[ He draws a short breath at that, blinking as he realizes that he missed a pretty crucial thing here. All this back and forth is dulling his observation skills, perhaps, but now she's spelling it out for him and where he thought he'd find dread there's mostly... relief? It's been so much stress ever since he came back, so much work and he has to wonder if it's worth it. They never needed to work this hard before. They shouldn't have to work this hard.
He swallows, before nodding. ]
Okay... okay. It's- better this way. [ Clean break. No "for now". ] I still want us to be friends. [ But maybe not hang out for a couple of days. ]