Re: O'Brien, Leah
Leah tucked her tongue in her cheek, caught between amusement and irritation. This time, the former was stronger than the latter. "Easy, boy. You're getting all defensive over something pointless." Pot calling the kettle black on that. "If it makes you feel better, be a shark. It makes no difference to me." She scoffed when he commented about her aversion to water. "I'm not afraid of water." That was a weak defense, she knew. And she didn't even notice she'd used the word 'afraid' while he hadn't. "Fortunately for you, I won't be eating you any time soon, so you don't have to worry about that."
"Dolphins are smart. Maybe you're a dolphin," she suggested. "Only thing is, dolphins are calm, and you're anything but." Leah canted her head to one side, studying O'Brien when he dropped his gaze to his beer. Amusement melted faded away, to be replaced by guilt once more. The manner in which she treated him was the very same she gave to anyone who wasn't family, and yet... why was she regretting it now? Leah sucked on her bottom lip, fighting with the tiny voice in the back of her head that wanted her to apologize. "Apology not accepted," she said. "You weren't the one who called me a fish." It was her way of saying he was off the hook for that. As for her scornful remarks about his crush, well, she wasn't quite sure what to say about that. She didn't want to encourage him. Or did she? No. No, she didn't.
When he raised his eyes and reminded her of his hatred of cats, Leah lifted an eyebrow at the irony. "A lioness is a big cat. Does that mean you're allergic to me?"
She nodded, taking another sip of her water. "Glad she made that choice for you, then," she said of his ex-wife not wanting kids. "Less people you have to miss." And that was all she planned to say on that matter. The conversation was taking another uncomfortable turn; she needed to steer it back in the opposite direction. Still, Leah couldn't help but smirk when O'Brien explained how one of his nephews had taken liberties with the Nerf guns. "Yes, let's talk about other things." She was more than happy to go along with that.
"Lots of things are worse than listening to talent sh—" O'Brien snapped a picture of her before she could finish her sentence. Leah glared when he smirked. "And the next thing you're going to do is delete that picture." Years ago, she hadn't minded having her picture taken. Now was a completely different story.
"If there wasn't any party, I'd be doing any number of those things." A brief pause. "Except for going up to the roof. Too cold this time of year." Leah snorted when he said someone stole his crayons. "Another kid probably stole them, so congrats on calling that kid a jackass. Better not let his or her parents hear you call them that."