And his anger made her angry. Because he was the one who had crossed a line. He was the one who had kissed her out of nowhere. She was the one who was supposed to be angry.

So she roared back, “WHAT?!?” Dave was surprised to hear Rhonda’s voice coming from so close to the door, and he jumped a little. Because Rhonda was louder than he was—which wasn’t surprising. She outdid him at just about everything.

But what he had to say was important. And he wasn’t going to let her cow him.

And he dug deep and found the strength and the courage to say what he needed to say.

“YOU KNOW,” he yelled, “WE HANG OUT EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT LATELY!”

“YEAH?” Rhonda roared back. “SO?”

“WE GO SLEDDIN’!”

“YEAH, AND?”

“AND THEN I GO HOME!”

“YEAH!”

“BUT I DIDN’T WANNA GO HOME TONIGHT! I WANTED TO COME OVER! ’CAUSE I WANTED TO GIVE YOU SOMETHIN’ I MADE FOR YOU … BECAUSE…” Dave felt the lightness grow inside him again. And it made his heart swell and it made him feel like someone else—someone braver—had taken control of his body and was making him say, “’CAUSE I LIKE YOU, YOU KNOW!”

Rhonda froze.

And she didn’t know what to make of what Dave had just said. Because the words he had said were beautiful. But the way he had said them made them sound so ugly. So she didn’t respond.

Dave didn’t know what to make of Rhonda’s non-response. And it was too late to take back what he had said. Because it had been said. And it had definitely been heard. Because he had yelled it. And the only thing he could think of to do was yell some more.

So he did.

“AND I THINK WE OUGHTA BE TOGETHER! OR GO OUT! OR SOMETHIN’! AND—” Dave suddenly interrupted himself and realized that he didn’t want to be yelling at Rhonda. Because he loved her. And he went to the door and rested his arm on it and leaned his head on his arm and said in a more civil tone of voice, “And that’s why I kissed you.” And then he pushed himself away from the door and just stared at it for a second. And then continued, speaking to the door as if it were Rhonda. “I just—I wanted you to know how I felt about you, and I didn’t know how to tell you, so I just kissed you, and I’m sorry if—”

The door suddenly opened, interrupting Dave. And Rhonda moved into the doorframe and said quietly, sternly, “Then you shoulda just told me. How you felt.” Rhonda stepped out onto the porch and pulled the door behind her. And Dave backed away from her as she did, because he didn’t know what to make of her mood. Rhonda took a deep breath and thought and then looked Dave square in the eye and said in all seriousness, “’Cause you can’t just do what you just did, you know.” The reprimand came from somewhere deep inside Rhonda. And it froze Dave. Because the good guy had done something that wasn’t so good. “You can’t do that, Dave,” added Rhonda.