I Can't Cope (COMPLETED)

Chapter 20 - Emily

He's there. He's right there. Walking over to him, I try not to fall over or do anything else embarrassing.

He looks up at me as I approach the table and smiles.

"Hey Emily!" He says, getting up to hug me. I hug him back, resisting the urge to never let go. We break apart and sit down. Do I detect a slight sense of... awkwardness? It wouldn't be surprising really, seeing what's happened, but I'm hoping it's just that he's nervous, maybe even for the same reasons as me - I can at least hope that's the case, anyway.

I look up at him. He makes awkward eye contact for about a second then looks back down at a, seemingly to him, very interesting piece of table. I continue to look at him. He looks up again.

"So why-"

"What have you-" I stop as I realise I'm talking over him. Damn it, that was one thing I was planning not to do!

We both stop.

"You first!" We both say in unison and stop again. I feel myself starting to blush and look down embarrassedly.

I think Hunter notices how I'm unsure how to handle this situation, because he suddenly begins to talk. It's as if his brain has got past the hurdle of 'I haven't seen her for months' and he's realised that we do know each other, and that we did use to be really close, we used to go out even, and that after all this time apart, there must be something one of us can say. Unfortunately, at the same time, my brain IS stuck at the 'I haven't seen him for months' stage and I can't think how to act, talk or even THINK in front of him.

"So, er... how's your knee?" He asks.

"Good. I guess..."

"You guess? That's you basically saying it's not good, right?" He says, smiling at me knowingly. I smile back and look down at the table, saying nothing. A few moments pass, and neither of us speak. Trying to think of the best way not to mess it up, I begin to talk to him.

"So, uh, Riley said James said he saw you the other day..."

"Yeah," He says, smiling at me. "He mentioned it."

"What were you doing?" I ask, looking at the space between his eyes, because for some reason I can't hold his gaze. I guess it's because I feel... guilty? Embarrassed? Self-conscious? A mixture of a lot of feelings, built up over a long, lonely wait for this moment.

"I was... getting some stuff for my mum. My brothers had to stay at home so I said I'd pick something up for her instead. You know, the other day, one of my brothers asked about you. Made me realise how much I'd missed everyone, especially you..." He stops, immediately going red. "I... never said that." He mutters.

I smile inwardly. Maybe there is hope after all... I watch him as he awkwardly looks around.

I've never seen him like this. It's so far from the confident - almost cocky - Hunter he used to be, or at least appeared to be. This shy, caring, gentle Hunter came as a bit of a shock, but I think I like this version of him even better. He just seems genuine, and I feel like this is the real Hunter. The way he blushed and slightly stumbled over his words was so cute and I can't say I don't like cute Hunter!

For his sake, I decide not to mention his mention of me and instead carry on with what I was saying, finally coming out of my shell a bit. I'm forced to forget my guilt about breaking up with him, only because I know I'm not going to be able to talk to him properly if I don't, and talking to him is what I really need to do.

"Don't you live pretty far away though? I thought you moved back out of town again..." I say.

"Well, um..." He picks up his coffee and is about to drink it but stops and immediately puts it down. I look at him.