Suddenly, Sean wasn't sure whether he should be more glad he'd never got this far in a conversation with a pretty girl before (it was hard) or doubly-cursing his cousin Tom for stealing every chance he'd ever had to practice pretending that he wasn't a totally awkward mess of a boy. He'd always known that he wasn't exactly the suave one. That was old news. Having to shift his load so he could at least partially block the view of his suddenly ridiculous case of Irish red-face by tangling the hand closer to Kitty up in his hair? That took a nosedive right past 'not suave,' he was pretty sure, and into a category he was equally sure Alex would have been better equipped to name.
"Uh, thanks." There was no 'almost' about his mumbling. Was it normal for increasing levels of very unfamiliar embarrassment to make a walk feel like it was twice as long as it should be? Because until he finally found his foot landing on the front steps, he was feeling a bit like he was in a fun house and the manor wasn't really getting any closer at all. Not that he wanted to escape Kitty's company or something - quite the contrary - but at least actually arriving offered a new subject to discuss!
"So, hey, welcome to the manor! Home to...way more people than I've had a chance to meet, which, by the way, is kind of a weird feeling after you've grown up in a tenement building where you're probably related to half the other residents." That sounded a bit of a ramble but, well, he'll just do his best to cover it up by practicing one of the few vaguely useful lessons he'd picked up from his father: a gentleman holds the door for a lady.