"If I have to fit into a stereotype, I'm glad it's that one." Aleksei knew he was a lot of things, but a computer-savvy nerd was a good one to be in this day and age. It was true - Bill Gates, Steve jobs, etc, they had all been nerds when they were younger, probably bullied. Now they were some of the richest men in the world. Or well, had been. Although he had no wild fantasies about being that rich, it wasn't out of the question that he could live quite comfortably with a degree in IT.
She didn't seem to get why he wanted to get to know her, and he looked at her kind of curiously. Why would anyone think that about themselves? That was his own thought process - unless they were self conscious, of course. Aleksei had a lot of self esteem issues, he knew what it felt like to think no one would ever want to know you or be your friend. She didn't come off that way, but maybe that's how she felt.
"Just because I have other friends doesn't mean I don't want new ones. My friends are great, but just because they are great doesn't mean you aren't you know? They aren't mutually exclusive." He shrugged, taking another bite of his giant, girly muffin. Blueberry, though. It would have been a travesty if he went with a pumpkin spice muffin. Would have been very basic white girl of him. "And yeah, I like to party. But that's not all I like to do. And who knows, maybe you might like the atmosphere some day. Maybe you just haven't been to fun parties."
Aleksei thought all people could be flexible. Sure, he'd met some pretty stubborn assholes, but there was always a compromise to be found, a middle ground between interests. Lexi loved to entertain, and he was totally confident in his ability to get her to enjoy a party. Alcohol or not.
Alice apparently did not like other people, though, and seemed to have no issue with others not liking her. Although that might seem rude or callous to other people, Aleksei just sort of shrugged it off. It didn't turn him off to being a friend of hers, even if it should. "No, if you are certain you could never be friends with so-and-so, it's no reason to force niceties and interact if you don't want to. But there are upsides to being nice to people." He said, a wry smiling forming on his lips.
"Like, for instance, you could wind up having lunch with a really pretty girl if you're nice."