Erik is not really in the mood for a gathering like this, but he had signed up to make some food, so he's here. After he drops the potato pancakes off at one of the food tables, he grabs a plate and piles it high with a variety of food. That's the other thing that got him here, after all. All the food that he didn't have to make himself.

Then he retreats too, off to the edge somewhere. He's here, but if he hangs around the edge, he doesn't have to be social. Call it a compromise. He just can't stop thinking about how it was at a gathering similar to this one that he first met Claire. And now he has to come to this one without her.