[Lance is a surprisingly good actor when he plans to be, but despite that he's also a terrible liar when put on the spot. Being asked directly, when he hasn't prepared for it, makes it almost impossible for him to answer convincingly unless telling the truth.

So he always has to decide if he wants to deal with the consequences of the truth, or the consequences of being obviously lying. Sometimes one is much better than the other, and sometimes they're both probably about the same; this is one of the latter cases, and he thinks that 'same' is probably going to be bad.

So might as well go with the truth, and hope Michael understands the caution. Normally, Lance would expect he probably would even if he might not like it, but right now it's hard to believe that and he's subconsciously getting ready for a negative reaction.]

Yes, but also because I want to get a better sense of how you feel about the situation. And same for everyone else too, not just... You, specifically.

[Nailed it.]