Ben heard her question, but didn't have an answer for it. The silence seemed like an answer in and of itself, and a dangerous one. This was as loud as the silence that followed after Melody had told him I love you.

If she hadn't been unhappy before, she certainly would be after tonight. Nice going, Reuben, he thought to himself. Melody would always trace any difficulties the two of them had back to herself, back to the original sin, as it were, but Ben knew he was just as much of an obstacle towards their happiness as she was. Even more, sometimes. She'd been having a nice night, and actually smiling instead of faking it, and then he'd come along and ruined things by bringing her mind back to those questions he couldn't answer and those things he couldn't respond to.

He almost went back inside when she told him to, not because he was fooled by that smile but because he just didn't know what else to say. He felt like everything he touched tonight would break, and by lingering he might do more harm than good. But he couldn't just leave her here to feel glum on the patio by herself.

"Listen, this — this isn't what I meant to say," he eventually said. "I mean, you're getting the wrong idea — I'm giving you the wrong idea," he continued awkwardly. "I'm not... I mean. I see that you're trying. I know this is hard for you, too, just — in different ways, I guess. And we've been doing pretty well, you know? I'm not — I'm not unhappy. I just... I feel so fake, sometimes," he admitted.