Around the worlds 2 - Tiptoe

Michela shook her head. "Hey, it's ok. Maybe I exaggerated." She scratched her head, thoughtfully. "I've never been very good with people and limits. That's what got me to be transformed, and I still haven't learned", she shrugged, a smile on her lips.

Neos studied her expression, curious. "Would you tell me how that happened ? I mean, if you're ok with it?"

Michela stiffened a bit. It didn't seem like one of her favourite topics. "... well... I don't want to bore you, so I'll just say that it happened because I pissed off the wrong person. And because nobody told me that /he/ was the wrongest of all the people I could piss off." She grimaced. "Nobody even tried to stop him. He was too important of a man. Someone in my family even considered it as a GIFT." She laughed bitterly.

"... I'm sorry," Neos said in a softer voice, as he stood up slowly. "I won't bother you about it again, if brings back such bitter memories to you."

Michela sighed and shrugged a bit. "It's ok. I'm too old to still be upset about it. I got over that phase lot of time ago, hopefully." She smiled at him, lightly patting his shoulder. "Well, let's head back. I bet you're starving!" She peeked at his notebook. "Were you studying?"

"No," answered Neos honestly, as he tucked his notebook back into his bag. "Sadly for you, whatever is in that notebook is private," he told her with a smile, as he started to head back to the inn.

"Whaat! This isn't fair, you'll make me curious like this!" Michela hurried after him. "You won't tell me? Not even a small clue? Not even a small small small microscopic look-", she made a gesture to make him see just how small. "Please? Look at this cute face, how can you say no!" She made a terrible grimace on purpose.

"Because that's private," Neos emphacized with a wider smile, as he looked at her. "You don't have a diary for me to sneak my nose into, but you get the idea, right ?"

Michela feigned a pout. "You are mean", she stated, bumping him lightly with her elbow, but smiling. Heh, everyone has their secrets. And she really didn't want him to get in a sour mood again. "I don't have a diary, but I bet you would find other ways to stick your nose into my secrets."

"Mh, actually I'm working on a mind-reading spell, right now," he joked, throwing her a glance. Was he only half joking? Who knew.

Michela chuckled darkly. "Careful with that. You might not like what you'd see." Her grin grew. "Or maybe you would. Who knows", she hummed waltzing in the inn, walking before him.

Neos narrowed his eyes, suspiciously, but didn't ask anything more. After all, they joined with Karl and Cathy soon after. He tried his best to remain calm during their meal, and not to let anything show.

Michela ate peacefully, cracking jokes during their meal ("I asked for bloody meat, where is the blood!") and generally being very merry. All while keeping bumping her foot against Neos' leg. Not on purpose, of course!

At some point, Neos simply retrieved his legs under his chair, while looking straight in his plate. He had already felt rejected enough, now this was just becoming painful for him to bear. Well. At least that's how he understood everything that happened to him that night, since Michela kept avoiding talking about his so-called 'crush'.

Dinner finished fairly quickly. Of course Michela had carefully avoided to talk about what she exactly felt until that moment. When she had told him she found him cute, he had reacted like an offended snake, and up until that moment, they had been with other people. And now he had brought his legs away from her. Surely that had to be kept private. So, after dinner, she just bid goodnight to her friends and scurried away to her room.

Neos followed her, still slightly uneasy. "I'll finally get that shower," he told her as soon as they reached the room, as if he avoided the subject himself. Well. He saw no more reason of mentionning it, anyway. To him, it was clear he was no more than a "cute younger boy" to Michela.

Michela didn't say anything. She sat down on her bed and started fiddling with her thumbs. Then she looked at him, a serious expression on her face. "You don't wanna talk about it", she accused him with a soft voice. "You already decided all by yourself what I think about the situation, as if you can really read in my mind."

Neos's cheeks got darker as he looked away. "Why would I want to talk about it? The only thing you did so far was making fun of me, and letting me know it makes you uneasy. You didn't even give it a thought before I confessed to you, am I wrong?"

Michela frowned, her lips curving down. "When did I say that it makes me uneasy?", she hissed. "I just said I'm not used to have someone be attracted to me, which as far as I am concerned is true. And who told you I hadn't thought about it before?" She crossed her arms on her chest, getting up to face him, her chin up in a challenging way.

"... I don't know," said Neos, suddenly a bit shy. And shifting awkwardly from one foot to another. "Look, I'm... I'm terrible at serious talks. Can we just make it quick ?" he asked, daring to look at her.

Michela shifted from her rigid position, a hand on her hip. "Fine. I want to tell one thing first: never suppose things. You can't be sure about what I think or feel, so don't act like you are. Anyway..." She averted her gaze, muttering. "... I do like you."

Neos arched a brow, surprised. "Really ? I mean... to me, it didn't seem like you did. I mean, we just kept joking together, but that's it." he felt kind of confused, now.

Michela pinched the bridge of her nose, groaning. "I am not good with... this, ok? I don't get close to people, and I don't care of dropping them when they get tired of travelling or when their objectives differ from mine. It is egoistical, but that's how I learned to roll. While, well. Don't know if you noticed, but I didn't really let you go, back there." She was referring to the night in which they had decided to travel to another city, when Cathy had expressed the wish to get away from there.

Neos' expression softened a bit. "Alright. I'm sorry, I'm just a bit nervous, I guess," he said with an awkward smile.

Michela looked at him, a shy smile on her lips. "We are two nervous messes. It's meant to be", she joked. "Well, better you go and get your shower. I've made you wait long enough", she added. She was quite awkward with serious talk too, so she didn't really dare to press more.