Page 98 of You Had Me at Hockey

She dresses in jeans and a gray hoodie that saysThe future is female. She’s probably right about that.

Soon we’re out of her building and on our way to the park, zigzagging through the streets until we get to the entrance on Fifth Avenue.

“There something so magical about this park,” Sara says. “More so in the summer, I think, when the trees are green. The light is different…I don’t know. Maybe I’m crazy.”

“It’s nice,” I say, very unpoetically.

We walk and walk, talking but also having times of silence. We pause at the Carousel to admire the carved horses. We get ice cream and sit on a bench to eat it, then admire the crocuses sprouting up in the still-sparse grass.

“Have you ever done anything illegal?” she asks me.

“Jesus. Why are you asking me that?”

“I’m getting to know you.”

“Of course I have.”

Her eyes grow larger. “Like what?”

“I drank underage.”

“Oh. Well.” She waves a hand. “Everyone does that.”

“You?”

“Yes. What else?”

“I’ve had a few speeding tickets.”

She pouts her lips. “Hmmm. I like driving fast too.”

“We should go for a drive sometime. Now I have my car.”

“Okay. Any other illegal acts?”

“Well. Once my car got towed because I was in a no-parking zone. And my buddy”—I pause because it was Easton—“helped me break into the impound lot and steal it back. Saved me a couple hundred bucks that I didn’t have.”

She’s trying not to smile. “You stole your own car.”

“Yep. The best part was when they sent me a letter a couple months later saying they were going to sell it for parts if I didn’t come get it.”

She giggles. “Okay, what’s something you think should be a law that isn’t?”

I think about that. “Oral sex should always be reciprocated.”

She chokes. “Sex laws!”

“You know there are lots of them. They just aren’t written down.”

“Is this part of my sex education?”

I forgot she isn’t very experienced when it comes to sex. She’s so into it, so eager to try pretty much anything. “Okay, sure. Condoms. When you’re getting a blow job, let her know when you’re coming. Don’t get it in her hair. And never venture to brown town without discussing it first.”

“Oh my God!” She bends over, laughing. “I can’t believe you just said that.” After she collects herself, she says, “But all those rules are for guys.”

“Well…the back-door rule applies to both.”

Her eyes widen. “Oh. Right.” She eyes me with an assessing look in her eyes. “Does that meanyou’reinto that?”

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