He saw the sparkle in her eyes, the one that said she was fighting
her sense of humor and pretending to judge him more than she
really is. It was quite transparent. At least to him. Especially when
her lips parted and she cracked a grin. It was easy to make her
smile, but that didn’t make him want to do it any less. Only mad
him want to more.
"And she couldn’t tell me herself? For shame. She
shall be chastised later. But I suppose I could give
my time to you instead. It would be a shame if it
goes by wasted.“ He chuckled, “Au contraire, mon
cherie,” Stefan trilled. "I’m quite funny. Your face
betrays that blatant lie. My, my Elena, how could
you be so dishonest?“
Stefan’s smile was contagious, even when only weak; which
in turn made it borderline impossible for the Gilbert girl not
to form one herself. Probably because it wasn’t all that common
for them to actually be able to find something to smile about.
It was just too rare, these days, that anything was actually...
un-complicated... with them. Or, on any days, honestly. Either
that or simple, genuine fondness, and the longer her smile
remained, the more she was fairly certain it was the latter.
"Look. I don’t know when we progressed back
to mid-nineteenth-century English, but quit it
with the ‘nobleman’s’ talk. I didn't take A.P
English.”
Gently teasing him and the tone he was using with her, Elena’s
head canted to the side, brows dipping ever so slightly into a
mildly suspicious, if not pleasantly surprised, questioning
glance.
“What’s got you in such a good mood, anyway?”