Doctors Orders (Manxman)

Chapter 20

Tristan

I have never had a more uncomfortable meal. Damien calmly walked in and took the table next to ours. He made no effort to talk to either one of us. He didn't even look at us. He looked through the menu and ordered himself a pizza. When the waitress was gone he took out his phone and became engrossed in it.

I tried hard to ignore him. I really did. But gods it was tough. I tried to imagine him as just another stranger eating beside us but I couldn't stop thinking about last nights events. I was profusely sweating in a few minutes and my heartbeat was through the roof. Eating was out of the question when I could barely breathe.

Beth looked at me worriedly. She knew how bad I was at handling uncomfortable situations. She glared at Damien who was now eating his pizza, cool as an iceberg.

"Let's leave Tris. You obviously aren't going to eat anymore," she said and called the waitress for the bill. There was nothing I wanted more than to leave but I was nervous. If he had followed us here he surely wasn't going to let me just walk out. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. He had to have heard Beth asking for the bill but his face was as impassive as ever.

The bill was paid and still he didn't react. Beth was getting suspicious too. She motioned for me to leave quickly. The problem was that our seat was against the wall. So to leave would bring me extremely close to where Damien was sitting. I sent a quick prayer to the Lord and stood up to leave. I almost brushed Damien's shoulder while leaving but he didn't even look at me.

We made it out to our car without any problems. Beth was surprised at how easy that was but happy that I didn't have to face him when I wasn't ready. I was relieved too but deep deep down I was also extremely confused. I had been so sure that Damien would try to stop me and apologise for his behaviour. It would have been the right thing to do on his part. I had even planned out what I wanted to say to him. I would seem angry at first and reluctant to accept his apology but of course in the end I would give in and everything would go back to normal.

The fact that he hadn't even tried to speak to me was disconcerting and terrifying. It had never happened before that Damien and I were in the same room and did not speak to each other. In fact it was usually just us speaking to each other and ignoring the rest of the world.

I did not even want to think about what I would do if I lost him. It was too terrible for my mind to process. And that's why I could have almost cried with relief when I saw Damien coming out of the restaurant and getting into his sedan. I immediately understood what he was trying to do.

He wasn't going to directly talk to me. He was just going to make me extremely uncomfortable till I cracked and went to him myself. It was definitely a clever tactic. I slightly smirked. Damien could think twice. It was going to take a lot more than simple following around to crack me this time.

~~~~~

I stuck to my word. Damien followed me around everywhere. He followed us from the restaurant to my house, sat and stared at me throughout the day and made sure that I saw him wherever I went. He even asked to stay the night. My mom asked me if I wanted Damien to stay in my room but quickly offered him the guest room when I sent her a nasty glare.

Dinner was weird. Because luck was so on my side, mother made Damien sit beside me. She didn't even listen to my protests. She even told me that I was rude for refusing to sit beside my best friend and that I should learn something from Damien.

Father was all over him as soon as he saw him. He kept on asking about his job at the hospital and his surgeries. I almost choked when he started asking him about his salary. As if that wasn't embarrassing enough the next topic was me. Father had a lot of complains about me and he completely ignored my existence while he lamented.

I could feel Damien's hesitation as he endeavoured to console my father while also defending me. This dinner was quickly turning out to be worse than the previous one. I could already feel the humiliation burning behind my eyes and threatening to spill over as tears.

It would be absolutely mortifying if I started crying here. Not only was I going to seem weak in front of Damien, father would never let me hear the end of it. It would only strengthen his belief that his son was a wuss.

Suddenly I felt a hand on my thigh. Surprised, I looked down to see Damien's strong left hand was on my thigh. He wasn't looking at me though. He was facing my father with a clearly fake smile on his face.

He gave my thigh a reassuring squeeze. Ideally I should have pushed his hand away as he had still not apologised for last night. But the comfort was so intense that I couldn't help but want more.

It instantly calmed me down. The heavy weight of his hand on my thigh was a gentle reminder that whatever anyone said, Damien Rogers would always be on my side. It was definitely scary how much Damien affected me but right now I couldn't care less.

I didn't care that he had technically lied to me for months. I didn't care that he had spoken to me in a way that was verging on dangerous yesterday. I  didn't care that he had told me what to do as if he owned me. I didn't care that he had harrasssed me all day by following me around ominously.

All I cared about was that no matter what happened between us, he was always going to be there. And somehow it made his crimes look more mellow. So what if he had kept a secret. Everyone does. So what if he thought he could tell me what to do. He was only thinking about my best interest.

It was honestly pathetic how quickly I melted. Before I could even register what I was doing, my hand was already on Damien's. It felt surreal. A rush of warmth and comfort spread throughout my body. I had to stop myself from shivering.

Damien gripped my hand and laced his fingers through mine. It was a silent gesture of solidarity and friendship.

Dinner was rather enjoyable after that. I thoroughly enjoyed Damien giving snarky replies to my father. Even Beth showed him a thumbs up sign after a particularly sarcastic reply.

~~~~~

After dinner Damien came up to my bedroom. He looked surprisingly sheepish. I didn't tell him to get out. Instead I motioned for him to sit on the bed. This childish hide and seek had gone on long enough.

"Hey," he said softly. He was fiddling with his fingers, a clear sign that he was nervous.

A sudden instinct made me reach out to take his hands into mine. He gave me a confused look.

"Not that I mind but I have to ask. What are you doing?"

"Comforting you duh. You are nervous for some reason," I said while playing with his long fingers. They were honestly a work of art. Long, slender and just perfect. And of course they were life saving geniuses too.

He laughed softly while shaking his head. My heart skipped a beat. He looked positively angelic. I had this strong urge to kiss him senseless and be wrapped in his arms.

I quickly moved away from him before I did anything stupid. He took a deep breath.

"Tristan I think we both realise that we have to talk. I would like to start by saying that I am extremely sorry for my behaviour."

I nodded and smiled to let him know that his apology had been accepted.

"Now I think I owe you an explanation. Not just for last night but for everything. I don't want to keep any secrets from you anymore Tristan. So here goes."