Avoidance

Maybe it was the alcohol he already drank, but Luca found himself laughing when she fell forward and he had to catch her. 

His other hand went to her waist to stabilize her and he searched her flushed face for how she was feeling. 

"You don't have any tolerance whatsoever," he said, amazed. 

He was certainly feeling warm and a little bit uninhibited but he was able to walk perfectly straight. 

"Don't tease me," Sophia uttered, pulling her hand away from him quickly and trying to right herself so she wouldn't embarrass herself further. 

Except when she stumbled again he smoothly stepped forward and forced her to hold onto his arm. As they walked by the man near the front door, Luca gave him a pleasant smile before they were on their way. 

A cool breeze blew through the city and Sophia found herself huddling close to Luca's arm as they walked. When she realized what she was doing, she loosened her grip on him and decided it would be best for her to walk on her own accord even if she wasn't all that stable.

He observed her intently. It was obvious what she was doing. He wondered if she thought contact between them was a mistake each time it happened. It didn't feel good.

If she didn't want to touch him, she didn't have to, but he found her resistance to him getting under his skin. He just wanted to hear what she was thinking about. 

They walked in silence for a moment, but he heard Sophia sigh and he was suddenly alert. 

"Sophia," Luca said, his deep voice quiet. 

She hated that her name sounded good from his mouth. 

The mystery man who was beside her because she was just supposed to help him had taken up a lot of space in her mind. It wasn't supposed to be confusing. Her path was always straightforward but now he was causing her to stray. 

All she wanted was to escape that situation unscathed. Her heart didn't feel like it was intact after Grant. How could she even try to discuss matters that involved it when it felt like there was a hole in her chest?

She tried to take an unserious approach.

"Mr. Morelli," she responded in a quiet voice, mocking his tone. 

His eyebrows raised but when she turned her face to him, he saw that she was holding back a smile. How was he meant to have a serious conversation with her when the both of them had been drinking? 

Sophia was teasing him and trying to get out of having to discuss the topic that had been looming over them since very early in the morning. When she realized he was catching on, something immature took over and she started sprinting down the sidewalk, her purse flapping and her hair catching the breeze so it flew behind her. 

For a moment, it felt good to have cold air rushing by and hitting her face. There was a moment of sobriety in a very unsober moment and the clashing feelings caused her to let out a lighthearted laugh. 

Unfortunately, someone as athletic-looking as Luca was fast on his feet. He caught up to her quickly. 

He was in the nick of time because as she ran forward, a bicyclist nearly clipped her. If it weren't for Luca grabbing her by her arm and pulling her back, she would have certainly been hurt by the person on the bike rushing out of the alleyway and not paying attention to where they were going. 

When Sophia's body was abruptly pulled back by Luca, her hair flew forward and covered her face. Taking a couple of moments to realize that she had survived that moment, she pushed the hair away from her face and realized she was holding her breath. She exhaled sharply and realized her shoulders were heaving. 

The back of her was against a firm body and she felt large hands squeezing her thin arms. 

"Don't go and get yourself hurt," Luca uttered. 

His heart was practically punching her in the back of the neck. For a moment it felt like the earth stopped spinning until he knew she was out of harm's way.

"S-sorry," she quickly apologized, stuttering out the word as she tried to right herself. 

"Why are you apologizing?" he asked. "I just don't want to see you in pain." 

They were only a short distance from her house and she freed herself from his grip. She couldn't face him at that moment because, if he could tell that he made her nervous before, it was certainly going to be the case then as well. 

"Do you hate it when I touch you that badly?" he asked, hurt evident in his tone. 

He was filled with dread at the thought that he was alone in the confusing feelings. Maybe he had misread whenever she responded to him. Could her nervousness be because she was still scared of him? He had thought he was getting better, but it wouldn't be surprising if with his memories went his ability to gauge someone else's responses. It made him feel lonely. 

Sophia wasn't going to approach that topic when they were entering her neighborhood. People she had to interact with constantly were bound to be able to hear their conversation considering it was early in the evening. 

She speed-walked until they made it to her front door where she promptly put in her key and entered the dark space. The porch light was on but Ethan must have gone somewhere else because the inside was dark as the sun sunk further into the horizon behind other buildings. 

Luca had been keeping up with her. He needed answers. 

It was clear to Luca that she was the one rejecting him, yet, when she turned around, she gave him a pained expression. Her eyebrows lowered in confusion as well. 

"I don't hate it when you touch me," she admitted. "That's the problem."