Jason adjusted his own posture and narrowed his eyes, "no," he said reassuringly as his eyes watched the man leave, "I'm pretty sure he picked up on the fact his legs were wigging you out," he said, his eyes moving back to meet hers, "there's no sense in blaming yourself, that's a horrid mindset to get into anyway. Here, everyone learns either from a young age or by sheer cultural inertia that everyone has to be graceful at taking a rejection, and by extension, realize that it's not themselves. Chemistry isn't perfect, you know, it takes two to.." he bit his tongue as he found himself reciting a very old cliche.<br/>He gave her thigh a reassuring squeeze. "You didn't scare him away, it wasn't anything you did, it was just an incompatibility, that's all."<br/><br/>he sighed, his eyes moving back to the fondue for a moment. He scowled for a second then grabbed a piece of plain bread, desperate for something, anything, to break the tension of the moment.<br/><br/>"The hardest skill to learn here is how to bounce back, it's a close second to gracefully handling rejection."