Heron Lake Plateau So there's this puzzle I work on endlessly

And then out of left field came the most ridiculous drivel he'd heard so far, and he was floored by her reaction, having failed to notice how absolutely awful he'd been in his reaction. There was being dense, and then there was being Screech — which was far, far worse.

She was screaming at him all of a sudden and all Screech could think to do was stand there, take it, and gawk. Niamh was suddenly so forceful; her posturing made him shrink back — but so did her yelling, and for the first time he felt really bad about doing this exact thing to other people, because it sucked to be on the recieving end.

Her claims made no sense — but he was still reeling from the initial realization that she'd be interested in him at all, and soon he was backing away from her like she was a raging bear or something equally dangerous. Note to self: don't piss off Niamh ever again.

Neev - Nee— he tried to inturrupt her emotional tirade but she cut him off with her final statement. This was exactly what he had tried to avoid, damn it. She was one of those rare friends he had wanted to keep pure and safe, just for himself — but that blew up in his face and he didn't even understand how. 

He didn't know what to say, so instead he just turned and left her there. Typical Screech; find an issue, run from it.