That time, she waited patiently at the table for the next reply to come, physically paused in that half-prepared state, with one proverbial foot out the door. If the message was coming from a work-related contact, there was definitely grounds for Aqua to feel embarrassed or even ashamed of herself -- things were different now. She had a boss to answer to, co-workers to cooperate with, and students that she was responsible for. Thus far, she'd been downright negligent of keeping track of faces, names, and contact information outside of the physical school.

Maybe she had mentioned her day out to somebody. Or maybe Ven caught her sneaking out of the house that morning.

Or ... maybe ...

Exhaling through a bit of resistance, she sighed away the bubbling beginnings of an inkling of stress and did what she could to fit both bags over her shoulder. It wasn't particularly balanced, but now she could continue on texting with both hands as she departed from the table, starting off in a direction down the sidewalk ...

... The opposite direction of the message's sender.

Whatever the case may be, ambiguity would be her best friend in this scenario.

- With the holiday around the corner, isn't everyone? -