[This isn't because he doesn't understand what she's saying so much as that, while he is having a conversation with her, she pops a wheelie and zooms past him down the wrong side of the road, going the wrong way, maybe on two wheels the whole way. Maybe one wheel. He has to do some course-correction, get back up to speed, and then work on catching up to her. It takes some time.]
[Eventually, he arrives at his conclusion.]
No.
[No.]
I was talking about finding permanent housing. [And he almost says I'm not actually dating everyone who lives here, two of them are my relatives and a lot of them are twelve, but this time he bites his tongue. Looks at Riley, really looks, and sees her overwhelmed and uncomfortable by something she thinks he said, something she thinks he implied, because she expects strings.]
[He can hardly blame her, no matter how much his instinct is to be personally offended. He expects strings, too. Just different ones.]
I'm not going to do that to you, Riley. I told you I wasn't going to be cryptic anymore. That would count as cryptic. [He pauses. Thinks. Amends:] Deceitful. Deceitful is more accurate. That's not the kind of lie I tell.
no subject
[This isn't because he doesn't understand what she's saying so much as that, while he is having a conversation with her, she pops a wheelie and zooms past him down the wrong side of the road, going the wrong way, maybe on two wheels the whole way. Maybe one wheel. He has to do some course-correction, get back up to speed, and then work on catching up to her. It takes some time.]
[Eventually, he arrives at his conclusion.]
No.
[No.]
I was talking about finding permanent housing. [And he almost says I'm not actually dating everyone who lives here, two of them are my relatives and a lot of them are twelve, but this time he bites his tongue. Looks at Riley, really looks, and sees her overwhelmed and uncomfortable by something she thinks he said, something she thinks he implied, because she expects strings.]
[He can hardly blame her, no matter how much his instinct is to be personally offended. He expects strings, too. Just different ones.]
I'm not going to do that to you, Riley. I told you I wasn't going to be cryptic anymore. That would count as cryptic. [He pauses. Thinks. Amends:] Deceitful. Deceitful is more accurate. That's not the kind of lie I tell.