"You didn't think I liked you." Like testing some new theory with some degree of abject wonder. The film over Betty's emotions flickers, then dissolves, leaving her fond and familiar and incredulous. Mostly incredulous. "You thought the feelings were just you."

Soooo... she's not going to actually put that past Ruth who is as alien as she is brilliant and also definitely completely clueless. Actually but a whole lot of things are making a little more sense now. But, "I flipped my testing schedule around so our breaks would sync up. I'm trying to learn differential geometry for you. Half our classmates think I live with you. We bought a Pentium brand microprocessor for the lab together - that's like having a child, Ruth."

Deep breath, because, not the point. Tremulous smile, real this time. "I like you. I really like you. I've probably liked you even longer than you've liked me and I'll try harder to show it, so please say you'll be my girlfriend?"