Eli did laugh this time, a proper laugh which was one of the few things he could not change about himself with a flip of a switch. It was a nervous titter which he attempted to cover up by covering his mouth, turning a little away and glancing beyond Charls; it did not last for more than a few seconds.
It mattered little though because he was answering with ease in the next second, shoulders shrugging as he raised his hands and waved them in a slow arc, as if taking his time to find the proper words. Really, Charls might have seemed gruff and threatening from afar but it was hard to see that when he tried to speak with his eyes, eyebrows and not much else.
"What you said! That we've made a point to stay out of each others' business and," He paused and then gave a slight incline of his head. "Well, that's a bit true. I don't care to be intrusive and you obviously do not care to be intruded on but I never meant to give you the idea that I was going along with the whole placing a, metaphorical of course, brick wall between myself and my neighbors. Namely you, Charls, dear."
Eli stopped talking then and simply smiled at Charls, certain that if he were a more impatient man he would have decked him by now and been done with it.