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that any guy would refer to Rebecca as "What's her name."
    "Is she the only one you're 'noisy' around?"
    "Well, I mean, I don't know you that well yet." I couldn't decide if the yet was too forward. Maybe I should have left it out. Then again, if I hadn't said "yet," he could think I didn't want to get to know him. Maybe it was good that I'd said "yet."
    Who knew flirting could be more complex than charting the course of U.S. foreign policy?
    Josh, blissfully oblivious to the frantic negotiations going on in my brain, nodded and took a bite of ice cream. "You should ask Hannah. She's an expert on me. She'll tell you anything you want to know." He really had a great smile.
    "Like what?"
    "You'll have to ask Hannah. I wouldn't want to speak for her."
    "Oh." I looked at the bowl of ice cream. It was some kind of chocolate with nuts in it. I hate nuts. "Well, maybe you could tell me something about yourself," I said, pushing at one of the scoops with my spoon and trying to see if there was a bite without any nuts in it.
    He opened his eyes wide as if he were shocked by what I'd just said. "Now, that's a bold suggestion."
    I adopted a mock-serious tone. "Here at Chez Gardner, we dare to be different."
    "So you must be looking for a somewhat daring answer?"
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    "Well, if you're feeling daring."
    "Dare I say, a radical answer?"
    "I dare you." I located a small corner of a scoop that looked nut-free and ate it. After all, Cosmo says guys don't like girls who don't eat. Of course, guys probably don't like girls with butts the size of SUVs, either.
    "Fascinating. Fascinating." He took another bite of his ice cream. "Something radical about myself."
    "That's right."
    "Completely unexpected."
    "Exactly."
    He didn't say anything for a minute. I tried to send him some suggestions via telepathy. I bate Mandy Johnson. You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life and I love you.
    "Well," he said finally, "I'm kind of shy."
    I want you to be my girlfriend. I've wanted to kiss you from the first second I saw you. You complete me. It took me a minute to realize he had actually said something.
    "You mean you're too shy to tell me something about yourself?"
    "No, I mean that's the thing about myself that I'm telling you. I'm kind of shy."
    "Oh," I said. Could I work with this? Was he trying to tell me he was too shy to reveal his true feelings about me? Was his statement merely a confession, or might it be a desperate cry for help?
    He stretched out his leg a little bit so that his foot was resting on my knee. My whole leg started tingling like it had fallen asleep. "So," he said. "Now it's your turn."
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    "I didn't know we were taking turns." Suddenly my hands felt sweaty.
    "Sure, that's how it goes. I tell you something about me, you tell me something about you. That's what we in Seattle call conversation."
    "Wow, you guys on the West Coast are pretty cutting edge." I wondered if it was possible to sweat so much that you raise the general humidity in the room and cause your own hair to frizz.
    "Well, we try."
    What could I say? I mean, given what he had said, this was clearly not the time to announce, I want to marry you and have your children. I needed to buy some time.
    "Now, are you looking for something most people don't know about me, or can it be something most people already know but you don't?" I hate tomato sauce. Jennifer Aniston is my favorite actress. I hope you don't mind that I have a butt the size of Central Park.
    "That's totally up to you." His foot was still on my knee. I started worrying my leg actually had fallen asleep. I wanted to move it, but I was afraid if I did he would take his foot away. I wiggled my toes just to make sure I could.
    Why couldn't I think of anything? English used to be my favorite subject. I'm allergic to strawberries. My parents won't get me a cell phone. Was I the most boring person in the entire universe? Was there nothing I had to reveal to the cutest boy in the world?
    "I hate the