[ action ]

I... [Bethany has done some heavy thinking of her own, of course, and so she's spent the past couple of days preparing herself for this conversation. They would talk things over, like they are doing right now. And he would let her down gently, and perhaps she would be a little hurt, but then they could both move on with their lives, forget all this happened, and continue to be good friends.

This scenario has played in her head a hundred times, and she's managed to convince herself that this was how things would go down.

So that statement, naturally, takes her by surprise. She opens and closes her mouth a few times, trying to find something, anything to say.]

What?