Settling Slowly

Chapter 13 - Ice Cream

I let myself into Grigory's house with a sigh. Dan had just told Mum, Dad and me the entire, unedited story of the crash. I'd sat with him letting him squeeze the life out of my hand. Mum and Dad had cried, I'd cried a little too and then quickly left. Dad might occasionally call me the 'emotional brain box of the house', but I didn't deal so well with more than one person crying.

I padded through the kitchen. Grigory was sat on the sofa looking over what I guessed was an essay he had to mark. He had one ankle resting on his other knee, his hand supporting the back of the clipboard the paper was on and the tip of his pen was resting against his lower lip. Eyes were narrowed in concentration. I watched as the concentrated look eased and he wrote a long margin note. Then he turned the page which was stapled at the top and almost immediately underlined something and scribbled something out.

I smiled a little and felt my tension ease as I watched him. He didn't move much, he just tapped his lip with his pen a few times, wrote a couple more things and turned the pages, but the simplicity of his movement and the activity helped my mind to slow down. I leaned against the doorframe and watched him mark two more papers before he realised I was there.

"How long have you been stood there?" he asked with a smile.

"A few papers."

"You should have said something."

I shrugged. "I didn't want to disturb you."

"Zoey, you could have made us some tea and not disturbed me."

"Was that a hint?" I asked.

He shook his head. "You look worn."

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. "Dan told us everything that happened."

I heard papers shifting and something was put on the floor.

"Come and sit down," Grigory said.

I curled up next to him, each step it had taken me to get there had felt heavy and almost too much effort. He put his arms around me and kissed my hair.

"He said... he said that they only just got him free of the car in time. He said that he was about to black out and... We nearly lost him, Grisha. I nearly lost my brother."

He gently soothed me as I let a few more fearful tears fall. I felt safe in his arms, like nothing would ever hurt me, but in that moment I'd happily trade that place with Dan so that I knew he'd always be ok. He spoke a few more words of Russian and ran a hand through my hair.

"Thank you," I said and sat up.

"You don't have to thank me. I'll always be here for you."

I shook my head a little. "I meant for earlier. Giving me and Dan space I mean. I know you were really excited about going out with us and, uh, me."

For the whole afternoon Dan had kept by my side either holding my hand or had his arm thrown over my shoulders. Whenever there had been a loud, sudden noise he'd flinched. Liam and Brandon flinched a little too and when I put enough effort into taking in their appearances I saw that they hadn't slept well either.

"He needed you," Grigory shrugged. "I understand that."

"You said you slid off the road."

He nodded. "And I really only did slide. But I nearly hit a child. I didn't want to trust myself... But I had to get back in a car at some point."

"Will you talk to him if he needs it?"

"Of course."

"Thank you," I said and rested my head on his chest again. "Score you brownie points with Dad too." A chuckle rumbled through his chest making me smile. But then I sighed. "It's been a really long evening."