A Note From Lara: While writing the second chapter of SHLN, I started thinking about The Piano Scene and how Peter was always very careful to make eye contact so Emma could understand... except when he asked her to lunch. Hence this. It's kind of stupid, but it was a point I felt needed making.
I was always kind of shy with girls. I would trip over my tongue or sound like an idiot or just wind up not being able to form a coherent sentence at all. Eye contact was to be avoided at all costs. And talking to Emma was no exception. I couldn't deny that she had been on my mind on and off since seeing her that night at the park.
But I did my best to make eye contact so she'd be able to read my lips and understand me.
And then, idiot that I am, I decided to ask her to lunch. And I fell back into my old habit of avoiding eye contact. Probably- no, definitely- a bad idea, but I just have never been able to look a girl in the eye when I'm asking her out. It's just... well, scary.
Not that this was technically a date. It was "lunch to try and figure out what's happening to her." Where the hell did that come from?
Oh well. I managed to offend her less than three seconds later, so it's a moot point.
But I still think I should have made eye contact.