A lot of it was probably just that Audrey had been forced to come to these conclusions quicker than other people. She hadn't had any choice about coming out of the closet and she'd had to sort her shit out pretty fast. In a different world, she might have taken a few years or a few semesters in college to really explore all the possibilities. Instead she'd gotten a crash course. But she'd been using a lot of the time here to practice some degree of authenticity and honesty with herself. Permitting herself to ask for and do what she wanted. There had no doubt been a few pitfalls along the way, but Audrey wasn't about to call them mistakes. She didn't regret them and probably would have done it all exactly the same even with hindsight.
"Just because it doesn't seem like you've been putting a lot of work into it, doesn't mean you haven't been putting a lot of work into it," she shrugged. Vast strides could be made in the tiniest moments. She'd had the same experiences here.
She pushed herself off the wall a bit, still holding onto it with one hand, but holding herself out until she could find some degree of purchase on the bottom of the pool. She was still on the shallower side and the water hit about mid-chest, but she could comfortably balance on her toes without bobbing around. "I'd like to try something," she said, "if it's okay. And I might not get it right on the first try, but if I don't, I'd like to try it again in a slightly different way." Vague, yes, but the implication was that she was asking for permission from him and for a momentary mutual trust between them.
Audrey shifted again to move in front of him, letting go of the wall as she did, and dropped her chin down slightly. It allowed her to look up at him, with wide icy blue doe-eyes as she softly bit the inside corner of her lip. There was a bit of a put-on about it, but the way she slid into that expression so easily made it seem absolutely natural. Her hand drifted towards him, then stopped just a few inches short of touching his chest. "May I, please?" she asked, her voice just a bit softer and sweeter than it had been before. She just wanted to see if it ticked a box for him. If not, it was easy enough to flip it to the other side. And it really could go either way. But she had a feeling.