Caradoc shook his head. "I may be younger than you, Emm, but I'm not that young." He reminded her. "I do realize there are things I'll have to see for myself, I'd just like to get my feet under me before I start going out conducting a social experiment to determine the changes that have taken place over the last 40 years. I don't plan on staying in here and reading forever now that I've returned and miss out on everything new."
And that was the problem with all of this wasn't it. Emmeline knew a different him and as much as she would attempt not to remind him of that fact, it was an inevitability. She couldn't help it any more than he could help the fact that the Emmeline he knew was not his best friend in the world. "I don't need to be lead around by the hand, Emmeline. I'll figure these things out, just like everyone else who has ended up dumped here on their arse."
He snorted when she pulled into herself, completely discounting how difficult this would be for him. "I'm not uncomfortable, I'm just trying to figure out what you're doing. Last week you and I exchanged all of ten words and now here you are older and you want to go to some club with me and take me around to show me everything I don't know about yet." He pushed a hand into his hair pulling and leaving the hair sticking up at odd angles when he dropped his hand into his lap again. "This is just strange and you can't expect things to just click the first time I see you - not since you've changed so much. I may be brilliant, but even I am having trouble with this. I need some time and I need some space."
He paused, watching for her reactions while he spoke. "You can't just start assuming what I need, okay. I'm still an adult here, and leading me around by the nose isn't going to help me get a handle on things."