"I know," Laurel replied, blushing a bit as she pulled back and tugged on his wrist so they could sit together on the couch. "I was planning on it and then I didn't and I kept meaning to and then Nate... Axel sent me an owl and... Yeah." She was getting used now to hearing her brothers' other names used, though she wasn't quite used to using them herself.
She folded herself on the sofa, knees drawn up and thumbnail between her teeth. "Um. Fine, I guess. Same as ever." She shrugged. "Which I guess isn't.... Great." She felt a little queasy even admitting that much. It wasn't that she was actively in distress in her life, but she knew such distress was likely on the horizon if she kept pushing the safe bubble she'd built.
But if she was going to poke at it, she might as well start now.
"When you..." She sighed. "When you knew about, you know, you..." And she hoped he did know because that word still felt taboo. "How did you know the right thing to do?"