“It's Dana! She's back early." He ran his hand frantically over Mitch's neat, blonde hair. "What's she want? What's she doing here?"Maybe she wants Reese's pot back""This is my chance! She's here alone. She wants me. Quick." He yanks my arm and dragged me to the stairs. I cried out in suprise."Get out of sight. Throw that away.""I'm not throwing this away! Besides, you don't think she'll notice that your whole fucking house smells like this? Jesus. Your pupils are the size of her granny panties. Virtuous or not, she isn't stupid.”

“Don't do that!" she exclaimed, shivering at the realization that it had been his fingers touching her.He gave her his lazy, slightly twisted smile and brushed a few pieces of unruly black hair out of his face."Are you asking me or ordering me?”"Shut up." She glanced around, both to avoid his eyes and make sure no one saw them together."What's the matter? Worried about what your slaves'll think if they see you talking to me?”"They're my friends," she retorted."Oh.Right. Of course they are. I mean, from what I saw, Camille would probably do anything for you, right? Friends till the end." He crossed his arms over his chest, and in spite of her anger, she couldn't help but notice how the silvery gray of his shirt set off his black hair and blue eyes.(Lissa&Christian)”

“She can sense things . . . Things the rest of us can't.She only knew there was a strange feel to you, and she'd only ever felt that around one other person. So she brought you to me." "Seems like she could have done that without me having to carry a household's worth of stuff." This made him laugh. "Don't take it personally. She was testing you. She wanted to see if you're a worthy match for her grandson." "What's the point? He's dead now." I nearly choked on the words. "True, but for her, it's still important. And, by the way, she does think you're worthy." "She has a funny way of showing it."[..]Paul stuck his head out the back door. "Grandmother wants to leave now," he told me. "She wants to know why you're taking so long and said to ask why you'd make someone as old as her keep waiting and suffering with her back." I recalled how fast Yeva had been walking while I struggled to keep up with my load. Her back hadn't seemed all that bad to me."Okay. I'll be right there." When he was gone, I shook my head. "It's hard being worthy.”

“Okay. But I'm just going to be out there - having a tea party with her cats or whatever it is she has in mind. You need me? You yell. You want to leave? We go. I'll get you out of here, no matter what.”

“Do you know anythingabout silent films?”“Sure,” I said. “The first ones were developed in the latenineteenth century and sometimes had live musicalaccompaniment, though it wasn’t until the 1920s that soundbecome truly incorporated into films, eventually makingsilent ones obsolete in cinema.”Bryan gaped, as though that was more than he’d beenexpecting. “Oh. Okay. Well, um, there’s a silent film festivaldowntown next week. Do you think you’d want to go?”I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. I respect it as anart form but really don’t get much out of watching them.”“Huh. Okay.” He smoothed his hair back again, and Icould almost see him groping for thoughts. Why on earthwas he asking me about silent films? “What about Starship30? It opens Friday. Do you want to see that?”“I don’t really like sci-fi either,” I said. It was true, I found itcompletely implausible.Bryan looked ready to rip that shaggy hair out. “Is thereany movie out there you want to see?”I ran through a mental list of current entertainment. “No.Not really.” The bell rang, and with a shake of his head,Bryan slunk back to his desk. “That was weird,” I muttered.“He has bad taste in movies.” Glancing beside me, I wasstartled to see Julia with her head down on her desk whileshe shook with silent laughter. “What?”“That,” she gasped. “That was hilarious.”“What?” I said again. “Why?”“Sydney, he was asking you out!”I replayed the conversation. “No, he wasn’t. He wasasking me about cinema.”She was laughing so hard that she had to wipe away atear. “So he could find out what you wanted to see and takeyou out!”“Well, why didn’t he just say that?”“You are so adorably oblivious,” she said. “I hope I’maround the day you actually notice someone is interested inyou.” I continued to be mystified, and she spent the rest ofclass bursting out with spontaneous giggles.”

“You might want to do something about your neck.”I was totally lost. “My neck?”She reached into her purse and handed me a compact mirror. I opened it and surveyed my neck, still trying to figure out what she could be talking about. Then I saw it. A small, brownish purple bruise on the side of my neck.“What on earth is that?” I exclaimed.Ms. Terwilliger snorted. “Although it’s been a while for me, I believe the technical term is a hickey” She paused and arched an eyebrow. “You do know what that is, don’t you?”“Of course I know!” I lowered the mirror. “But there’s no way—I mean, we barely—that is—”She held up a hand to silence me. “You don’t have to justify your private life to me. But you might want to consider how you can actually keep it private in the next fifteen minutes.”

“I should go," I said thickly. "Let me know when you want to start practice again. And thanks for...talking."I started to turn; then I heard him say abruptly, "No."I glanced back. "What?"He held my gaze, and something warm and wonderful and powerful shot between us."No," he repeated. "I told her no.""I..." I shut my mouth before my jaw hit the floor. "But...why? That was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. You could have had a baby. And she...she was, you know, into you..."The ghost of a smile flickered on his face. "Yes, she was. Is. And that's why I had to say no. I couldn't return that...couldn't give her what she wanted. Not when..." He took a few steps toward me. "Not when my heart is somewhere else.”