First, he’s very gangly. I’ve never liked gangly guys, and he’s clumsy, skinny, and always in motion. It’s not surprising that we became friends with him crashing into me in various ways. He’s always jiggling his knees, or drumming his fingers, as if revving up, just waiting for the checkered flag to drop so he can spin out at full speed. I used to find myself constantly reaching over and trying to quiet him, covering his knee or fingers with my hand, thinking it would silence him, when instead I would be caught up in it with him, jangling along, as if whatever current charged him was nor flowing through me.



Point two: He’s a slob. He’s all lose ends, and I hate lose ends.


Point three: He might have really liked me. Not in an only-until-the end-of–school way, which was safest. In fact we never talked about the future at all, as if we had so much time.