Avery shook her head quickly, looking around praying daniala would pop up from somewhere to save her. "No, it's okay. I was just in a hurry because of my classes," she said softly, not wanting to sound rude. After all, Cassian had never really done anything to deserve her coldness.
Her tone was polite, even warm, but her posture betrayed her her shoulders were tense, eyes darting toward the hallway as she was silently pleading for an escape route.
Cassian caught the subtle shift and gave an uneasy smile, his hand sliding into his pocket. "If you're late for class, you can go," he said quickly, his voice light but carrying a note of disappointment. "We can talk some other time."
He'd hoped she would refuse, say something like 'No, it's okay, what did you want to talk about?' but Avery just nodded.
