Althea made a very conscious effort to not laugh, but she found herself giggling anyway. Unfortunate, really, as she was trying to keep up a cool sort of indifference. "I really do though, honest." But she knew that once Bentley had his mind set, he was hard-pressed to budge. Although she found herself constantly wanting to see him unravel, even for just a few seconds. She shrugged again, very innocently (as she if she hadn't said anything worth questioning.) There was no need to explain herself, she was very certain Bentley understood exactly what she meant.

His assertion that he wasn't shameless was laughable. With slightly narrowed eyes, Althea gave him a knowing look. "In your case, there's no difference. It's okay, embrace it. I certainly have." She took great pleasure in pointing out the holes in the things that Bentley said - because he was so stubborn, and really, he should just lighten up and accept the things she said without any fuss. "You're always going to hurt someone's feelings, though," she certainly did on a regular basis. "Besides, you can't make everyone happy, it's not realistic. There will always be someone who does not like who you are no matter how hard you try to convince them otherwise." Which was why Althea lived her truth with a reckless abandon. No use in pleasing people who couldn't keep up with her even on their best day.

It was exactly the sort of response she was looking for, so she had to give him points for delivering. "It wouldn't be any fun if it were easy, would it?" Not for her and certainly not for him. "I hope you haven't lost your nerve. I was really looking forward to see how exactly you'd try and wind me up." For research purposes, of course.