The squeeze helped somehow, solidified the grounding, pushed back the thoughts of straws and brains, and the smile relaxed, felt less plastic and fake. "I'm sure you'd find somebody, but I doubt it'd be as fun or half as excitin'."
He leaned over the table when Tim left the room, twisting this way and that to try to see where he was going and what he was doing. The discovery of the ice cream, syrup, and sprinkles when he returned was met with a grin, and he reached for both toppings as soon as they were made available. "'Course; ice cream ain't complete without 'em! Only thing'd be better would be if you had cherries an' peanut butter to go with." He proceeded to dump his own dessert with both toppings liberally, only content when the whole thing was covered and looked like it belonged in a circus, and only then did he begin to dig in. "Man, you've just got all the bases covered, dontcha?"