"I didn't know you actively avoided them," Ron confessed, looking quite surprised. Ron knew that if they were in reverse roles, Ron wouldn't have dared avoid any conversations between the person that he cared for and the one that he considered to be the 'competition'. Surely it was an unwise move, but his insecurities combined with that streak of jealousy he'd never quite been able to rid himself of were both very difficult to fight back when it came to people that he cared for. Particularly people that he'd fought it with and hidden feelings for throughout most of his childhood. While the jealousy was not something that Ron happened to be proud of, he couldn't deny feeling grateful that Steph at least seemed to get why things were so hard for him between himself and Hermione. It still wasn't a proper excuse, but it did make all this a little easier on his part.
That still didn't make any of this less frustrating. He'd messed up, Ron wasn't going to pretend that he didn't know that. It only added on to the idea that Stephanie was, as Ruby seemed to have put it, better off without him. Annoyed by the thought, Ron scrubbed a hand over his freckled face, barely suppressing an inward groan.
"After all that, me and 'Mione had a bit of a talk," Ron said, prying his attention from the sidewalk and to the blond walking beside him. "We've agreed that, yeah, it's not easy and all that, so we're gonna start doing those filter things more often when we start talking to our -" Whatever the bloody hell that Adam bloke was. "- significant others. Thought it'd make things ease up a bit on all our parts." Ron was hoping that'd help. He would still fret about Hermione, pull his hair out when he thought that she and Adam were about to run off and do something that made his insides burn with irritation, and he'd still feel weird about it all, but at least Stephanie wouldn't have to be subjected to seeing any of that play out on the boards again.