Of course I had cared how she felt, not only about me, but about things in general. But suddenly it really mattered if she liked me, or was unhappy wi...h me. I had touched her before, both in play and in jest and, occasionally, in anger. But I had never craved touching her, like I already was, even before the dancing started up.And that was just the beginning.It wasn’t love at first sight. It was more like a twelve or thirteen year courtship that we hadn’t been aware we were engaging in.And when. “The winner!”I preened for a moment, and then grabbed Marilyn. I lifted her up and gave her a good hard kiss. She laughed and kissed me back.Ghormley stared at us in disbelief. Around us people were laughing and lining up to do their own flaming shots. Marty was simply lining them up while Joe Bradley lit matches. Marty laughed at me. “You’re fucking crazy!”“Crazy about her!” I said, pointing at Marilyn. She laughed and I spun her around. “I’m crazy about you!”Okay, by now, with two shots of. Pulling out his wallet, Robert took out a business card and handed it to her.This time, it was Hope’s turn to chuckle. “You know, in this day and age, anyone can get business cards listing any type of business.”“Touché,” Robert said. “But I am legit. Come, check out my photo gallery.”“I may just do that,” she said. “Oh… and Robert, see you tomorrow and bring your prop. I have a meeting today.”Before he had a chance to respond, Hope was gone. 'She is going to be a challenge to seduce but I am. I knew this Chris had a better future in store for him than I did when I was Chris.It was during the Thanksgiving weekend that Carrie brought me the big news."They did it!" she said excitedly. "Jenny and Chris slept together." They did?" I said even more excitedly than Carrie. "That's terrific!"I had to ask Chris about how his relationship with Jenny was going on Monday.I dropped by his house to pick him up for martial arts. I no longer thought of it as my house. I made the mental switch. I may.