"Right. I'm not any good at this either. I - My first girlfriend, Olivia, she asked me and then my parents were the ones who set up all those dates for me after her and I split. Annabeth's the first girl I've ever - and you're the first boy..."

He trails off. He doesn't think any of this is helping.

He clears his throat and pulls himself together, sitting up straighter on the stair.

"Right," he says again. "I can't help you figure any of this out. Because I can't be objective; I'd only try to influence your feelings in my favour. And you could end up hating me for that. So.

"I fancy you. You know that, I know that. But, whatever I feel for you, that doesn't matter. You have to figure out how you feel. About... girls and boys and me.

"I won't lie and say I don't hope for - Well, you know. And I can't wait around hoping either. Let's just... Let's be friends. We both want that, right? So, we'll do that. And if you decide you're interested, we can talk about this again. And if you're not..."

He shrugs.

"We're friends."