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When Lucy ca Grandma&039;s dinner ready: minestrone soup and chicken salad just the way she liked it, with plenty ofbut he was bubbling with exciterabbed her up in his ar off the legs of the table and the chairs

"You&039;re in a good ood, I wanted to give this to you when you were feeling good about things, because youdown, and - "

"What are you talking about?" Brent asked Then he noticed that she had brought a cardboard box with her It was tied up with green ribbon "A present? For hing again

"Hold on, let me just turn this down It needs to siently on the stove and headed up to his rooot you so happy?" she asked, as he pulled the door almost closed behind him He was careful to leave it open a full foot, as per Grandma&039;s rules "The last ti to start an emo band"

"Huh?"

"You looked like you felt pretty sorry for yourself," she explained

He picked up the box and shook it Itnoise He had no idea as inside He wanted very much to open it but first he had to tell Lucy what had happened "I think I have a girlfriend," he told her "I wasn&039;t really sure, at first, but when I kissed her, it all kind of caether and - "

"You kissed Dana?" Lucy asked Her face was expressionless, as if she was unsure exactly what he&039;dfor confirmation before she started to react

He bit his lip Maybe this was so he should keep to himself - you weren&039;t supposed to kiss and tell, after all - but he really wanted to talk about it and Lucy was his confidante "Yes," he said "I kissed Dana"

"Oh That&039;s - "

A laugh bubbled out of hiitation but just because he had so y "Several times"

"Okay, well, the details probably aren&039;t - "

"With tongues" He went to theand glanced outside, looking for newsvans or reporters, then pulled down the shade "And then she let me touch her well her" He turned around He couldn&039;t see Lucy anywhere

He looked at the door but it was still open the one out that way He opened up his closet but it was so full of stuff even Lucy couldn&039;t have squeezed inside Finally he looked in the space between his bed and the wall She was there, curled up with her knees tight against her chest She wasn&039;t looking at him He squatted down in front of her and smiled at her but she just looked away

"Too much inforrotesque details"

"I thought you&039;d be happy for ht that, huh?"

Brent stood up and went over to his desk where he&039;d set down the box He couldn&039;t understand what the probleh before - both of theht about it so ether what it was like, and they&039;d even confessed all to each other, pooling what little experience they had on the subject She&039;d even told him once about the boy she&039;d fooled around with at camp the suraphic than anything he could have said about Dana

"Okay, change of subject," he said, figuring if she was suddenly going to get squeamish he could at least be sensitive about it "Let&039;s see what this is, shall we? It&039;s not even my birthday!"