Despite being pleasantly distracted by the beautiful girls stepping into the limousine, Connor was taken aback when Victoria didn't come in. As Ricardo questioned in, Jane insisted that she wasn't coming, and that was followed by Sydney informing him that Tori was excited to see him. He appreciated Sydney's effort, assuming it was still good, and smiled in her direction as he nodded, but it didn't seem likely. She didn't show up, yet she had apparently just been at Sienna's minutes before, and as he skimmed over their conversation once more, she hadn't let him know that she wasn't coming anymore. For a guy that had been annoyed at himself for agreeing to go with Tori moments before, as Rick's words sunk in, he sure felt offended for being stood up. According to Sydney and Jane, at least, he wasn't truly being stood up. She was going to be at the party, and maybe she'd have a good excuse there for making him look like even more of a fool for not manning up and asking Charlotte... who nearly made Connor's jaw drop when she stepped into the car behind Rosie. She truly looked like a real life Cinderella... and was that the bracelet he had given her, on her arm right now? The mere sight had his cheeks turning red, but he opted against commenting on it specifically.
"You... you look great!" he stammered as Charlotte sat down. He placed his phone down on the small space beside him, forgetting about Tori for the moment. "You both do!" he then corrected himself as he forced his eyes away from Lottie and onto Rosie. Okay, so he was definitely regretting not asking Charlotte now, but he decided that he couldn't make it too obvious. Not because he wanted to play "hard to get" (because he felt like he was already hard to want in his plight for Charlotte), and not because he didn't want to hear Rick telling him he had told him so. He needed to act unfazed by this because in the back of his mind, despite his friends reassurances, he felt like Sydney might still be right, and he couldn't face a rejection from his best friend. Still, he knew that Rick was right, and if he didn't act on his feelings for Charlotte, some other guy would. Hell, with Vincent in the state that he was in, which Connor had yet to realize had shifted into a silent one, he wouldn't have been surprised if he was trying to take Lottie home by the night's end.
He didn't know what else to say. Between being awestruck at just how gorgeous this girl was, and feeling awkward about the situation as a whole, Connor felt tongue tied. Luckily, the topic of Tori's presence had died down, and Ricardo and Sydney were speaking in a way that was open enough where anyone could jump in. Now that Rick had officially confirmed that he too, thought Connor didn't and wouldn't ever have a chance with Connor (not like that was new news), he figured that it was safe to chime in there. His nerves wouldn't be eating at him when conversing with Sydney like they were doing non-stop whenever his eyes even so much as glanced in Charlotte's direction. "Oh, come on, Syd," he began. "I don't think it'll be bad. Piper knows what she's doing!" he reasoned. "I'm really just looking forward to the food," he continued lightly with a shrug. If anything, he was kind of resenting the idea of having to spend the night with Tori. He was open to it since it had been suggested, but she didn't seem into him, and he was nice, but not nice enough to want to pretend to give someone a chance when they were already rejecting him.