Re: Dietre A./Hugh C.: On the patio
Hugh nodded and his hand squeezed Dietre's. There was a strange relief in Dietre's words - it was something and Hugh wasn't making up the something either. It was there. And if Dietre was afraid, then Hugh certainly could relate to that. He shifted so that they were shoulder to shoulder and he pulled their hands onto his knee, for the moment not watching Dietre, but following the other man's gaze onto their hands. It was clear he had no intention of pulling them away from the patio anytime soon.
"You don't have anything to be sorry about, Dietre," Hugh told him quietly, falling into silence for a moment while he considered what else to add to it. "The last relationship I had ended rather dramatically. And the one before that, equally dramatically, and sometimes I'm not even certain if I'm cut out for them and I don't know what I'm doing. Not really. Like," he sighed, his gaze shifting back to the lake. "I'm afraid too. I don't want to be hurt; And I don't want to hurt someone else."
There was a beat then he added: "You know Hannah and I dated, yeah? And we're still friends."