The wooden stairs feel damp with the cold October night air.  The two girls, roommates, both deliberate in each step descending the deck’s steep staircase.  The mist from the hot tub and the contented voices from within are welcoming; but not comforting, because they are deep, male.  No male can truly understand the anxiety that every female encounters in the moment she unwraps the towel surrounding her swim suited body.  Complete vulnerability, a sensation second only to the nightmare of being in school in your underwear, or less.  And then there is the task of entering the hot tub, in the dark, without slipping or splashing.  The two girls approach the hot tub, and the boyfriendless one faces the seemingly simple but terrifying decision of where to sit.  Next to the girlfriendless boy?  Daring.  Next to the roommate with the boyfriend?  Safe, but obviously weak.  She slowly ventures toward the girlfriendless one; sits close- but not too close, crouching into a ball, she tries to remain hidden from the neck down.

Two almost strangers lay on the couch, no longer strangers as of the past hour, but not yet acquaintances, but maybe friends of mutual friends.  Talking, the girl wondering was has happened to the shaking in her stomach that usually accompanies an almost awkward situation such as this.  They know they are going to kiss.  He’s not going to kiss her.  She isn’t going to kiss him.  They, both of them, are going to kiss each other.  She turns to face him, her body using her chest for support. 

            “Do you always talk to people like this?” he asks.

            She instantly flips back over, both faces facing not each other, but the ceiling.

            “No, no, I was just kidding,” he grapples as he tries to return her to her previous perch.

            She sees blonde hair and brown eyes, the contrast intriguing her from the first look.  He sees dimples, not the first thing he noticed, but he notices them now.

            “Your dimples are cute,” he remarks.

            She instantly feels like a young child, his age exceeding hers by four years already creating a feeling of security.

            “You say that like I am four years old!” she retorts.