Chapter 165: Silent Pact
"I am glad you came," The moment the words left his mouth, Derek wanted to grab them from the air, and swallow them before Emily could hear them. But it was already too late.
’I am glad you came,’ Seriously?! That was all that he could come up with. After hours of agonizing, of waiting, checking his phone and actually having to hide it to stop himself from doing something embarrassing, the best that he could come up with was an ’I’m glad you came,’
It would not have been so bad if at first he had started with a greeting, ’Good evening, Emily. It is good to see you. I am glad you could make it.’ There, that was the eloquent sentence that he should have led with, but instead Derek’s brain had just fired off, ’I am glad you came’ out of nowhere.
Luckily for him, Emily did not seem to register how awkward the greeting had been, and instead returned it. Then she did him a huge favor. Instead of turning her attention to him and focusing on him while he was silently losing it, Emily instead decided to continue looking around.
Her bag slung over her shoulder, she turned around slowly, taking the place in. Derek watched her, while at the same time using her momentary distraction to come up with something that would make him come off as suave, and in control instead of him blathering like an idiot.
"Did you have the place decorated focusing around the ocean?" Emily asked, turning back to him, and Derek nodded, "Yes, I figured that I needed something calming. And some of the most peaceful memories that I have, involve the water. So I went for an ocean theme,"
"Did it work?" Emily asked, and Derek found himself smiling despite himself. "For the most part, no, but it still helped, to come home to an environment that was not clashing with the senses," He told her. She nodded in understanding, and it was refreshing.
Normally Derek would have come up with some lie about having had the interior decorator be the one to choose everything, but with Emily he could be honest. Not only about the fact that he had chosen the theme, but also about the reasons why. It felt nice being able to share like that, instead of coming up with a lie.
Looking at her, Derek realized that she was still carrying her bag. In fact, she had not even taken a seat. He was being a terrible host. With that, he sprang into action.