The irony almost made him smile. But meeting Sally hadn't been a bad thing, had it? I don't think so. She's nice. He seems nice too.
The amount of apology was almost overwhelming, though, making him shy away slightly, retreat within to himself and lose the small amount of confidence he'd been building up to.
"Fine, I'm...fine. Startled, a little, I...wasn't paying attention," he mumbled, watching the ice cream drip toward the boy's fingers. "Ice cream," he pointed with a single finger.