He probably needs something more relaxing. He always seems stressed.”
That was a curious way to describe him.
“What do you mean?” I’d long since realized that Destin might’ve seen people differently, but that wasn’t always a bad thing, and I didn’t need to understand it to accept it.
Just look at who he’d ended up in a relationship with.
Destin took my hand and started dragging me across the warehouse-type store. “Come on, let’s keep looking. We’ll find something.”
Something nice.
We’ll find something subtle and attractive is what he should have said, but with Destin, I wasn’t going to hold my breath.
“I’m coming.” Hurrying behind him so it didn’t look like I was a toddler being dragged by his father, I asked my question again. “What do you mean that he always seems stressed?”
I’d have described him as quiet or secretive, not stressed. Destin shrugged, pointing out a brown couch that seemed to have been shredded by a rabid wolf. Shaking my head, I prodded him along. “Well?”
I got another shrug as we started to wander through the rows of terrible furniture hidden by equally strange boxes of books and building supplies. It was the largest secondhand store in the area but had the worst layout and seemed to take everything no matter how terrible it was.
“He’s always rushing to class, and whenever I see him on campus, he’s just…I don’t know…stressed.” He must have seen something in my face because he snorted. “And it’s not just me, so don’t even think that. He’s that way with everyone.”
Holding back laughter, I snorted. “I was not going to blame his odd behavior on you. He seems to have a lot going on in general.”
Destin and I usually didn’t rub the same people the wrong way. If they liked me, he’d make them uncomfortable. If they liked him, they’d find me standoffish or rude. There were only a handful of people who seemed to like us both, and Morgan was clearly not one of them.
But the fact that he seemed to be uncomfortable around both of us had to be significant as well, I just didn’t know why.
Going back to our conversation, I focused on what I’d seen from Morgan. “He never seems to be running late, but the one thing that concerns me is his eating habits. They’re worse than yours when you first got to college.”
Destin actually winced. “Really?”
“Yes.” Getting distracted, I noticed something black buried under a mound of what seemed to be fabric scraps. “Help me check this out.”
Interesting.
“This is nice.” Pushing away what seemed to be curtains, Destin smiled. “It’s kind of plain, but that’s not a bad thing. We can get you some pillows to make it pretty.”
He was going to drag me to some kind of decorating store.
What had I done to deserve a year like this?
Aside from some scuffs and a few worn spots that weren’t bad at all, it was in good shape. And as Destin said…plain. I appreciated that most of all. “Grab that tag before someone else realizes it’s here.”
I’d seen two older ladies fighting over the only matching pair of chairs that wasn’t a terrible color, and I wasn’t going to lose this by walking away.
Taking the card from Destin, I pointed to the couch. “You sit there and don’t move.”
We both looked over at the other end of the room where the ladies were arguing with one of the employees about who saw the chairs first. “I don’t care what they do or say—if they come over here, defend our territory.”
Destin nodded as he peeked around me hesitantly. “But they’re kind of scary.”
“I will be much scarier if I have to settle for that strange plaid monstrosity.” I frowned when Destin looked up at me and smiled.
“Okay, I believe that.” He might have believed it, but the grin on his face said he wasn’t terribly worried. “Just hurry so we don’t have to test my resolve.”
Rolling my eyes, I wove my way through the rows toward the front of the store where the registers were. Going up to the employee behind the counter, I held out the couch tag. “I want to pay for this one and arrange for delivery.”
After being slightly pushy, I paid for my find and had a delivery appointment for later that afternoon. It might have cost me a little more, but after seeing what the ladies were doing over the chairs, I wasn’t going to take the chance of having the couch sitting around for days.
Heading back over