"I've been tryin' to," Avery said. He'd had tea the previous day, and he didn't know that it had helped a whole lot, but it couldn't hurt anything. Especially since it was seeming as if it might not necessarily be a physical illness that was going on with him, anyway. It didn't matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't make it form any kind of cohesive sense in his mind.
He managed a smile, not minding the advice. "No," he said quickly when she said she could leave him be if he wanted. "I don't mind havin' company. Which way do you wanna go?" Hopefully he hadn't sounded panicky when she'd suggested taking her leave. It would be wonderful if he could not be cold for a while.