“He kissed me, though not in a sexy way. Gentle. Tender.”

“Stop saying that! You sound absurd, and I don't even think you mean it. Besides, I'd never marry you," I told him. "I'm sixteen, and you're a slut, and you can't stop saying preposterous things!""True," he admitted. He kissed me on the lips and then I closed the door.”

“But I wondered if all this kissing was a bad habit with him and me. The thing we did with our mouths instead of talking.”

“I shouldn't have done that," I said.That was when I kissed him again.May God forgive me for this and all these things I've done.”

“Daddy used to say that calling a person a romantic was just another way of saying he or she acted without regard for conseqences.”

“Though I hadn't had a stroke like Uncle Yuri, it was still difficult for me to express what was in my heart. I wanted to tell her that I loved her, that she was the most important person in the world to me, that I was truly sorry for having lied to her about Liberty. Instead, I asked her what she wanted for dinner.”

“Sorry but nothing of much importance ever happened to me...I'm just a girl who forgot to look both ways before crossing the street.”