"Whatever," she said. Under the quilt, she scraped at me with her toes. "I'm just, I'm not like you. I'm not assertive. I could never be with Tom." She pursed her lips.

Something in the way she said it sent my senses to tingling. So I pressed her. "What do you mean by that?"

The look she gave me was open, slightly quizzical. There wasn't a little bit of slyness in it either. She brushed her lips with her finger. "Well, I mean, you and Tom..."

"What about me and Tom?" I said.

She licked her lips, trying to put into words what was bubbling inside her mind. "I... At...