His smile was gentle, "what were you studying?" he nodded, "and yeah. I guess so. A really long time. It's a wonder the two of you even recognized one another."
And just like that. There it was. Leah. People could think or say whetever they wanted about him and his 'sudden' feelings for the oldest Stone sibling, but he knew what he felt. Whether it was fucking 'love' or not, he still had strong enough feelings for her to have it hurt when Eloise confirmed what he'd kind of suspected from that very day in the sewer.
Brows furrowed, and he didn't exactly bother to look up from the robo-jet pony. Even if he did have that terrible, awful, sinking, drowning feeling going on in his chest.
Alright. So maybe Leah, herself, hadn't really showed much any sign that she felt the same way about Evan... but why would the French douche leave a sweet girl like Eloise in the dirt, if he didn't think he had some sort of chance with Leah? He had his suspicions about both Leah and Evan. And yeah, okay, he had been jealous. He didn't mean to think that way, but he did. And he was fairly careful about those things, these days, too. After his wife had cheated on him and all, he couldn't really help but think things like that. No matter who he was with.
Staring at the page a moment, he swallowed hard, and moved to straighten up a bit better, his eyes searching the tabletop for a different color. Red. For the laser eyes.
He gently shook his head at her suggestion, "Not right now." What if Leah liked Evan too? Then, more fucking power to them! Yes. Yes, he felt like he was going to drown in his own feelings. Maybe it wasn't just the current situation. But why did he never seem to be good enough for anyone? Also. He felt like things were going alright with Leah. Then things happened on the botanical garden trip, and it was like she'd turned off the lights on him, and rolled up the chance she'd given him, and called it quits. Rae had mentioned that Leah hadn't been happy... How did Rae know? And why hadn't anyone told him so he could work things out?
He was laying low for the time being, but he had still had hopes that he might have another chance later on down the road, until.. Until tonight. Why was Eloise telling him this? Frenchie was going to go after Leah, and then all bets were off.
If-- If she didn't hate him too. There was always that.
He needed to not think about it.
But he was out of sight and out of Leah's mind, for the most part. And from what he gathered, Frenchie and Leah were running things with this rebellion, and spending a lot of fucking time together.
Coloring. That was what he was going to do. Color. Draw. Not think about it. He leaned into the table, bringing his elbow up to prop on the table, and resting his forehead in his palm as he colored with the other hand.