“Race,” Dustin corrected. “The slow and steady tortoise wins the race, not a prize.”

“Same thing!” Steven countered back in all seriousness. “You gotta assume if you win a race you’d also win a prize, yes? Dustin, my friend, I’ve got another expression for you … ‘Lighten the fuck up, dude!’ This is some real-ass life shit we’re talkin’ about, not English lit!”

It was Dustin’s turn to laugh at Steven’s comment and at himself. It was in Dustin’s nature to be inordinately precise about details, which served him well in school, but made him seem uptight socially. Dustin asked, “Hey, why would Lolly know I have a tortoise in the race at all?”

Steven admitted he had been aware of Dustin’s interest in Kimmie for a while now. Lolly was the one who put it together after joining the two boys during their study session last week. She told Steven that Dustin had awkwardly managed to bring up Kimmie’s name three times while they worked on Steven’s calc homework, which could only mean one thing. Hearing this caused Dustin to drop his head to the table and thump his forehead a few times. Steven put a hand on Dustin’s shoulder and promised his friend he was willing to help him with his Kimmie quest in any possible way. Dustin thanked him profusely and said he’d repay the favor any way he could.

Steven, emboldened by their bonding session, decided it was now his turn to confess his own girl troubles. Dustin listened to everything Steven said without interruption, only raising an eyebrow when Steven admitted that Lolly happened to be in the very same apartment with them at this very same moment.

Dustin chose his words prudently before giving his opinion on Steven’s tale of woe, but no matter how hard he tried to find a way to side with his friend, he couldn’t do it. He strongly disapproved of Steven’s cheating on Lolly. It made no sense to Dustin that any man could make a case where it was okay to cheat on his girlfriend. The way Dustin saw it, why bother to make a commitment to someone if you had no intention of honoring it? Sure, he knew that plenty of boys cheated on their girlfriends with the reasoning that their girlfriends were holy terrors, but Lolly was no such terror. Steven tried to explain to Dustin that staying faithful was harder than it looked, but even as he said it out loud he knew his words were lost on him. He also knew that staying faithful for Dustin wouldn’t be difficult, as he was made of sturdier moral stock than himself, for sure. And Dustin, who was somewhat of a rookie when it came to kicking game, probably had fewer temptations to deal with in general.