Elena smiled as she continued, "Let me help plan the next date!"
Weirdly, Max was quiet for a long moment. Elena wondered if he had somehow managed to leave without her hearing any footsteps.
"Max?" she called. "How does that sound?"
"G-great," Max stammered enthusiastically. "That's great! Just, a really, really great idea!"
It was only once Max started speaking that Elena realized how close she had gotten to him. She had only meant to lean on the table a little bit—but it seemed she had over-extended. It felt like Massimo was yelling in her face.
Suddenly, his delayed reaction made sense. Her closeness might've triggered his social anxiety and made him too nervous to speak. It was weird how quickly he could go from confident to not—not that Elena had any room to judge. Like her biol
