Chapter ten

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After I picked up the pencils and pens I head down to the kitchen. I better start making dinner. Taylor would get Daniel to come over even if he didn't want to. I pull out one of mom's recipe books and start looking for something easy. I smile at the handwritten tips in the margins of the pages. 

I decide on a simple spaghetti dish. I try to follow the steps in the book, but I'm positive I'm messing up. I smell something burning and find the water I had put the pasta in was all gone and the noodles are burnt and stuck to the pot. Who can't even make pasta? I give up and call for pizza. 

The pizza came before Daniel did. A part of me was worried that Taylor couldn't get her older brother to come to see me. Another part might have been relieved he wasn't coming. 

I hear a knock on the door and hurry to answer it. Daniel is standing on the porch, looking very irritated. His hands are stuffed in his pockets. I send him a smile, he doesn't even bother to return it. 

I step to the side and let him in. "What's burning?" He asks once he's inside. "I burned the pasta." I reply sheepishly. "You burnt pasta?" His brooding look has turned into an amused smile. At least he was smiling, even if it's at my expense. I nod and start heading to the kitchen again, "I ordered pizza." 

I get out two plaits and set them down on the counter. Daniel opens the box of pizza and puts four pieces onto one of the plates and two onto the other. He looks at me for a moment and I decided it's now or never. 

"Daniel, I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to lose it like I did." He looks away from me again, grabbing his plait. "I get it now. You were protecting me." I keep on talking, hoping he would say something. He doesn't. "Daniel, please, I said I'm sorry. I'm not in the rabbit hole." He turns around, "For now." He sets down the plait and steps towards me. 

"People always believe they are fine until they're not." I shake my head, "No, I am fine. I'm even going to Taylor's party." "Oh, sure, you going to a party is definitely a sign that you're fine." His voice is dripping with sarcasm and I want to yell at him. 

"You wanted me to be fine, now I am and you're still not happy. You're unbelievable." I say rolling my eyes, stepping away to grab a wine glass. "I just don't believe you can be fine after a few hours. I don't believe you've accepted everything so quickly after grieving for a whole month not knowing they were coming to see you. Now that you know, you just brush it off? I don't believe you can do that, Lindsey." 

"You still don't believe I'm strong enough?" I ask, pulling a bottle of wine from the pantry. "No, that's why we didn't tell you. You have a tendency of overreacting." His eyes land on the wine I've poured for myself. 

"What are you doing?" His brow is set in his frown again. I swear he always looks at me with that frown on his face. "I'm having a drink." I say before having a sip. He takes the glass out of my hand and almost spills it all over me. "What are you doing?" I ask, angered by his behaviour. "You can't drink." 

"I'm 21, Daniel, not 16. Give me back my wine." I reach for the glass but he pulls away the glass and lifts it above his head. "Give it back. I am allowed to drink." I stand on my tiptoes and try to reach for the glass. I lose my balance and fall forward. He wraps his arm around my waist, stabling me. 

His blue eyes are smiling down at me, his lips pulled into a slight smile. Gosh, he has mood-swings. Time doesn't seem to exist. I hear the sound of the glass on the counter. He uses his newly freed hand to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. I swallow hard, still holding his gaze. His hand stops on my cheek and the sparks from earlier in the car start to travel along my skin again.  

I become aware of his arm wrapped around my waist. His fingers have found where my top has lifted slightly and were tracing circles on the exposed skin. Sparks of warmth shoot through my body and for a second I wish we could stay like this. 

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