For a brief, absurd moment, I wanted to thank him. Not for agreeing with me, he hadn't, but for understanding enough not to push.
But I bit it back. Gratitude was a dangerous currency with Dave.
Show it once, and he'd think he could buy more from you.
So instead, I said nothing.
The silence stretched, but this time, it wasn't suffocating. It was… bearable. Like the lull after a storm, not calm exactly, but no longer violent.
And maybe that was enough for now.
I turned my eyes away first, pretending to adjust the sleeves of my robe so that I wouldn't have to see if he was still watching me.
The truth was, I didn't want to know. If I caught even a trace of that unreadable half-smirk again, I might lose the fragile grip I had on my composure.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught him glancing at me once more, but only for a second. Then he shifted his stance, the faintest sigh leaving his lips, like he'd decided this conversation was over...for now.
And that was fine by me.
