Page 36 of Coping Skills

Chapter Fifteen

Daniel’s eyes widened in surprise when he answered the door to find Elena standing outside of his apartment.

She gave him a hopeful smile. “Hey. Um, sorry to show up like this without calling or texting first. I, uh, well, it’s been a shitty day, and I didn’t know where else to go.”

He stood there staring at her for a second, unsure what to say. Her rambly explanation didn’t actually tell him anything about why she was here.

“Can I come in?”

Part of him wanted to tell her no, still angry that she’d broken up with him the day he’d gotten a concussion. Not that he wouldn’t have been angry even if he hadn’t had a concussion. But that wasn’t the point.

No, the point was that he missed her more than he was mad at her, and her showing up like this made him curious.

“Sure.” He opened the door wider and stepped back, letting her in. She kept her arms crossed over her chest, her backpack hanging from her hunched shoulders, like she was trying to protect herself from some unknown attack.

“Do you want some water or anything?”

She shook her head. “No, but if I could use the bathroom that would be great. I’ve had a ton of coffee and drove to Richland and back today.”

“Of course.”

Dropping her backpack on the floor by the couch, she left him alone in the living room again. He sat on the couch, not sure what to do with himself. Not sure what to do with the fact that Elena was here again, almost like nothing had happened, like she hadn’t dropped him last weekend and refused to answer his calls or texts this week.

When she came back out, she was rubbing her palms up and down her denim-covered thighs, the sleeves of her purple shirt pushed up to her elbows. She looked around the living room like she hadn’t been there a billion times already this semester before finally settling her gaze on him. “Is Coop around?”

He shook his head. “He went out with some of the guys from the team.”

“Oh. Okay. Cool.” She crossed her arms again, her shoulders coming up by her ears once more.

He wanted to touch her like he used to when she was all keyed up like this, soothe whatever was making her edgy. But she’d made it clear that she didn’t want him anymore. She wasn’t his. So he stayed put, his hands clenching into fists to keep them to himself. And he waited to see what she wanted.

She shook her head, her eyes cast down so he couldn’t see them. “I’m sorry. Really, I don’t—“ She swallowed. “I know I have no right to come here like this and expect anything from you. But, well, I was supposed to go home this weekend. I mean, I did go home this weekend. But my dad—“ She shook her head again, and when he saw a tear tracking down her cheek, he became concerned.

Elena didn’t cry. Not more than a tear or two that he’d ever seen. She hated to cry for some reason, and refused to let it out. Like always, she mastered it, looking up at the ceiling and blinking until the urge to cry passed.

“I couldn’t stay with my dad the way he is.”

“What happened?”

Her eyes flicked to him, and she shook her head, looking back at the coffee table again. Apparently that coffee table was fucking fascinating. “I don’t really want to talk about it, but it was more of the same from this summer, and I just couldn’t take it. So I came back. But I’d already promised Hannah that I’d be gone for two nights so they could have kinky, spanky sex.”

He widened his eyes and coughed a little, not sure if he should laugh. “I don’t think I needed to know that.”

A wry smile twisted Elena’s lips, and she lifted her face to his. “I know, right? I could do without that little piece of information too, but since I live with both of them it’s hard not to know.”

She held his gaze for a moment before dropping it back to the coffee table. He waited, but she didn’t say anything more, just stood with her arms wrapped around herself and stared at the damn coffee table.

“Elena.”

Her eyes lifted. “Hmm?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh, well …” She looked at a spot on the wall behind his head. “I couldn’t go home, and I just, I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I’m sorry. I can leave if you want. I’ll just go hang out at the mall for a while and text Hannah that they need to finish up so I can come home.” She swallowed, blinking hard a few times. “I’m sorry.” Her voice rasped, thick with tears. “You’re right. I’ll go.”

He stood, his hands gripping her arms before she could reach for her backpack, turning her to face him. “I didn’t say any of that.” She nodded, keeping her eyes on his chest, and when two more tears fell, it made something in his chest hurt. “What do you need? Do you want to talk?”

She shook her head, another tear escaping, and she reached up and wiped it away, the motion fierce and jerky.

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