“He told me last night they have made love four times so far.”“Really?” my mom said. “The way you just said that, sounds like you are jealou... or something.”“That’s the same thing he said to me last night. You sound like I want to jump my own brother’s bones.”With that, she stomped upstairs. Mom motioned me to wait a few minutes, then go up.I gave my standard, ‘Shave and a haircut’ knock, and heard her say, “Come in, Matt.”“Can I ask you a personal question, please?”“Depends!” she responded.“How. " Sort of." Eddie sat up."So how are you?" I asked."Have they found Ella yet?" No, she's still missing." Remember the pornos Mark gave me last night... the CDs? On one of the CDs, there's this strange video file." What sort of video?" I don't know," said Eddie. "I'll have to show it to you. I'm not really sure if it's what I think it is." Okay, let's see it." I don't have it on me now. Come to my bedroom tonight after school and I'll show it to you."About four hours later, when I came home from. "Yeah, I feel younger, more alive now too. I was dead inside for a while." I know. Sort of how I feel now, though not nearly as bad as you," I amended remembering the way she had looked.Sioux spun around on the rock, now facing me directly, the fact that she was nude suddenly no longer of importance, at least to her anyway. But it was hard not to look when she did that, so for the briefest of moments I did, before focusing on her eyes instead. I was surprised to discover, which was hard not. ” she sighed. “I guess I don’t feel close to him. Not even close like you and me, and nothing like you and Clarissa.”“Will you do me one important favor? Please?”“What?”“Stop comparing yourself to Clarissa. You are special to me, and you always will be.”“But...”“No ‘buts’ about it,” I replied. “You are special. Period. I guess I’m probably the wrong person to ask about that one because I’m marrying for pragmatic purposes and I’m marrying the one person I didn’t drive away with my warnings about.