Toni can feel the blood rise to his cheeks and he coughs into the hand she doesn’t have a hold on. “I …uh …” he swallows. “I just …I know how it feels to be drunk in a place that’s not …familiar … so, yeah, you know, it wasn’t a big …deal.” Open mouth, insert foot.
“I think I could have managed,” she laughed, squeezing again. “But it was a big deal to me; you said all the right things, and you didn’t let me do anything stupid.”
Toni blushes again, making a turn on 5th. “You’re important to me,” he mumbles, turning his wide blue eyes on her again. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
Very quietly, she says, “When did that happen? I’ve been trying … not to … I’ve liked you since we met, but I didn’t think. I mean.” Summer sighs a little, twisting her hands in her lap. “I don’t think of myself as being someone likable, or important, so I don’t understand. And I’ve been trying /not/ to come on to you, or anything like that. That’s what I meant about that one night — I know I was being horrible, I get flirty when I’m drunk, and you didn’t let me do anything stupid.”