What? "What?"

"Even though we figured out I'm not an angel after all, even though I've been helping you out with all of this stuff...you still think I'm trying to trick you."

Oh, for the love of...why were boys so dense? "Gabe, it has nothing to do with the angel thing."

"Yeah, right."

"No, it doesn't." I came up beside him and rested the helmet on the seat of the bike.

"What does it have to with then?"

"Me."

"You."

"Yeah, me. I...I've never been on a date before. Chris was my first kiss, and even then it was sort of out of the blue. We were just friends at the time. I've never got all dressed up like this, I've never..." I paused. "Well, like I said, Chris was my first kiss. My only kiss. My only...anything. I don't know how to do all this, and I should, you know? At my age. I like being good at stuff, and I've no idea what I'm doing. And you're like...the total opposite of me with all this, and I don't want you to judge me..."

"I wouldn shoved in his mouthokkidd 't..."

"I feel...ridiculous. Like I'm just pretending. To the rest of the world it's just a date, but it's my first time, and so it's...special. And for you it's just another date, and..." I noticed I was hyperventilating.

"Okay, okay, calm down." He placed his hands on my shoulders and lightly directed me to lean against the bike. "First of all, anyone can date."

"I can't."

"Riley, you're being stupid. You can, and I'll prove it to you. Second, you've really got to start trusting me a bit."

"I already said that wasn't the issue."

"Actually what you said was that I'd judge you. Don't sound like trust to me. And lastly, with all that date being special and everything, Riley I want to go on a date with you because I really like you."

"Yeah, right. You date everyone."

"Sure. But this is different." He said it like it was so obvious.

"Why's it different?"

"Because we were friends first. It's always different that way. You can't just casually date a friend...Riley you've gone all pale."

"So what, is this serious? I don't think I can do serious. I mean, this is just a first date, I mean...I..."

Gabe started to laugh, which I thought was really annoying.

He grabbed me by the shoulders and playfully shook me. "Riley, you're nuts."

Yes, okay, I realized that.

"I'm scared." It was all I could think of saying.

"Well, let's work on that."

I nodded.

"Okay. First of all, it's just us. We've been hanging out for almost a year now. Riley..." he leaned in a bit and lowered his voice, "you've seen me naked."

I nodded and felt my face get hotter. From pale white to bright red, awesome.

"So we're just hanging out like every other time. My treat. Is that cool?" He squinted at me as if to convince me it was cool.

"That's cool."

"And second, let's just take everything one step at a time, stop looking at the bigger picture 'cause that don't even exist yet. The first step is for you to get on the back of the bike."

"Right."

"So you gonna do that?"

"Yes."

"Put on your helmet."

I did, feeling my hair flatten as I did so. Poor Lacy.

Gabe climbed onto the bike first and I followed his example. I'd never ridden one, but I'd seen him and my dad playing around with it enough to get the idea.

"Nice job!" he said as he kicked up the kickstand. "And in a skirt too. Very impressive."

"Don't try to flatter me..."

"Hey, trust, remember? I was actually impressed. Not every girl's that smooth at gettin' on a bike. Just say 'thank you'."

I sighed. He was making all these good points. It was really annoying. "Thank you," I said through gritted teeth.

"So you gonna grab on or what?" he asked turning around to look at me.

"I've seen people hold on like this." I was holding onto the underside of the seat.

"It's not as safe that way..."

"I like to live dangerously."

"Fine." Gabe started up the engine. With a roar he was speeding down the driveway-and my arms were fast around his middle. I couldn't tell, what with the vibrations of the bike and everything, but I was pretty sure he was laughing.

Whatever, I just dant to die, okay? He didnidn't w

I didn't know where we were going, so I just let him lead me along the main street and then up a smaller one. We turned down what I thought was an alley but turned out to be a very pretty courtyard with lanterns hanging across between the buildings. At the far end was a small Creole restaurant with a terrace. It seemed to be a pretty empty place, but it was still early for a Sat.u.r.day.

"I guess you like this kind of food," I said, remembering all the meals Etta Mae had served us.

"You don't mind, do you? Thought you did too?"

"No I don't mind. How'd you find this place?"

"Asked your dad."

Oh G.o.d, that was embarra.s.sing, asking Daddy for dating advice.

"And look! Steps two and two point five completed!" he said as we approached the door.

"Look at that," I replied and we stopped walking.

"Step three..."

"I get to eat something?"

"We both get to eat something."

We went inside where a very energetic young man came rus.h.i.+ng toward us saying something so fast that it took a moment to realize he was asking us if we wanted to sit inside or outside. We chose outside.

We sat down at the table and were given some water right away, as well as some bread and crabmeat dip with our menus.

I was relieved that I got to do something aside from thinking about the date and took a careful look at what was on order.

"You wanna do something neat?" asked Gabe.

"Depends on what that is," I replied. I could only trust so far.

"Your dad said that we could just ask them to bring us what they thought we'd like. He said it was cool."

"Cool?"

"He actually said 'cool.'"

"Well, why not? Sure. Sounds...'neat.'"

"Riley..."

"It does sound neat."

"I like 'neat.' I'm keeping 'neat.'"

"Well, if you're going to keep 'neat,' you should at least make it 'neat-o.'"

"Maybe I will."

"Fine."

He dipped his fingers in the water and flicked some at me.

"I won't try to get you back," I said adjusting my napkin in my lap. "I know how upset splas.h.i.+ng makes you. was the wsh. Could"

Gabe laughed, and our frantic, but very happy, waiter returned. We asked him to bring whatever he thought we'd like, and that seemed to fill him with even more joy.

"Look how happy we made him," I said watching him practically run back into the restaurant.

"Step three seems to be going pretty well," replied Gabe.

"It does." I turned back to face him, and he reached over and grabbed my hands. This time I didn't pull away. I didn't know what I was supposed to do now, exactly, so I just let him hold them for a bit.

"You're pretty amazing," he said.

"Is step four 'talk romantic?' Because I think then I really need a bit more of step three," I said feeling my heart quicken.

"Can't I just say something nice without freaking you out?"

Probably not. "You said it would just be like us hanging out, and you never grabbed my hands and said stuff like that when we were hanging out."

"Well, do you want it to just be like hanging out?"

"I want it to be as comfortable as hanging out..."

"It will be. But first dates usually aren't that comfortable."

Now he tells me. "You look comfortable."

"I always look comfortable. It's what I do."

"Yeah, it is."

"But I'm not."

"You're not?"

"Nope, you're making me very nervous."

I couldn't help but laugh. "But . . . I mean . . . it's just me."

Gabe laughed also. "And it's just me too."

"Okay, okay, go back, try again. You were saying I was amazing . . ."