[that definitely made Lina's eyes widen—she'd fucked up. or been seen through immediately, not that it was very difficult because she was just. so transparent. and okay, fine, she didn't want to turn this into a fight, but she didn't know how to admit she'd been called out gracefully. her words weren't necessarily harsh or angry, but the tone behind them wasn't helping.]

Fine. Yeah. I want to try to date her but I want to do it on my own terms, and maybe I've just been hoping this whole time that she won't find somebody who's... easier to be around than I am. [wow that doesn't sound great, even if she doesn't mean it as, like, gross and manipulative.]

Or maybe she already has and she's just fucking with me. I don't know.