Luke was generally quiet - he'd take a beer from the fridge with everyone else and was doing a lot of looking and listening.  He'd just started feeling slightly comfortable talking with Irene when the one-on-one had turned into a crowd.  Following his usual patterns, he'd not left, but found what he thought to be a spot where he was 'out of the way' and simply stood, sipped, and watched.<br/><br/>'At least,' he thought to himself, 'there's others here just as uncomfortable as me.'  A glance at the outgoing Wade gave him the feeling that the only other guy there was at least equally nervous - though he clearly knew how not to show it as much.  Emiko though, seemed to have it even worse - she looked as if she'd turn herself invisible if that was possible.<br/><br/>He took a few deep breaths.  His brain had given him several things to say, but the conversation had become animated, and he was stuck not knowing if and when it would be OK to talk.  Why didn't other people have that problem?  Seemed the moment he was ready to open his mouth and chime in on something, there was someone else talking.  That was the problem he had with groups - he wasn't assertive, and as such, just couldn't 'put himself out there'.  So he sipped, smiled, and tried to keep his eyes from lingering on Irene for too long at a time while in the background, his brain was trying to extract clues to the shape of what was underneath that adorable dress she was wearing...