Of all things, it reminds him of New Year's, of those few, fleeting moments before everything went wrong when he wanted to kiss her and thought she was looking up at him like she might have wanted the same. There's no way that could possibly have been the case, of course. Gleb knows that now, just as she knows that Anya can't possibly mean that this is lucky for both of them. At least, he can't fathom why that would be the case. She has every right to want nothing to do with him, and yet she's constantly proving him wrong on that front. Now is one more example. Of course, even if she does mean it, then he has the sense not to read anything into it. Maybe she just didn't want to be out walking alone, or a party full of strangers has made her want something a little more familiar. Whatever her reason, he won't argue it. It's more than he deserves, and he knows damn well that he is lucky, grateful as ever for any moment of her time she'll give him. Probably it's pathetic, to be so caught up in one woman, but there's been no one else for him since he laid eyes on her. He can live with it, especially if it means getting moments like this, the two of them in the quiet of a brisk evening, hardly anyone else around, Anya looking as beautiful as he's ever seen her. Though he may not know what to say or do around her, though he knows damn well that he shouldn't feel for her the way he does or spend what time he can around her instead of keeping her at a distance, he's long past thinking there's anything that could be done about it. To drive her away, he'd have to be a fool.

"Very lucky," he agrees instead, his voice quiet and his smile small and warm when he glances down at her, surprised to find her looking up at him in turn. Were they any two other people, maybe this would mean something. As it is, he can savor that smile, even if he doesn't understand it. There are, he's sure, any number of men at the party tonight who would gladly have walked her home, but he's the one who's here with her now, and she seems to want it that way. That, as far as he's concerned, is fortunate indeed. "I'd have waited to go out until morning and wouldn't have seen you at all."

And she really is beautiful, however conflicted he may feel at the sight of her dressed up like this, sparkling under the light of every street lamp they pass through. He wouldn't have wanted to miss this. "I prefer this."