” She paused, then looked at him. “Dude, did ... oh god, what advice did GF give her?”“I-” Lou blushed, looking away. His hands wrung togeth...r. “Nothing happened.”“ ... something happened,” Amy said, frowning harder. “I can tell, you’re terrible at lying. Did she, like, bite you or-”“I had ... a nightmare,” Lou said, his mortification increasing. It was now the ‘mud running down the back of his neck awful’ feeling. Pits of snakes in his belly awful. “About the Procyians and the Lupens and .... I turned a few more tricks in Denver but began to feel someone suspected and I left town.’ ‘Did you enjoy it?’ ‘Yes I did. The fact that guys wanted to have sex with me was a turn on. The fact that a majority wanted me to have an orgasm was a real turn on. I only had one bad experience in Denver. I was not so lucky in Vegas. A third of the men treated me like a cheap whore. I was not cheap,’ she said with a giggle. ‘ When I ran into a bastard I usually stopped for a while and just cleaned rooms. " Both of them giggled at that. I didn't see what was so funny at the time.That afternoon, Astrid took me out to get an engagement ring. We went to one of the large jewelry stores in town."My grandson is looking for an engagement ring," a very pregnant Astrid told the salesman when we entered the store and were approached about what they could do for us."Right this way, young man," the salesman said, and led us over to the section where their wedding ring sets were located. Astrid and I looked. “Happy birthday,” I said.“I wondered if you’d remember,” he said, lifting the bacon pan and bringing it closer to the plate he had ready. He used the tongs to place the bacon on the plate, then returned the pan to the stove. “I wasn’t trying to trick you or anything, but you’ve been so busy with school and working the booth that I just wasn’t sure if you’d remember.” He picked up the plate of bacon and turned around to put it on the table. He did a quick double take as he saw me standing there,.