After the recital, things winded down. Leslie was once again sweet and demure, and even though Janet was convinced she had a crush on me, the signs weren't there anymore.

The nature of conversations between us couldn't be more innocent. There were never any suggestions or any flirty remarks, and she never even paid me a compliment. We didn't call or text each other, and when me met most of the time we talked about geometry.

I ignored Janet's opinion and continued to study with Leslie, and when her sixteenth birthday rolled around, we had gotten to the point where conversations were no longer essential. The silence was comfortable, yet whenever we talked, I felt like she understood me.

I was invited to her birthday party. To be exact it was hers and Lucia's, but judging from all the attention Lucia got, there seemed to be only one birthday girl. The other one, forgotten and ignored, was standing in a corner alone. I felt bad watching her and I made my way over.

"Are you having an okay time?"

She shrugged. "Nothing like feeling invisible at my own birthday party, right?"

I followed her gaze and saw that Lucia had jumped on top of the coffee table in the living room and was dancing in a hot pink bra and jeans. A crowd had gathered around her.

"Well, all you need to do is get up there with her." I refrained from mentioning the bra because it seemed inappropriate to say anything remotely provocative to Leslie.

She shook her head. "I'm just waiting for this to be over."

"If you'd rather be somewhere else, I can keep you company."

"Actually, that'd be nice." She looked up at me. "But I probably can't leave my party altogether. Not that anyone would care, but still. Maybe we can just go talk in the backyard?"

After that things spiraled out of control pretty fast, and I wasn't sure exactly what happened. There were people in the backyard too, but it was a lot quieter and we could hear each other without shouting over the music. We sat down, and at first we were just commenting on the party, then the conversation slowly drifted towards how she envied Lucia sometimes and she felt lousy being compared to her sister all her life.

I was in the middle of telling her that she was a very unique person, when out of nowhere she started to cry. I completely panicked.

I could handle a girl being mad at me, and I could flirt when I was inspired, but crying always froze my brain right on the spot. Whenever I fought with my sister Linda, as soon as she turned on the water works I'd declare defeat right away. That was how she got the bigger bedroom, by the way.

I stammered some consolation along the lines of how great she was, that she and Lucia were different people and there was no need for comparison.

"You're one of the sweetest people I know," I said. If I had known this would happen, I would've rehearsed my lines. "You're considerate...and driven...and..."

"Being sweet and considerate isn't enough because boys still like pretty girls better," she muttered.

"That's not always true. And besides, I think you're pretty too." It wasn't a lie and I did think she was kind of pretty, although not in a Flora-Morgan-obvious way, but still I liked looking at her.

She seemed to cheer up a little bit and gave me a faint smile. "Do you really think so?"

"I never lie, Leslie. I really think you're pretty."

She smiled wider. Aha! That's what she wanted to hear.

"I really don't want to see you cry, Leslie. I know you hate the party but it's your birthday after all."

"Okay." She sniffled. "As the birthday girl, am I allowed to make a wish?"

"By all means."

Then she leaned in and kissed me.

I was so startled I didn't know how to react, and I may have jerked back after a second. I had seriously never considered Leslie in a romantic way, and she was always so innocent and harmless I thought she came off more like a pet rabbit.

"Leslie..."

Her eyes welled up instantly. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Her face crumpled like a withering flower as she got up to walk away.

I grabbed her arm out of reflex. "Wait. I was...you took me by surprise, that's all."

She looked at me briefly and stared down. The hint was too obvious and I really had no time to deliberate. I lifted her chin and kissed her again, half confused and half thinking that was what I was supposed to do.

***

That was how it started with Leslie, a typical "it just happened" beginning. At first I felt like I was pushed into this relationship before I was ready. People saw us kissing at the party and pretty soon it was all over school, and I didn't know how to explain without hurting her.

Not surprisingly, Janet offered me her theory of conspiracy about how Leslie deliberately conned me into this relationship with the right place and time carefully orchestrated.

"Have I not warned you that this is coming?" she said, a bold I-told-you-so etched on her face. "How could you not know she likes you?"

"I generally don't assume people like me unless they make it clear. I don't want to be cocky about it."

"Not everyone is as blunt as Flora," Janet remarked. "Some are just more calculating."

"I don't think she's calculating."

"God you are naïve." Janet rolled her eyes. "So you kissed her because she cried? Was that like a pity kiss?"

"I panicked, okay?"

"Flora really should cry more in front of you," she said dryly.

Why was she mentioning Flora again? I wished she would stop doing that.

"It's not entirely because of her tears," I said. "I felt something."

"A hard-on?"

"No." I glanced at her with annoyance. "I felt hope. Like it's something real."

Janet scoffed.

"I just thought maybe it could work, and I want to try." Most of my past girlfriends started out as instant attraction and never seemed to get me anywhere. Just look at how the fireworks with Flora sizzled and exploded in my face.

Janet shook her head, looking profound. "I really don't understand you kids these days. That's not a good way to start a relationship, and Leslie is so not your type."

"You don't know my type," I said defensively.

"But I do," she said with irritating confidence.

"Leslie and I are good friends already, and there are qualities that I like about her."

Janet shrugged. "Are you interested in my opinion?"

"Not in the least."

She offered anyway. "I think you deliberately pick someone who's the entire opposite of Flora. What you really should be doing is sort things out with Flora, instead of whatever rebound thing you're doing."

"Thank you, Freud. That's enough therapy for today."

I felt contented being with Leslie, and a rare feeling of being much appreciated. Ever since we got together, she had been very attentive to me and made it clear how important I was to her, and she was very much interested in learning about me. If my relationship with Flora had been mostly physical, then with Leslie it was definitely more verbal. She was great at expressing herself and understanding my point.

I tried to make Janet see this but she didn't believe me.

"Sean, just because Flora is gorgeous and you have great chemistry does not mean it's not real," she said. "Yes, she can be a little insensitive sometimes, and she's not as eloquent as Leslie is, but she cares about you a lot in her own way. I think you're belittling your relationship with her by defining it as mere physical attraction, when you know it was so much more than that."

I rubbed my palm over my eyes wearily. Janet didn't know that by deeming my last relationship meaningless was the only way it could make me hurt less. It was human survival instinct.

"Can we stop talking about Flora? This is not about her."

"I just think it's such a shame that you guys broke up over one stupid fight about nothing. I can tell there are unresolved feelings. I don't want to interfere, but Flora is really serious—" She stopped after seeing the expression on my face. She held up her hands. "Okay. Backing off."

"Can you just tell me you're happy for me?"

"I am happy for you," Janet said unconvincingly. "I just wish your girlfriend was a little friendlier."

"She is friendly. Give her a chance."

"Whenever you bring her along, she always stays a step back and basically says nothing."

"Come on, that's because she finds our friends intimidating."

"Intimidating?" Janet raised her eyebrows. "Do we need to give her a balloon to convince her we're nice?"

"See? That kind of attitude is exactly what scares her."

"Fine. Invite her to come with us to the beach this weekend, okay? I'll be on my best behavior."

***