She fortunately took the reassurance from my eyes that I had not trusted my clumsy, treacherous mouth to provide. "But I swear, the moment I sent that text, guessing that you had actually been with a girl, the thought popped into my head, 'Huh. Al is a person who could get laid. That might be good to know.' But even then I still did nothing."

"And then, when the three of use were walking back after that first practice, when we, um, worked out what might be behind your success? Yeah, I'm telling you right now, I realized that I suddenly wanted very much to have you, even before that...