In Which It Timed

By concentrating on something other than what he was doing at the same moment, which was twiddling his fingers, he avoided looking at her in the eyes. This worked as a distraction for his attention. He did this so that he wouldn't have to look at her.

He was able to turn his gaze away from her when she entered the room because of this. It was because he didn't want to feel obligated to look at her directly that he did this instead of looking at her directly.