He was still quiet. Caitlin now found what she'd desired so much before that she pretty much screamed it at him to be exactly what she didn't want. She should have gone along with the out he gave her before of pretending to believe her obvious lie but that was the elephant in the room that would remain avoided but still overbearing. It was easy to just push people away after that and Caitlin was really good at keeping people at a distant. Being consistently rude when she did say anything made her unpopular.
Van, however, was one of maybe two people at the school she didn't want to punch in the throat on a regular basis. They hung out regularly enough during the summer that cutting him off was something she kinda wanted to avoid.
"And I freaked out because I'm not—" she cut herself off and avoided eye contact, "—I hate people and I don't hate you. So yeah. I was curious. You can fucking say something now because I don't know what the hell else I'm supposed to say." Caitlin tucked her hair behind her ear. A nervous tick she'd never done before but expressed her anxiety to have him say something. Anything really.