Thinking about himself in a low light wasn't something he thought about too much. It just sort of... happened, naturally. He'd always been nothing- partially due to him intentionally pushing people away, but Rena's words just then made him realize something. As he grew older, it was less about keeping people away and more about just... not knowing how to interact with people. It snowballed into an ugly mess of self-doubt and vulnerability that he kept buried under the fear of being found, and it never did surface until Rena helped melt away that fear.
He was used to Rena- that's why he was so confident around her. Around anyone else, even Douglas, he was still similar to how he acted when Rena met him. Still, she did have a point. If he could do it with Rena, he could do it with anyone else just fine. It wasn't something that could happen overnight, sure, but if Rena got him this far, who knows how much further he'd be able to go.
Rena got up in his face again, much like she did when they first met. Unfortunately for her, though, it had substantially less effect. If he could force himself to be calm when she was around his lap, then this was child's play for him. Jeremy pursed his lips and made a kind of funny face, blinking quickly and repeatedly at her comment before she laughed and returned to her spot.
"You don't even know? That's a little surprising, but I guess it makes sense," he commented, forking another bit of food into his mouth before swallowing it and continuing. "Come to think of it, you have been single for a long time, haven't you? That's the surprising part to me... You could have just about any guy in the school if you tried, right?" Jeremy continued to eat his food. She didn't seem like the type who ran off of romantic feelings, but hey, she wasn't the type who enjoyed being all alone either.
As a matter of fact, a lot of their friendship seemed to be mostly about him and toughening him up. Weren't friendships supposed to be 50/50 or something like that? Either way, maybe he didn't have the capacity to fully receive her personal thoughts and feelings back then, but he definitely did now. He had to let her know she could talk to him, too.
He finished off the last of his food and set it on the table. "Well, you told me not to sell myself short, so... I don't want you to, either. The more we hang out together, the more I realize how wrong I was about you. You've filled my life with a lot of excitement and helped push me to become a better person. That being said... I don't want you to just think of me as a chore." He instantly smiled at her and continued to talk before she had the chance to speak up. "Granted, you probably don't, but... My point is, if there's something troubling you or you want to talk about yourself for a while, then I'm here for you. I care about you a lot, so don't feel like you have to be strong around me all the time. I'm sure even you need to vent once in a while."