Arla kept her eyes on their hands, David very dark and Arla incredibly pale. She kept flickering her eyes up toward his and the stupid thing was, she hadn't even been thinking about flirting with him for any purpose other than joking around until he said he was married. Now she felt stupid and her thoughts had turned into inappropriate "what if" scenarios in her head. Stupid.
"That's all you hafta say," said Arla, smiling a little. "I mean, I----okay. I'm still thinking and trying to get an answer outta you and I'm not going to get one. I'm just curious. Insatiably so. Every question that's posed, I have to find an answer. That's just how I am. Work out the variables and solve the equation. Even when the answer's not worth finding out and not nearly as complicated as you thought it was... it's..." She chuckled helplessly----looked like she, too, had a lot of practice with suppression. Not as much as David, because when she suppressed things, she got all twitchy like a toy that was wound too tight. "It's my tragic flaw."
Coincidentally (or perhaps not), Arla's right hand involuntarily tensed up. David had seen it happen before, the first time they really talked, and the fingers twitched violently before curling up like a tense claw. Drawing her hand back, she tried to shake it out. That never worked, but she always did it anyway. She just had to wait for the spasm to die down and relax itself.