Handle it

"Are you jealous?"

He did not know how to handle this.

"Eh? N-n, no!" Alex stammers, clearly jealous. "Do you remember what I said? When you asked if we'd be exclusive?"

"No."

Alex groans. "I said 'go nuts'. Does that sound like something a jealous person would say?"

Ethan considered that for a moment. "Well then you didn't know then you'd be jealous now."

Alex starts to argue, but can't find the words, instead just stammering more as her cheeks turn red.

Smirking, Ethan thinks he's got this. "You're cute when you're jealous."

Her eyes narrow. "I'm always," she reaches out, poking Ethan in the shoulder, "Cute."

"Hm," Ethan nods, ceding the point, "But you're extra cute today."

Ethan's pretty sure he watches Alex glitch.

Turning away from Ethan, she clears her throat. "It's this way..." she starts walking, glancing back to see if Ethan's going to follow.

Smiling, he does.