[ A million questions all fight for dominance in her head but she knows better than to give them voice. There were just some things you didn't ask about, instead allowing them to come up when the other person was ready. Perhaps there was also the knowledge that in asking questions, she'd be opening herself up to the same and as much as Allie liked Peter already? There were just some subjects she'd avoided, for even longer than she'd been here.

Her mouth opens, Allie immediately wanting to argue with him when he slips into self-deprecation. The words dancing on the tip of her tongue before she can smother them by pressing her lips together. She didn't know him well enough to be able to argue that he was wrong but she knows her own choices well enough to know one thing for certain. ]

I don't think anyone would look great if we judged them by their worst mistakes. [ Maybe he was, as he said, a national disgrace but she didn't need to talk to him for too long to see he was a good person. The kind of person who actually spoke well of ex-girlfriends, something she could honestly say she'd ever encountered before. ]

You mean, throwing me in with your exes before you even know my last name? [ The widening of her smile and playful tone hopefully assuring him that she's teasing. ] What do you prefer to be called?