[C] Wading in the Pool

He did cringe this time.

"We dont...we dont have to if you donit want." He couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice this time.

He had hoped she would say yes.

He enjoyed her company and had hoped she enjoyed his enough to want to hang out a little more.

He looked so uncomfortable that Tayce honestly started to feel bad.

It was horrible really. In her quest to make sure she never let anyone hurt her, she often hurt other people.

"That doesn't answer my question. I just don't see why someone like you would want to ask a girl like me out." She stated flatly. She wasn't trying to imply that she wouldn't want to go.

In fact, she would love it. But it was too good to be true, and that caused the young woman to be most skeptical.

This was honestly getting rather uncomfortable for the Russian man.

"I enjoy spending time with you," he said after a long moment.

"I'd like to spend more time." He wanted to spend some time with her but she was being rather evasive.

"You don't have to come if you don't want," he assured again.

He didn't want to hassle her with asking her out if she didn't want to go out with him.

"Well. If that's true then... I would like to spend more time with you too." She said, a bit abrasively for the words that were coming out. Her arms were still folded and she looked a little snooty.

Honestly she was surprised with herself. She normally wouldn't ever dream of being asked out, let alone accepting.

Despite the rough tone of the woman's voice, Alyosha let a bright smile curl his lips and brighten his eyes.

She did want to go out with him.

That was a big relief.

"Is tomorrow good for you?"

"No. I'm afraid tomorrow is too far away. Tonight would be much better." She said, her tone still snooty and her disposition still defensive, which really contradicted her words.

She couldn't help but say it though. The man's smile was too charming, he was too sweet to his hound to be cruel, and he was very handsome indeed.

Did it make sense that he would want to go out with her? Not at all. But Tayce couldn't say no.

Tomorrow was too far away?

He felt almost light-headed with relief. She did want to go out with him. Even better, she wanted to go out with him tonight because tomorrow was too far away.

"Movie better than coffee?"

Maybe they could go out for a movie then get coffee afterwards?

His mind was already running over things that they could do.

Tayce raised her brow, but then let a soft smile make it's way to her face.  Her cheeks were dusted pink and she looked down, grabbing the grass with her toes.  

"Anything sounds nice really." She said quietly, and then glanced back up at him.  She just couldn't keep up the stingy, unenthusiastic facade any longer.

Alyosha gave a crooked grin just a bit too large to be a smile.

He was already excited for tonight. This was the first date he'd been on in a very long time.

He hoped it would go well.

"I'll make it good surprise," he promised.

The two would have a good night. Lyo would make sure of it.

Alyosha's smile seemed to be contagious. Tayce couldn't help but smile back, though she tried to fight it. She looked down as if to hide her face.

Her hair had been drying, but it was still damp and framed her face as she bowed her head.

"Will you meet me at my room?" She asked, clinging tightly to her arms as she still had them folded.

Lyo nodded.

"At seven?"

The two of them would arrive in the city at half past seven by car then they could go do whatever they wanted.

It'd be nice.

He just hoped nothing would go wrong.

Tayce gave a quick nod of her head.

"At seven." She added, and were Lyo to be looking closely, he may have been able to catch the girlish glimmer of excitement in Tayce's eyes, or the sweet smile that graced her face for a second, maybe even less.

If he were to look very closely, he would be able to see that beneath the snobby and guarded facade, there was a vulnerable young woman who was elated that someone would actually want to consider spending time with her.