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It wasn't really a comfortable way to spend one's time.

But she was looking at him like she expected an answer, and he couldn't exactly just run away from her because he didn't want to answer... For one, that would simply make it a bigger deal than it had to be. For another, he was sure she could outrun him. And her dog definitely could, and he wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't sic it on him in the name of getting some answers.

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She didn't believe it could bite, so maybe she would go for it, and loose the dog on a fleeing Henry as a means of non lethal take down...

... Okay, he was being a bit unreasonable with that last bit of speculation. She was most likely not going to sic her dog on him. But if they ever ran into each other again, then she would definitely remember him, and probably be more insistent about grilling him for information.

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And owning up to the idea that he had run away from her simply because he wanted to be left alone would be worse in the long run, he thought.

"I... I really don't remember, sorry," he said, offering her an apologetic smile.

She didn't look satisfied by that though, and the furrow between her brows only deepened. "No, I know you from somewhere. Where was it..." Henry swallowed, and tried not to fidget. Oh, he was regretting leaving the library all over again.

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He couldn't have predicted that this would have happened, but he was perfectly happy with the idea of never even knowing that this was a situation that could have occurred. Ignorance was bliss, and all that.

The girl thought about it for a long moment while Henry tried not to hold his breath. At length, she stopped frowning and her face lit up with a sudden revelation. "Oh, do you know Mallory?"

Henry's own expression must have betrayed him at her words.

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She smiled. "You do, right? You go to her school." Her voice gained confidence as she spoke. "You're, what, in the same club? Something like that? Harry, right?"

"I-It's Henry, actually," Henry said, though his own voice had gone very small and quiet on him, and he wasn't entirely sure that she had heard him. She was nodding to herself, pleased at having made the connection. He still didn't exactly want to be having this conversation, but his curiosity was piqued just a little, in spite of himself. "How do you know Mallory?"

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"We've been best friends since kinder," the girl said easily. "I guess you really don't remember me. I'm Annette. I went to a couple of your club events last year. I meant to come this year too, but rugby's really picked up, so I didn't have time." She was smiling now, her features softening, though Henry wasn't stupid enough to think it had anything to do with him. It must have been the fact that he was associated with her best friend, that was all.

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And honestly, he didn't blame her. He and Mallory weren't close, not by a long shot, but Henry liked her a lot too. She was nice to everyone, and easy to work with, without being too intense. She was also one of the few people in his general acquaintance who had never made him feel uncomfortable, which was saying a lot. Henry wasn't completely without self awareness, and he knew that he was a pretty uncomfortable guy in general.

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So that was kind of an accomplishment, that she had managed to make him feel at ease with her despite that.

So he smiled too. "Yeah, Mallory's great," he said. He might have said more, like how he was sorry for not remembering her, or that he mostly worked the lights so he didn't meet a lot of people, but all of it felt superfluous, and he wasn't very good at talking to people.

Fortunately, she didn't seem to mind.

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Or rather, she seemed happy to carry on the conversation on her own, and steer it in a direction that was appealing to her. "Isn't she the best?" Annette said, and there was real warmth and affection in her voice. "Kana, sit." The dog sat -- drawing Henry's attention to it once again. For a moment he had actually forgotten about it, which was pretty stupid of him, considering he was only in this mess because the dog had lunged at him.

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He eyed it warily, but Annette simply arched a brow at him. "What? She won't bite. She was just playing earlier." As if he was the crazy one for being wary about a dog that had lunged at him just a moment earlier. She sat after her dog did, and together the two of them took up a significant patch of shade, such that there was hardly room anymore for Henry to sit unless he wanted to be right next to the dog.

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But it was too awkward to remain standing, so he gingerly sat himself down.

This was pretty much the worst possible outcome -- or at least the worst possible outcome that wasn't him actually getting mauled by the dog. He had really been hoping this Annette would just get bored of dealing with him and continue walking her dog, as far away from him as possible. Instead she had settled in his patch of shade, and was probably expecting to have some kind of conversation with him about... what?

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Mallory's merits as a person? There were worse things he could think of to have to talk about, but he really didn't want to be having a conversation at all, and he really didn't know Mallory that well either. He hadn't even heard of Annette before this, though now that he thought about it, he did sort of remember Mallory mentioning that she hung out with a friend who didn't go to their school reasonably often.

At least it was mutual, he supposed.

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It would be kind of terrible if Annette had named herself as Mallory's best friend and Mallory had never mentioned her at all. Not that Henry would have said anything, because that was just asking for trouble for everyone involved, himself included... And he wasn't that stupid, to do something like that. But it would have added just that extra layer of awkwardness to the situation. And as far as Henry was concerned, the situation was already awkward enough without any added outside help.

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"What made you decide to join the drama club?" said Annette, without any preamble leading up to the question whatsoever. Henry startled slightly, but if she noticed, she mercifully didn't comment on it. He was glad for that; it was always uncomfortable when someone drew attention to it, and asked if he was high strung or if things were okay at home.

Not that the question she did ask was any fun to answer, but he could understand where it came from.

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People who knew him, and even people who didn't, wouldn't really expect him to be the type of guy who joined a theater club. It made sense too; most of the club members were theater geeks, outgoing types, or ones who liked acting and singing. Or all three, generally. More often than not it really was all three together, which made them a pretty loud bunch.

But it wasn't the same for the kids who ran tech, small handful of them that there were.