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"Even if some scientist down the line tells me it's not the best idea, I'm not likely to change my ways," Lily said honestly, letting Sawyer walk a little ahead of her. It didn't strike her as strange, exactly, but she noticed it, even if she kept quiet about it for the time being. There were plenty of things that Lily noticed and never spoke about, not until it was necessary. (If it ever was.)

"I've never been very good at following rules," she admitted, casting him a glance, her lips curved up into a faint smile. "I'm sure that's not much of a surprise." Most people who'd known her for even a short period of time realized this about her, though it wasn't something she tried particularly hard to hide. It was an easier way to live, anyway.

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"Nah. We're prettier, usually, it's harder to hold a grudge," Lily answered, then laughed. "I don't know, as long as you're not treating me like a second class citizen because I have a vagina, I probably won't go around calling you sexist." She didn't mind being treated differently just because she was a woman, provided it wasn't that she was being treated poorly. That was probably a double standard that some people might find unacceptable, but she was used to that, too.

There were plenty of other dancers who hadn't liked her simply because of how she chose to present herself. She was used to certain judgments.

"Ahhh. So you ain't one of those feminists that'd get all over me for treating y'all differently in ways," Sawyer concluded with a grin, nodding to himself as he mentally filed away the information. "Never did understand the whole 'everything's gotta be absolutely equal' mentality. Men and women are different. There ain't two ways about it. So long's you give everyone the same rights, I don't see what's wrong with pointing out that women are more likely to do some things and men are more likely to do others. But maybe I'm just behind the times."

He thought briefly about what Kate might've said. She probably would have glared, he thought, or otherwise been exasperated with him. It was almost novel to find a woman who wasn't half as worked up about it all.

"Hell, I like being treated like a lady," Lily said honestly. That didn't mean she couldn't take care of herself or wasn't fiercely independent, because she was, for the most part. She hadn't lived at home since she was seventeen, hadn't relied on anyone for even longer than that and it was impossible not to become accustomed to being the only person she ever counted on in some ways. But that didn't mean she didn't like a man who held a door open for her, even if she didn't need him to look after her.

"I've never met a man who was good to me because he thought I was incapable," she said. "Or a woman, for that matter. I think there's a difference between wanting to be nice and thinking someone is less than human based on physical attributes."

"I judge based on appearances, sure, but the way I figure, it's just a first impression. We all get 'em. Probably at least a few dozen people on the island who probably thought less of me the minute I started talkin' 'cause of my accent," Sawyer added, pursing his lips in his own manner of resignation. "And yeah, I sure as hell assume a few things when I see the way other people look. Girl as gorgeous as you probably wouldn't have had to work half as hard in certain jobs, and of course it's gonna make a guy like me wonder. The only thing's that you gotta keep an open mind.

"Gotta remember that you might be completely wrong."

He wasn't wrong about the fact that she hadn't had to work particularly hard for most of her life. Ballet was different; even when things were handed to her, there had been hard work involved, but with almost everything else, Lily had been lucky. There wasn't a lot she had to do in order to get along.

"So what was your first impression of me, then?" she asked with a grin. "Besides thinking I wouldn't have to work very hard in certain jobs." She could remember her first impression of him, easily, sitting across from him at that table with only five minutes to get to know him.

His brows raised and he looked to the side, an exaggerated motion meant to mimic a person too hesitant to bring out an opinion that he or she was sure to get flak for. Truth was, though, Sawyer was pretty sure that no matter what opinion he wanted to list as being his first of Lily, that she wouldn't be upset with him in the slightest.

First impressions, after all.

"Honestly?" he asked, tilting his head. "That you weren't desperate. Not that speed datin' really works the same way on the island, 'cause we all kinda know each other, but you know some of those chicks were lookin' to find a connection. You were just there to have fun. So I came out thinkin' that you were confident in yourself. Don't think I was wrong, either."

"No," Lily agreed with a small smile, pleased that his first impression of her had been generally favourable. She'd had a similar first impression of him, that he'd been at the speed dating to have fun and that he was the type of man whose company she'd enjoy. More than that, though, she'd liked him. And it was still that reason that she hadn't put his name down at the end of it.

But trying to explain that rarely made any sense, so she settled for saying, "And now here we are. Still talking. So I guess that speed dating was good for something." Because of the men she'd met that night, of the ones she hadn't already known, Sawyer was the only one she saw regularly.

He didn't bother to ask how she felt about him the first time. Sawyer hadn't been trying very hard, after all, to make any sort of impression that day. If anything, he'd signed up to keep an eye on three women in his life, worried about the type of men that such speed dating usually attracted— hilariously enough, himself no exception— and wanting to know if there was anyone he had to shake up a bit to keep any of them safe.

It was remarkable that Lily still wanted something to do with him at all, Sawyer thought, when he'd hardly given their conversation more than a moment's thought.

But life had its surprises.

"Guess it was," he grinned with a soft nod.

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