rigid and unkind. If he were sober, he would have surely regretted his tone.
“You said you would call me after your meeting.” She was shaking her head slightly, as if she couldn’t believe the scene in front of her. A tiny voice in her head told her she shouldn’t be surprised. A part of her had expected this. Though, she wasn’t ready to admit that herself.
He had no reply to that, and she continued, “but, I see you decided to go and get drunk instead.”
“You’re not supposed to be here!” He lashed out, and lifted his head. When his eyes met hers, she saw something different then she did before. Guilt? Shame? She wasn’t sure.
“I was worried about you....Hart and Stephen couldn’t get a hold of you either.”
For some reason, her words made his features turn into one of outrage. He advanced across the patio towards her, but the powerful affect was lost by his shaky movements. “Hart and Stephen don’t give a damn about me. They only care about their fucking show.”
His bitter words were almost too much for her to handle, and she looked down at the ground. With horror, she realized David wasn’t wearing shoes. “Dave...the glass...” Droplets of blood had already started dripping out from underneath the soles of his fit. He looked down then, but didn’t seem at all concerned.
“I can’t feel anything. I can’t...feel anything at all.” He wobbled a bit, and Emily reached out her hand without thinking and grabbed his muscular bicep.
“You idiot!” She spat in sheer frustration. “What have you done?”
“Gohome. Justgohome.” His words were slurred together.
“I’m not going home.” Her tone was adamant. There was no way she could leave him like this. Her mind went into over drive trying to figure out what she should do.
“I don’t want you here!” He ground out, and ran his hand through his hair. If his feet hurt, he didn’t show it. “Youneedtogo.” He tried to shake off her arm that was linked in his, but, the movements made him tilt even further to one side and she had to use all of her strength to keep him up right. Emily had never seen him so drunk.
“Stop it!” Yelled Emily, and it was only then that he stopped resisting her. “We need to get you off your feet.”
Whether he was accepting her advice, or just too far gone to argue, he allowed her to lead him into the house. Luckily, there was some furniture in the family room, and she released him so that he practically fell onto the sofa. “I’ll be right back.” She got a mean grunt in reply.
It took her awhile to find anything in the unpacked, unfamiliar house, but, she found him in the same position when she returned. Flipping on the lights allowed her to get a better look at him, and she was shocked at the man she saw before her. David wouldn’t meet her eyes as she loomed over him. She wasn’t sure if he even knew she was there. “Lean back and give me your foot.”
It took him awhile, but he did as he was told and she perched herself on her knees in front of him. The damage wasn’t as bad as she had first feared. There were a few visible shards of glass sticking out and cuts that were bleeding...but nothing that looked like it would need medical attention. Still....she wasn’t a doctor. In fact, she had no medical knowledge at all, and she worried that she would do something wrong.
He didn’t even flinch as she used a pair of tweezers to remove the glass and cleaned out the wounds with soap and water. They were the only supplies she had been able to find. His reflexes didn’t seem to be functioning, because his foot didn’t even arch as she touched it.
In her head, Emily counted the amount of bottles she had seen him throw. She added them to the remains on the patio and the empty bottle of Scotch. By the looks of it, he had been drinking since he returned home. She had no idea how long ago that was.
She held pressure to his wounds, and was so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn’t realized he had spoken to her until she looked up to his desperate face. “What?”
“I don’t want you to see me like this.” The anger was completely gone and it was replaced with utter disappointment. But, she knew instantly it wasn’t her he was disappointed in. “Please go, I can’t...” He trailed off, and it seemed he had completely forgotten what he was going to say. Allowing his head to lull back against the sofa cushion, he tensed his jaw and stared at the ceiling.
“Well, it’s a little too late for that, isn’t it?” She wasn’t going to baby him. A part of her was angry that he had escaped into a drunken stupor. He had been doing so well. But, the other part of her was too concerned to be angry. Even the night nine months ago, when he had showed up at her apartment begging her to give him a chance....he hadn’t been as far gone as he was now.
“I fucked up, Em.” His words were still slurred a bit, but she had no trouble understanding him. His piercing gaze was stuck on the ceiling, as if he were forcing himself not to look at her. “I fucked up so bad.” He repeated the statement over and over. After finishing with his foot, Emily let it drop like an anchor to the ground and it seemed to shock David out of his self hatred.
She wanted to ask what he was talking about. With the drunken state he was in, she felt sure he would answer her with complete honesty, but, something kept her from doing so. Instead, she moved to clear up the small mess she had made.
“You’re feet will be fine once you get some band-aids on them. I couldn’t find any...I think it can wait until morning.” Emily was about to head back into the kitchen to dispose of the trash when his voice called out to her.
“I ruined everything. It’sallmyfault.” He let out a strangled groan, and shifted so that he was laying on his back. Emily wasn’t sure what to make of the man who was wallowing in his own self pity. Her mind was raging an internal battle on how she should proceed. Looking towards the kitchen, she decided against leaving the room, and walked back to the sofa.
“What happened?” She couldn’t hold the question in anymore.
“I lost.” He muttered, so quietly that she had to come closer to hear him. “I lost the case.” His hand was over his eyes in a childlike pose.
“It was a settlement conference...I didn’t think there could be a loser.” She hadn’t meant to say that out loud. His ramblings weren’t making any sense.
“They said there wouldn’t be, but I’m the one that lost! So...obviously they fucking lied.”
“David?” She was trying not to read too much into what he was saying. He was drunk...and more than likely had no idea what was coming out of his mouth. But, she couldn’t help but be confused.
As if he had forgotten she was there, he pulled his hand away from his eyes and focused his dark gaze on her. There was fire in his eyes again, and she prepared herself for his anger.
“She got almost a million dollars from me! Settlement my ass! It’s fucking robbery is what it is...I never did anything to her she didn’t want done.” This time, Emily didn’t have to ask what he was referring to. His sexual harassment case had been an on going discussion between them for the past year. David had many faults. She would not deny that. But, having worked with him for five years, she could honestly say that he was in no way a sexual harasser.
She left her blue eyes trained on his until he suddenly shot up into a sitting position. The sudden movement was not a good idea in his condition, and he instantly regretted it. His eyes widened, and then snapped shut as the world seemed to spin around him. “Oh god.” He groaned.
Emily was quick to help him. Putting her hands on his shoulders, she roughly pushed him back down. “You’re not going anywhere. You need to sleep this off.” Without waiting for a reply, she left the room and minutes later, returned with a glass of water and a piece of bread. Sitting the items on one of the cardboard boxes, she took the time to really take in his appearance.
“Go home.” He said, after awhile. His tone was pleading instead of angry, but seemed to lack real conviction.
“And let you drown in your own vomit? Hart will never forgive me.” She bit back, unwilling to let on how truly worried she was.
“He hates me anyway. They all do. They’ll be glad to get rid of me.” He was speaking complete non-sense now. Emily didn’t even bother to reply. “That bitch bled the studio dry. She got two million out of them. It’s my fault. They should hate me.”
There was a piece of furniture that looked like it was a coffee table on the other side of the room. Emily quickly got rid of the junk that was on it and drug it over so that she could sit in front of David. He kept talking about everyone who hated him, until she interrupted him. “You’re being ridiculous. They don’t hate you. They have a hit show because of you.” She was attempting to be comforting, but, was quickly losing her patience. A sober person could never say anything rational to an intoxicated person.
“No, they have a hit show because of you.” He replied instantly. His gaze was glassy and it seemed as though he was looking right through her. He must have realized she was seated, because he slammed his fist against his leg and let out a strangled cry. “Dammit, Emily! Why are you still here?” David’s entire demeanour was rapidly shifting. Instead of being drunk and angry, he appeared to be drunk and upset. His body started to shake, slowly at first, and then more rapidly. Big, fat tears left his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. He tried to hide them with his hands, but, it was no use.
“I don’t deserve this.” He didn’t elaborate on what ‘this’ was, but, he didn’t have to. “You should go. I wasn’t supposed to get drunk, remember? It was part of our deal. I fucked up my chance...soyoushould just leave.” David choked out, and then he was sobbing and Emily was stunned into silence.
She had seen him emotional before, but, she had never seen him as emotional as he was now. He wanted her to be mad. He wanted her to leave. He wanted her to hate him....and yet, all she felt was deep, bone tingling sympathy and pain. David had come so far in the past few months, that she had forgotten the truly broken man that existed underneath his exterior. He couldn’t be cured in a few months. He may never be cured. But, he was trying...and in knowing that, Emily found it impossible to be even the slightest bit angry.
Putting her hand on his arm, she ran her fingers over his soft dress shirt. He was still crying, although, he was started to pull himself together. He didn’t attempt to avoid her touch, even as he scrubbed roughly at his face.
They sat in silence for a long time. His words hung thick between them, but, his emotional outburst seemed to take the last of his energy. Emily watched him intently. Every so often his eyes would drift closed and then open up again. After awhile, his eyes remained shut, and Emily squeezed his arm and shifted on the hard table. She was uncomfortable, and thought about getting up when his eyes flew open and his right hand came to rest over hers.
“Please don’t leave me.” He pleaded, like a child and her heart broke at desperation in his voice. Her eyes glistened with tears as she patted his hand.
“I wont.” At her reassurance, his eyes closed. It wasn’t until she heard his soft snores that she allowed her own tears to fall....not for herself, but, for him.