Originally Posted by Wonderstruck

Adam had been expecting the silence so he let it pass between them without any tension or anxiety that she would respond somehow quickly. In fact Adam appreciated that she didn't just burst out with an answer right off the bat because it showed that she was actually taking the time to comprehend and let his answer sink in. He had wanted to ask her to continue on what she was about to say when she just mumbled never mind, but he let the words slip from his thoughts quickly. If she wanted him to know right then she would tell them. Probably the truth was too complicated to put into words and Adam could understand that. After all once you've been hurt, especially given the number of times that both Adam had Louisa had been hurt, it was hard to always open up and accept the truth when people told you that they never wanted to hurt you. Sometimes people did, and all Adam could do was hope that Louisa would know that he wasn't one of those people that said it and didn't really mean it.

Adam had kept his gaze off of Louisa during the extended time of silence, not really turning to look at her until he felt her shuffling her position next to him. He looked up to see a face full of hair but the very apparent redness of flushed cheeks coming through the gaps where there weren't any strands of hair. The look, although somewhat difficult to see, seemed to give Adam a bit of calmness that he hadn't realized he had even been looking for. He listened carefully as Louisa gave him what seemed genuine and thoughtful answers. When she finished Adam sat there a moment, looking at the books between them before nodding his head slowly. "I can understand all of that," Adam said, giving his throat a little clear. "I guess....I don't know...I guess I was just afraid that now that you know how I really feel that you would cast me off if you didn't feel the same way," Adam said with a little shrug of the shoulders.

In all honesty the words had given Adam a kind of hope that he never really thought he was going to have. He sat there, his expression thoughtful but not really giving away anything that he was feeling. After all he didn't want to build himself up only to have him crumble and fall all the way down. Louisa hadn't said that she wanted to be with him, but her answer had made Adam begin to wonder if maybe at some point in time Louisa herself had begun to feel something more towards Adam. He thought back to the day when he taught her self defense and how flustered she got whenever he had to touch her to show her a move. Adam all this time had thought it was only him that had an attraction to her, but maybe through all his doubts and insecurities he had missed Louisa's opinion of him changing too. "Maybe the summer will be good for us," Adam said after a moment with a small nod of the head. "Maybe it will kind of give you the time you need to figure things out and figure out what you want..."