Eisen wouldn’t be doing his job as a best friend if he couldn’t tell that Rory wasn’t feeling like himself. This was a whole new level of depression that Eisen didn’t recall having seen before. Sometimes, it took repeats of phrases to make Rory react… Rory, who was always the very first to pick up on any grammar misstep, missed it when Eisen had mentioned braining. He’d had to repeat it. That, right there, was the moment that Eisen realized how very wrong things were. Not knowing what was killing him, as was the lingering air of sadness that Rory seemed to be putting off.
This was serious. Whatever Ben Bailey had said to him, it had shaken him. Not only was he sad, but he was scared. Eisen had seen that hiding-fear look on his face before. Not for a long time, but he had. When the Spanish rice was in the pan, Eisen shed his coat finally, ignoring the dusting of snow that fell off onto the kitchen floor. The first thing on his mind should have been the fact that in this very kitchen, he and Lexie had been together yesterday. But it wasn’t. Rory wasn’t okay and right then, to Eisen, that was all that mattered.
Another red flag raised in his brain, but he pushed it down.
“Well, you promised,” he pointed out. “I’ve been worried. You haven’t seemed like yourself and I’m starting to get worried.” Okay, that was an understatement. Eisen was beyond worried. Apparently he was so concerned about this that it was trying to convince him that… other things were happening. Maybe that’s what it is… he thought, though he was hardly convinced. Pushing some hair from his face, he gave Rory a bit of a smile and shrug when he complimented Eisen’s cooking. “Thanks. But you’re not going to get out of telling me. You promised.”