The words hung in the air between them, spoken with such natural ease that it took Neville a moment to process them. When he did, his head snapped up to find Liam watching him with an expression that was—
Oh.
Oh.
[I TOLD YOU,] Shelly's voice exploded in his mind. [I LITERALLY TOLD YOU. FLAGS. FLAGS EVERYWHERE. YAH! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?]
Neville's brain short-circuited. His default response kicked in. He smiled as usual and assumed that he had misheard it. Liam must've been joking around, a friendly teasing if you may, the kind of offhanded comment that didn't mean anything.
"You're too kind," he said, widening his smile deliberately. "But I think the scenery is doing most of the work."
Something flickered in Liam's expression before it smoothed over into his usual friendly demeanor. "Right. Yeah. The scenery is pretty great."
An awkward silence stretched between them.
