His Hope

Part 9: Dinner

9

Louisa changed the subject away from herself after that, Xavier's words ringing in her ears. She was used to diverting attention away from herself although these guys were making it difficult. Louisa tried to listen the best she could as her mind wandered elsewhere. When her eyes drifted away from the people settled on her couch and out the window, she saw a small bird perched on the tree outside. Her heart warmed at the sight, and she watched it intently until it flew away, floating on the wind, soaring across the sky. She jumped when she felt a hand on her arm, and her attention drifted to Xavier who had touched her arm.

"You're quite the observer, aren't you?" Xavier whispered in her ear.

Flustered, her cheeks warmed, and she stood up abruptly and shifted away from Xavier asking anybody if they needed a drink. She heard Sebastian ask for water and James ask for a beer, to which Sebastian reached over and smacked him on the back of the head making him pout. She nodded and moved towards the kitchen quietly, needing a moment alone. Louisa wasn't used to having someone be so close or notice the small things, she didn't even realize she did. Most days she didn't think she was important enough to notice.

She moved around her kitchen without really thinking about it. The kitchen was something she spent extra time on whilst remodeling, she had always loved cooking. She spent countless hours with her mother in the kitchen growing up, and a lot of her good childhood memories came from there. She grabbed a pitcher of water from her fridge and a tray from a cabinet filling it with enough glasses for everybody. She hesitated and decided against grabbing a beer from her fridge for James, she wasn't sure if he was even 21 yet. She leaned against the counter and took a deep breath, trying to push away her previous thoughts. She didn't realize Xavier had been standing in the doorway watching her for the past few minutes.

He had immediately followed as she went to kitchen, knowing something wasn't right. He watched her gracefully move around her home and his heartbeat sped up at the sight. He couldn't help but imagine her moving around his home, cooking him food, as at peace in their space as she was here. She seemed to be deep in thought and he didn't want to interrupt her, just be here for her if she needed. When she leaned against the counter and closed her eyes a solemn look crossing over her features, he moved across the room quietly and wrapped his arms around her gently. Once again, she jumped about a foot in the air and he absolutely hated it. It wouldn't have bothered him as much if he thought she just got spooked easily, but there was this look that he couldn't quite decipher, and it felt like a punch in the gut.

"Would you want to stay here tonight?" The words were out before she even realized what she said.

"Absolutely." He answered immediately, surprised but elated that he would get to spend more time with her.

"Can you carry this to the living room?" Her face was as red as a tomato while pointing to the tray in front of them. Her thoughts we're already full of worry but she was afraid to backtrack. She didn't really mean to ask him to stay, her subconscious had betrayed her. Being held by him felt so calming, her defenses just seemed to fall away and apparently make her do crazy things. Xavier picked up the tray and walked away grinning from ear to ear.

When Louisa eventually made her way back into the living room, she tried making conversation with the others in the room. Wanting to be a good host and make a better impression then she knew she had been. She watched, listened, asked questions and made sure she wasn't distracted this time. James told her about his family, about meeting Xavier and having to go through his training, which was 'torture' as he put it. He talked about his mom and his brother and his interests outside of work. Aiden told her little but mentioned that he was married and had a child. She paid extra attention to Sebastian as he happily told the story of how he met Ashley, his wife and about his son who was only a few months old. It seemed like maybe half an hour had passed by as she talked with everyone, but it was 3 hours later when the conversation dulled.