Rory's Christmas

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“Hope you like your coffee black.”

She looked blankly at the white mug he placed right in front of her nose. Leaned in closer, and took a whiff. He could just imagine her thinking, ohhhhhhh.

“It’s perfect,” said Ro gratefully, surprising him. “Thank you so much.”

Drew wasn’t sure what to think, because he had meant it as a joke and a prank and a sort of hahaha-I-got-you for leaving him behind in that dingy motel room with nothing more than brief snatches of how they had gotten there, none of which were much help as to how they could get back. He was finding it hard to figure out what to think about any of this situation, actually—about anything about…her. She was confusing. Way too confusing. Drew liked confusing (usually), because it was always a nice challenge; but he didn’t like her kind of confusing. She was fun to tease, though.

“No problem,” he replied casually, flashing her his signature grin. She didn’t even bat an eyelash. Ouch. Talk about killing a guy’s ego.

He sat down across from her as she wrapped her hands around the mug, barely aware of him. She was all focused on that cup of coffee, sniffing it eagerly as she waited for the liquid to cool. Drew couldn’t believe that she honestly drank her coffee black. How could anyone stand that bitter taste? He himself had gotten a nice batch of hot chocolate, and he took a big gulp of it now. Eck. It tasted a bit weird. Still better than black coffee, though.

It was getting slightly awkward; she wouldn’t look at him and he couldn’t look away from her. It was like their different defense mechanisms were both acting up and just happened to be completely contrary to one another.

“So…”

“Um…”

The tension broke immediately as they grinned at each other and she let out a small, soft laugh. “That was just way too awkward for me,” she quipped.

Drew nodded in agreement. “You go first,” he urged.

She hesitated, then shrugged. “I was just trying to break the ice.”

He smiled at her. “Okay, well, I was going to ask you what we should do next.”

The mirth left her expression immediately, and her shoulders slumped as she furrowed her brows. “I honestly don’t know,” she admitted, a finger running over the rim of her cup. “I mean, I want to go home and I want to remember, but I honestly have no idea where to even start looking.”

Drew understood her completely because it was exactly what he was feeling, too. He could tell it irked her to have to admit she wasn’t sure about something—it was funny how much of a control-freak she was—though, to be honest, he didn’t like it much either.

“Let’s finish up, and go back to the motel,” he suggested, relieved when she nodded. He had left something back there that he desperately wanted back—his fingers involuntarily twitched at the remembrance—but he didn’t want to leave her again. Try as he might, he had to admit that she was the only person he even remotely knew in this place and…well, safety in numbers, right? “That sound good to you?”

She was spacing out. He waved a hand in front of her face. “Hello? Ro?”

She snapped back to it immediately. “Huh? What did you call me?”

Drew frowned. Had he gotten it wrong? No, he distinctly remembered…when they were talking on the bed last night…she had said something about his name and he said something back and there were a few other half-phrases and incomplete sentences he couldn’t remember, but he could still hear her voice clearly, saying to him, Just call me Ro.