"Sometimes the best way to save someone is to trip over your own feet at exactly the right moment."
***
I stumbled forward.
My foot caught on what might have been a stone or possibly just air. I wasn't certain, and I committed to the uncertainty. My body lurched in a graceless sprawl that I barely corrected, windmilling my arms for balance like a drunk stork in a hurricane.
The motion carried me directly between Vance and Rhys.
Whatever tension had been building between them shattered like glass.
"Oh! Excuse me, I was just—" I looked up, blinked with confused innocence at both of them. The expression of someone who'd just realized they'd interrupted something important.
"Rhys, right? I was wondering if you might... that is, would you mind terribly if we partnered up?" The words tumbled out too fast. Too eager. "I'm afraid I'm rather hopeless at this sort of thing. As you may have just witnessed, ha. And you seem like you might be patient with someone who's, well..."
