Re: [Ren's apartment.]
Hannah already knew. She already knew he was hurt, and she already knew he'd believed his relationship with Louis was strong and sturdy and permanent, or that he'd hoped it would be. She knew, even if he was really, really careful never to say it. "I still don't like him," she said of Louis, friendly solidarity quick on her lips. She couldn't like someone who hurt him, and she kind of thought Louis had led him on and strung him long and long, and she didn't like it at all. "I'm not going to say anything bad to him, but I'll still be mad at him for you." She could've lied, but it wasn't like her to lie, and so she didn't. Not with him, and she was meant to please people, to be what they wanted and always, but she'd learned long, long ago that her programming was wrong. She just had to keep that wrongness a secret.
But it was good that she was safe. She was supposed to be what whoever she was with wanted, and she thought maybe he needed safe. Especially right now, he needed safe.
"I know you're not open," and she let him pull away, her fingers slipping from his hair as if through silk. "But I think you need to trust someone to be with them." She had no particular experience to draw upon, but she'd read a lot of books, and it felt true.
She smiled a little bit when he said it was complicated. Everything was complicated, and that was something Hannah had learned long before she'd learned about Facebook statuses. Life was complicated, and people were messy, and she kind of loved the mess best. "It's good that you like how you feel when you're with someone, isn't it? And why wouldn't you be good for the other person? What makes it different? If you had to explain why Louis was different than these other two men, what would you say?" She leaned her cheek against the back of the couch, and she regarded and regarded him. "Tell me a story or paint me a picture. Explain what made Louis different and what makes these men how they are?"
She thought it would be good for him to talk. She thought it would be good for her to hear and understand. She didn't really know what the differences were, and she couldn't find them herself. No one had ever explained it in a way that made sense to her, and maybe feelings couldn't really be explained. But she was here, and she listened.
"We all need people," she added softly, cornflower scanning his face. "Even you."