Thalina's eyes narrowed, though her heart was still beating erratically in her chest. "I was not staring," she muttered, though even she could hear the lie in her own voice.
Zorath raised an eyebrow, his grin widening. "Lina, you don't have to lie. It's cute when you get all flustered."
Her face turned a darker shade of blue. "I am not flustered," she shot back, her words coming out a little too quickly.
She shifted awkwardly, trying to make it look like she wasn't completely caught off guard by the way he was looking at her, like she was some fascinating puzzle he was just dying to figure out.
"Really?" he said, his voice dripping with amusement. He leaned in just a little closer, and the space between them seemed to shrink. "Because you look really cute when you're pretending not to be."
Thalina's breath caught, and she struggled to think of something to say, anything to avoid the increasing tension that was making her feel strangely exposed.