Bethanie / Laurel
Bethanie didn't quite laugh, but she made an attempt. "It's probably my fault," she said, not sure whether she should act as if it were funny and pleasant, or if she should be apologising for messing up Laurel's chances of meeting someone. "I really didn't talk to anyone else, so I suppose the magic had no other options." She'd been told on arrival that if she made no connection at all she'd be seated randomly, and she wasn't sure why that hadn't happened. Bethanie had been questioning her own sexuality on-and-off since she graduated, because there had been times that she'd felt a connection with a woman that she didn't think she'd ever felt with a man... but perhaps that was just friendship. It was impossible to know without practical experience, and Bethanie didn't expect anyone, ever, to reciprocate her feelings anyway so quite often she just forgot to worry about it.
"I'm sorry if you'd rather have sat with someone else," she added quietly. The guests on either side of them were clearly rapt with one another, so there was little chance of Laurel finding someone else to talk to until after the meal. There was nothing for it but to make the best of it. "At least we can carry on our conversation," Bethanie said. She wasn't sorry for that, even if she imagined that Laurel must take less pleasure in it than she did. "I was going to ask if you'd read much muggle fiction. You mentioned writing for both audiences, but I haven't really found many people who do." Which seemed a shame, to Bethanie, but she supposed she could imagine reasons for it, if she tried.