Hearing his own phrase thrown back at him was jarring. Ezra didn't feel chased away, but it was hard to follow the flopping suggestions in her words to parse out what she actually wanted him to do. He could go if he needed to, she wasn't chasing him away, he didn't have to stay if he didn't want to. It wasn't so simple as what he wanted, though, because what he wanted depended on what she wanted, and he didn't know that she'd given him a clear signal on that. If she wanted to be left alone, he had no desire to force his company on her in spite of her growing discomfort. If she wanted him here...

She had to want him here, he thought, even if it was on some subconscious level. She had approached him, when she could just as easily have avoided him, so some part of her had wanted his company. At least, she had a few minutes ago — maybe actually talking to him had forced her to change her mind. But even if she had wanted his company once, and even if she still did, where did that leave them? He could stay, but to what end? They couldn't talk about anything that mattered. There was no desired outcome to push towards. Would staying just be prolonging an awkward and potentially painful interaction that would never go anywhere?

"I don't need to go," he eventually replied. He sidestepped the question of what he wanted. "I was probably going to leave soon, anyway."

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