“Maybe” when you mean “no” isn’t polite. It just leaves someone waiting by the door for a ride that isn’t coming.

A soft no is only soft for the person saying it. Maybe keeps you comfortable and leaves the other person holding a plan they cannot finish, waiting on an answer that was already decided. They arrange around you, turn other things down, and work it out eventually anyway, with the extra information that you were not straight with them. Kindness that costs someone their evening is not kindness.

Say no when it is no, early, and without a story attached. A short decline is easier to receive than a long one. You can be warm and still be final.