Dawn didn't quite open up to him the way she had to Mel. For one thing, he wasn't a cool girl about her own age but an older, attractive man. So she was partly confused and partly on guard - why would an older, attractive man be talking to her? She hadn't even done her hair that day.
Still, it was there, the desire to impress, to climb out of the little sister rut and be someone a guy would talk to not because he wanted her hot sister's number but because he wanted to talk to her.
"Apparently nothing ever happens in this town," she half-joked, smiling, and closed the book, not wanting to seem unwelcoming. Actually, lots happened in this town. Most people just couldn't see it for what it was. "You can only read about old history for so long, y'know?"
At his compliment, she blushed again and busied herself with taking a sip of coffee. It was black, and she liked hers with sugar and lots of cream, but she drank it anyway because she didn't want to offend him. Whoever he was.