She found it hard to believe that there was someone in this world harder to talk to than Benjamin Redd, yet here he was... and of course they were related.
"Oh. Cool. Your brother going home too?" Oh stars! They have a sisters too! "And Erica too?" she added in as quickly as possible.
"I think so." He answered, once more in his infamously clipped sentences that seemed almost as if it were a reminder to speak, rather than an actually answer. A few times he even opened his mouth as if to say something else, only to shut it again and quickly look away.
He could feel the tell-tale build up of tension in his chest, and he began to fidget a little. But his doctor would say he had to face this situation to overcome it, wouldn't he? "Y-you? W-what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to my brother's apartment in New York and then dragging him back to Hawaii for Christmas with our dad," she shrugged. "I kind of hate living so far away from everyone."
She felt like she was torturing him with her conversation but she didn't want to leave this poor kid. "Are you okay?" she asked.
He stared at her for a moment, his face seeming to play out the internal debate he was having in his head. Ultimately, though, he shook his head. It wasn't her fault he was completely inept.
"Sorry," he said by way of apology, digging the toe of his show into the floor a little as he looked down. "I-I just, do you know Ben?"
She smiled warmly and nodded. "Yeah! He's great!" she said brightly. "I really like him." Her face instantly blanched. "You know, like him, not like him like him. He's... he's a good friend." Train. Wreck.
She was acting weird for a girl that just liked his brother, as a friend. "Do you have a crush?" He said it before he'd really finished the thought, a curious look on his face.
He wondered if she knew about Ben's taxidermy habits. Most girls didn't like that sort of thing. Though, Brian would point out, at least it is a very clean habit....after all the gutting.
"No!" she said all to quickly. "No," she shook her head, trying to play it off like she hadn't just practically shouted. "Uh... no... not at all. Benjamin and I are um... friends. We're just friends." Her face had turned from pale to deep crimson in only moments. Fffffffff.
"Oh my god," she mumbled. "I'm not blushing, I'm just... I'm hot..." she slapped herself in the forehead. "Uh, I did. I got him something, uh... a french press and a vegetarian cook book," she admitted sheepishly.
"...So you like him." That was, clearly, the only reason she should, or would give Ben a gift. "Does he know that?" It was a reasonable question to follow with. After all, maybe his brother was trying to make her stop.
"....So you like him?" Brian wasn't sure what was going on in this conversation again. Maybe he was doing it wrong. People weren't supposed to beg in normal conversation about things like...that, were they?
Now this was just getting ridiculous. "No, no, no," she shook her head. "This is all just a huge misunderstanding and Ben should never hear about this conversation. Ever." She could feel her face burning.
"Right, well... right," she looked around nervously. Please tell me that no one overheard this conversation. "Have a good vacation Brian," she said trying not to feel so flustered. "I'll... uh... I'll talk to you later!"
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