“I don’t think they’re all out front and center,” she said with a furrow of her brow. “I think…well. I think I’m in the same boat as you. Just because you’ve got less than desirable qualities in there too, it doesn’t detract from the overall package.” She wrinkled her nose, giving a brisk shake of her head. “That’s like the worst phrasing, but you know what I mean.” Frowning again as Alyssa seemed to push the topic aside, Grace sighed, unsure of what to say. She didn’t want to keep pushing, not really, but she also didn’t want to just let this fall to the wayside either. She wanted to let Alyssa know that she was perfectly desirable in many ways, and to many different people. It seemed counterproductive to do that though, if Grace was the one wanting to date her. That seemed like a topic for another day. “No,” she muttered, mostly to herself, “But the point of a conversation can change.” Shaking her head, Grace set her jaw, moving in closer. “No, I do need to apologize. Because instead of just talking to you like I should have, I did what I did. And sure, we’re both kind of at fault, I think, but that doesn’t mean I don’t owe you an apology.” Grace was a firm believer in owning her shit, and she wasn’t about to let herself off the hook for this one. “But listen…if you don’t want to get serious with it…I’m okay with that, you know? I’ll need to take some time to kind of get myself in the headspace for it, but I’m not going to be a dick about it either.” She held her hands up to silence her before Alyssa could interject. “I don’t think that’s what’s going on here, but…I just want to reassure you of that. You can change your mind, or tell me no or whatever without fear of me turning into a huge ass.” Heaving a sigh, she nodded her head. “I think…I think that’s a good plan though. Just to…to figure it out together. I think…I think we should make a deal to talk about it if anything bothers us, okay? Like…right when it does.”
Generally speaking, Alyssa disagreed entirely about it, but she didn’t really want to argue the point either with Grace. It was one of those things that they could talk in circles all day about, but probably wouldn’t agree on. At least, not yet. Someday, it was possible, perhaps, that she would gain some self-confidence and really believe that Grace felt that way about her. “No, it - the phrasing was...it was fine, just. I don’t know. I guess I just don’t feel like I have a lot to offer,” she shrugged, chewing at her lip. “I’m working on that, though. I am.” It was a long process that Alyssa had struggled with for years and she knew it was just a matter of finding a way to love and appreciate herself. Pursing her lips together, Alyssa nodded towards Grace. It was a mature way, she felt, to handle what had happened. Both of them were accepting partial responsibility and both of them, she hoped, wanted to move past it and correct the situation. “Well, that - thank you. I...apology accepted.” Much as Alyssa wanted to deny that Grace needed to apologize, sometimes she knew that it was best to just compromise and find a way to make things work out. The comment from Grace about Alyssa maybe not wanting to get serious had Alyssa about to interject immediately, her mouth opening to comment before Grace held up a hand. Alyssa let her head drop a bit, nodding slowly. “That...no, yeah, it um. I do, you know...I do want this to become...something serious. You’re...I just...I can see something here, I guess, um. And it’s...kind of scary and I...know that maybe sometimes I’ll screw up, but...I want to try. So, yeah, that...that sounds like a deal. Anything comes up, we just...be open and honest.”