No way, that's not cool. What if you let him know you like him and he doesn't like you back? Then you're a joke. And I was nervous. I was just a kid.

[ Kate finally tips near enough for Johanna to feel the warmth of her stretched out almost against her back, and nuzzles at the nape of her neck. Before it gets too cuddly there's a press of her lips, too, all of it like her hand: gentle and lazy but not completely lacking in intent. ]

Brad was two years older than me. He was tall, and he played-- sports [ that she's not going to bother naming and explaining ] and was really cute. Broad shoulders and blue eyes. He was a terrible kisser but I didn't really know, I thought maybe I'd just imagined it wrong. We went out for a whole two weeks.