Anticipating a rebuttal, she was relieved he took her answer at face value. "I can handle that, yeah." Only she couldn't just up and say, please don't talk about other girls. As if it wouldn't give anything away. Nope.

Pulling a face, she smiled more genuinely at the tug on her braid. "I suppose that's fair, but you may have to remind me." There was no way Sloane, in the heat of the moment, would be able to wrap her head around it, until she was advised. Maybe it would be better that way. If they could both respect the other enough to let the small stuff go and talk about the big stuff, maybe there would be less fights.

"So you anticipate getting bitten by a mandrake today?" She teased, fading back into their normal banter, determined not to repeat last year.