I grabbed her arm. “Grace. I never want you to leave. You’re the only good thing in my life.”

She stopped, then turned back and looked at me. Her face was streaked with tears. “You mean that?”

“Yes.”

She brushed her cheeks with the back of her hand. We just sat there looking at each other, then she leaned forward and kissed me for the second time. It made me feel better.

“I better go,” I said. “I have to go to work.”

“Every time I kiss you, you say you have to go. Should I not kiss you?”

“No.”

“No, I shouldn’t kiss you, or no, I shouldn’t not kiss you?”

I was thoroughly confused. “You should kiss me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I just haven’t done a lot of it. I’m probably not very good at it.”

Her eyebrows raised. “No, you’re a pretty good kisser.”

“Really?” I felt myself blushing.

“Really.” She smiled at me. “Have you ever had a girlfriend before?”

“I had a crush on a girl last year.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing. I never told her I liked her.”

“You’re kind of afraid of girls, aren’t you?”

I didn’t answer.

“A little?”

I felt stupid. “Maybe a little.”

“I think that’s sweet.” She took my hand. “Do you want to be my boyfriend?”

I kept looking at her, waiting for the punch line. “What exactly does that entail?”

“Well, for one thing, you can’t have any other girlfriends.”

Fat chance of that, I thought. “That’s no problem. Anything else?”

“You can kiss me anytime you want.”

“Are you serious?” I asked, barely concealing my excitement.

She laughed. “Yes.”

I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I’d just been given a key to an ice cream parlor. “Like, I could kiss you right now?”

“Yes.”

I just stared at her.

“So?” she said.

“What?”

“Are you going to kiss me?”

“Oh. Yeah.” I slowly moved forward to put my lips on hers. Even though we’d already kissed twice, up to this point she’d pretty much done the heavy lifting. This was a first for me. I was as awkward as a nurse giving her first shot.

“You’re not going to hurt me,” she said.

Our lips touched and she closed her eyes. It was incredible. It was like Christmas, my birthday, and scones for dinner all rolled into one. When we finally parted there were big smiles on both of our faces.

“See, you are good at it,” she said.

“Yeah,” I replied, slightly breathless. “Let’s do it again sometime.”

She laughed. “Sure. That is, unless you still want me to leave.”

“I never want you to leave,” I said. “You should never leave.”

“Then,” she said coyly, “I shouldn’t go back to school?”

“School makes you dumb,” I said.

She grinned. “You better go. You have work.”

“Right. I’ll see you after.”