There it was - the smile he'd hoped for, the one he'd almost ruined with his bullish questions at breakfast. He was relieved to see it back again. Following her out toward the door, he paused when she did. And when he saw what caught her attention, he rubbed the back of his neck in uncharacteristic embarrassment.
"Yes," he said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and looking to the side. "I should have returned that to you months ago, just..." It'd been the first thing she'd given him. It'd been the object he first associated with her. And though it wasn't his and it wasn't hers, he still... wanted it. He'd looked at it often on his shelf, telling himself that he needed to give it back -- and yet, he never had.
"We should return it. I'll pay the late fees." Even after as long as it'd been in his forced long life, he remembered library fees. "Maybe on the way to the beach?"
Was he stalling? He straightened his back. "Or another day, perhaps," he amended, leaving it to Ariel ultimately. For, ultimately, it was Ariel's account they were talking about.