He glanced back over to her again when she spoke, looking over to her face before going to likewise look at her arm. With her unable to say anything or look him in the eye (though he wasn't much better...), he felt like he did something wrong. And really, with what this was all about, maybe he really shouldn't have complimented her. That would be a form of stringing her along, too, wouldn't it? And in that same way, he should probably lay off touching her, too. That wouldn't be so hard if he hadn't gotten so used to holding her hand without even thinking of it.

There was a short pause as he thought of that and if adding distance would between them make learning from her strange, but he eventually shook his head to clear away the thoughts. "Whenever you want to," he answered softly and plainly, like she was asking him which shirt he preferred. "I'm going to follow you, so..."