Alice’s eyes widen, her signature wide smile returning in an instant. She’s surprised – a little embarrassed, very amused. She wonders if Eli can pick out her natural blush from the one she’d manually applied an hour ago. She hopes not.
“That’s a very forward thing to say,” Alice teases, taking a sip of wine for no other reason than to allow herself to naturally break eye contact. It’s just for a moment. Just a breather while she smooths down her frazzled nerves.
When she dares to look at him again, she doesn’t look much different. Her smile is more relaxed, less… toothy, but her nerves are clear as day. She knows it’s obvious. She pretends it isn’t.
“I guess you could say I’m a masochist, too, in a way,” she continues carefully, rubbing her fingertip against the stem of her glass. “Like I said: sometimes it’s fun to be terrified.”
“Have you seen… Hereditary? I hear it’s good, but I’m scared to watch it alone.”
The brief moment of awkwardness from his ‘confession’ segues into something of a chemistry - at least that’s what Eli feels, and deep inside he senses a ripple of attraction. Alice’s tone, her blush, her shining eyes. Anxiety becomes electricity. Maybe he’s gone a little fast with the wine - but he’s pouring more despite himself. It’s going straight to his head, his meal is almost finished, and he’s quietly losing his iron grip on his own decorum. Not that it’ll manifest in anything remarkable, but he feels it.
When she namechecks one of the best horror movies in the past decade, he’s elated. And rather animated, in discussing it.
“...Oh... yes, it’s good. Really not my type of subgenre, if you could assign it any subgenre in particular... but I was surprised... it’s maybe not a repeat watch, at least not regularly...” He’s starting to ramble. He clears his throat. “It’s worth watching, definitely. Though I suppose not for the faint of heart, in some ways.”
Against his better judgment once again, he takes a larger sip of wine than he should.
“...I have a copy. You could always come over and watch.” A pause, and he revises, almost with a panic.
“---I mean, not now---” (Yes, now. he’d love her to come over and watch it now).