His gaze had already drifted towards the bread racks in an attempt to anticipate her answer, weighing up the remainder of the roll in his hand in the overwhelming temptation to toss it to his other. Not that he knew how to juggle -
It was a fortunate fact that he hadn't thrown the roll up before she spoke, and it somehow still felt as though he'd managed to drop the ball, because whatever he'd been expecting, it hadn't been that.
The rest of the bread roll found itself rather a casualty of Lorcan's surprise, either way: his grasp on it tightened suddenly, squashing it into a mould of his fingermarks so deep that it distorted the whole thing. His attention was not, admittedly, on bread at the moment, but rather on the fact that she'd brought up all his earlier joking (and not-so-joking) again. And out of the blue - if the gossip hadn't gotten back to her, that was. Everything they had said so far to each other today had been in jest, Lorcan was aware: so he was clearly playing tricks on himself now, had digested it wrong, had almost thought that she sounded serious.
"Hah, that's my line," Lorcan countered, to try and recover his easy air before she spotted that he'd fallen for her teasing hook, line, and sinker. All that said, he wasn't sure he managed to disguise his disconcertedness as his gaze tore back to her.
He looked at Maggie peering at him, wide-eyed. Her grin had faded, her face replaced with a different sort of flush: not the kind from suppressed laughter, it was more... self-conscious than that. Lorcan struggled to voice his confusion - but he could feel his eyebrows lifting ever higher, and perhaps that said enough. "Or..." he started slowly. Or, it wasn't a joke this time.
It was a fortunate fact that he hadn't thrown the roll up before she spoke, and it somehow still felt as though he'd managed to drop the ball, because whatever he'd been expecting, it hadn't been that.
The rest of the bread roll found itself rather a casualty of Lorcan's surprise, either way: his grasp on it tightened suddenly, squashing it into a mould of his fingermarks so deep that it distorted the whole thing. His attention was not, admittedly, on bread at the moment, but rather on the fact that she'd brought up all his earlier joking (and not-so-joking) again. And out of the blue - if the gossip hadn't gotten back to her, that was. Everything they had said so far to each other today had been in jest, Lorcan was aware: so he was clearly playing tricks on himself now, had digested it wrong, had almost thought that she sounded serious.
"Hah, that's my line," Lorcan countered, to try and recover his easy air before she spotted that he'd fallen for her teasing hook, line, and sinker. All that said, he wasn't sure he managed to disguise his disconcertedness as his gaze tore back to her.
He looked at Maggie peering at him, wide-eyed. Her grin had faded, her face replaced with a different sort of flush: not the kind from suppressed laughter, it was more... self-conscious than that. Lorcan struggled to voice his confusion - but he could feel his eyebrows lifting ever higher, and perhaps that said enough. "Or..." he started slowly. Or, it wasn't a joke this time.
