Broken Boulder as I walk out on the ledge

The boy froze when he scented and heard Korei's approach; since his conversation with Aditya, since he had realized he had lied to her, he had been avoiding the pale girl. He had lied to himself, too, and that had taken time to reconcile. It wasn't that he didn't love her— it wasn't that Lennon had left, though that hurt. But he didn't know how to tell her the truth; he didn't love her that way.
Alarian swallowed hard and turned, forgetting for the moment to be embarrassed at what he had been caught doing. Oh, hi Korei. I'm, um, trying to remember things. About plants.