Karen?"
"What can we do?" I asked.
He moved closer.
"I don't know, but we should think about it. I'm
sure you have. I've never seen two girls who were
closer or better friends than you two. I guess you
know as much about each other as any two people
could know about each other," he said, running his
fingers through my hair. "I know this . . . I'd rather
have you for a friend than any other girl at that school.
Most of the other girls are stuck on themselves, but
not you. You're responsible, reliable, someone to be
trusted:'
"How do you know that?" I asked. He was
doing just what Karen predicted he would do, saying
the things she said he would say. How did she know? "Give me some credit for being bright enough
to see through the phony crap, will you? There's
something real about you, something sincere. I've
been watching you for a long time, even when I was
going steady."
"Watching me? What about Karen?"
"Oh, sure, but that was just my way of finding
out more about you."
"Huh?" I pulled my head back and my hair
away from his fingers.
He shrugged. "Karen was flirting with me, so I
paid attention to her, but after I was with her, I
realized you were really who I wanted t
o be with. All
we did was talk about you all the time "