'Of course I'm going to dance with you at the ball, I wouldn't dream of anything else,' he said with a smile. 'And I'm not sure if Natalie is or isn't coming since it was you who sent out the invitations,' he added with a wink.
'She would most likely need a dress,' he said with a nod. 'And you know I never mind it when you pick me up something gorgeous,' he said with a smile. Really, was it wrong to have others pay for things like that? He almost pondered asking her to shop for Susan too, though that would seem a bit much.
He almost groaned when she started to talk of Percy, his head falling back on the pillow. 'I don't even know anymore,' he said with a frown. 'At first it was the combination of red curly hair and this perfectly posed look that I just wanted to see if I could get undone. Now...' he pondered it for a while. 'He challenges me. He's sarcastic and clever and keeps telling me no.' He sighed.
'That really does sound screwed up, doesn't it?' he asked with a laugh.
'I don't know...it's just - It's such a responsibility. He wants the serious kind, the exclusive, possibly move in together kind and if I agreed he'd be putting his career on the line - possibly even to an end as it surely can't be seen as professional - and what if I then screw it up and fail?' he asked, voicing more worries than he'd known he had in his mind. 'I'm not like him, I've never done the relationship thing and I'm fairly sure I'd do as well as you did last - and then what? I'd have wrecked his - and possibly my own - career for no reason other than a few shags and a heartache.'
He groaned, it was insane, and he didn't care what Percy said - he'd resent him if that happened. It was better to just stay out of it.