...Why did people think that not speaking meant I'm dying for conversation. Please talk to me?
Gor heaved a sigh, the only audible sound he had made so far. Maybe, he thought, he should learn sign language and pretend to be mute. Or retarded. Or a mute retard. People might even leave him alone then.
As for the silent treatment, it wasn't deliberate. Well, it was deliberate, but it was for different reasons than what she thought. Zoe unnerved him -- greatly -- and so he knew that his stutter would be bad, which would embarrass him further and, therefore, make his stutter that much worse.
Also, he'd been hoping she would just let him walk away.
"A-ask N-N-Nik." She probably had. But that was besides the point.