[He's genuinely a little confused, which at least serves to take the edge off of his awkwardness. Or at least it transforms it into a different kind of awkwardness. He hadn't meant that, and it doesn't occur to him to save face here in any way other than clarifying what he did mean, for better or for worse:]
I'm saying you're cute! A good-looking girl looks good no matter what she wears, y'know? I'd be surprised if no one ever told you that before.
[And probably got shot down the same way he did, but no one ever accused dudes of being smart about this.
He is, at least, entirely genuine in his clarification, and drops his snippiness for that moment.]
I mean, yeah, you do look good in that, but that wasn't the point!
no subject
[He's genuinely a little confused, which at least serves to take the edge off of his awkwardness. Or at least it transforms it into a different kind of awkwardness. He hadn't meant that, and it doesn't occur to him to save face here in any way other than clarifying what he did mean, for better or for worse:]
I'm saying you're cute! A good-looking girl looks good no matter what she wears, y'know? I'd be surprised if no one ever told you that before.
[And probably got shot down the same way he did, but no one ever accused dudes of being smart about this.
He is, at least, entirely genuine in his clarification, and drops his snippiness for that moment.]
I mean, yeah, you do look good in that, but that wasn't the point!