Mathias

"You don't need to explain," he says, although she already has and, in some way, it does make it all a little easier. That it's someone she's been with already, someone she loves, that makes it easier, too. It isn't that he's been thrown aside for someone else, someone she's met since their first night together and somehow that seems to make it less difficult to accept. He can't fault her, not knowing he would do the same sort of thing if there was any chance that he could be with Veronica again.

That isn't something he's sure he can say, though. Not without sounding like he's been considering it, which he has, and he isn't sure he wants to complicate things further by bringing that into the equation. It's enough, he thinks, that he understands what she's feeling.

"It... I may need a few days to... process," he says and his smile returns for just a moment before it disappears again. He's imagining talking to Neil about this, so soon after their last conversation, which had been about Sookie. "But I don't see why it should change the fact that I do like you. I like being around you and I like how you were with Sam. I don't make many friends and I don't often make them so easily." It's a mouthful for him, more than he usually says, but he isn't done. "I think what I mean is that... we can do that. I wouldn't want to write you out of my life over... this."