Now that got Reed's attention. He sort of does a visual stutter -- not quite a double-take, you understand, just a stutter -- and looks at Hoshi. Hoshi eats her food and gazes complacently at him. Reed chooses his words carefully, saying, "That's very flattering and -- I'm just not sure it would be appropriate." Hoshi doesn't know what he's talking about. "Well, um, we work together and, uh, it just might be a little awkward, serving on the same ship," Reed says. "What does that have to do with --" Hoshi starts to say, and then the scales fall from her eyes. "Oh!" She covers her mouth and muffles a laugh. Reed is still very engrossed in his work. You know, if she was asking him out, the least he could do is give her his full attention when he rejects her. Hoshi scrambles to explain, "No, I didn't mean to imply anything other than making dinner, Lieutenant," putting a bit of the miffy into her voice. And I know she's not miffed that he's turning her down, just that he's such a thickie. Hoshi stands up, and finally Reed acts like a gentleman and jumps to his feet and stammers, "Then it's my mistake, Ensign." Hoshi picks up her tray and says it was her fault. There are a lot of stilted sentences from both of them. It's really quite a realistic scene. For once. Reed tries to tell her to stay and finish her dinner. "No, no, no, no. You've got a lot of work to do, so --" Hoshi says, and leaves. I'll bet she and Mayflower got a good chuckle out of that. I wish they would show a scene like that. With one of the crewmembers actually saying something like, "God, I was so embarrassed when Malcolm thought I was asking him out and then he was so embarrassed that he was wrong -- and it was just too funny!" as she and Mayflower paint each other's toenails.