When she leans in so completely and immediately he leans back and away just as violently, his own eyes going round. All of his old instincts, the ones he's been trying to suppress that shriek terror whenever he reveals himself to someone new, come screaming back. Except her proximity has him frozen, so he can't even quite get himself to scramble back along the boardwalk.
"I don't even know what that is!" he blurts. Oh, this was a terrible idea, why would he even think after all that she'd already reamed him out for that he should go and do that--
no subject
"I don't even know what that is!" he blurts. Oh, this was a terrible idea, why would he even think after all that she'd already reamed him out for that he should go and do that--