Eventually they stopped staring at each other and did something about it. It had been long enough, anyway. David and Suzanne sat in their class and shared glances, both of them charmed by the other's shyness and inability to communicate.

One day after their Russian Literature class, a class that they were both failing because they spent more time reading each other rather than their books, Suzanne nonchalantly approached David and asked him for a stick of gum. He giggled and averted his eyes, for he had not heard her question and was too nervous to ask her what she had said. "Uh..." was all he managed to get out until she reached into his bag and took out a stick of gum for herself. Although he was not aware of it, they were both already walking together outside. It was early spring, the kind of day when everyone wants to pretend that summer has arrived, walking around outside without wearing enough clothing, facing the slightly biting wind in their thin t-shirts, cheeks red and arms pink. Suzanne and David were no different from everyone else. They both enjoyed a heightened sense of joy that day, because they had finally met and because of the unbridled gaiety that sort of day allows, a release from the ball and chain of winter's monotony.

The walked a lot. Down to the park and then to the waterfront, where they mixed in with the other couples walking among the rocks and gazing across the lake. There was never a lull in the conversation, for they both loved to hear themselves talk. David got nervous a few times, like when he would give an opinion that was generally unpopular with everyone who heard it, but Suzanne never got angry. She disagreed with him a few times, usually when the subject of feminism came up, but she never became angry. Everything about the day was joyous and spirited, and nothing seemed to be of importance except them being together. Both of them realized that this, them hanging out together, was a good thing. Suzanne was getting excited and tried to get herself to calm down. She was already imagining their wedding, describing to herself what their apartment might be like when they were married, where they would go for their honeymoon and so on. Although she was getting overly fantastic, she couldn't help but hope that he would be the one.

"Do you think this is kind of weird?" Suzanne nonchalantly asked.

"What do you mean?" David replied, although he knew what she meant. She was asking if he thought it was weird that they were sitting together among all of the other couples, acting as if they were one too.

"Do you think that it is weird that we are here, now, having never spoken before today?"

"Well, I guess so!" David anxiously replied. "Damn!" He thought. "I seem too excited. I am, though, but I can't show it. It would ruin things. I need to take it easy."

"Well, I think it's weird, but I like it," Suzanne said. "You know, I think you are a really good guy. Some girls would kill to go out with you."

"Oh, fucker," David thought. "Here comes the 'I'm just not ready for a relationship' spiel, I like you but not in that way... you'll make somebody very happy some day..."

Suzanne noticed that David was distracted. She also noticed that he was a little upset. It wasn't hard for her to notice this, for small, beady tears were welling up in his eyes. He coughed, hoping that it would distract her from his cowardly display of emotion. This just made her giggle.

"You know David, it's okay. We don't have to talk about this if you don't want to..."

"No, it's allright, um, I just had something... no really, I don't mind, uh, no I really don't mind..."

"Let's go over there." Suzanne gestured towards the abandoned old lighthouse off in the distance. "I hear the view of the lake is really beautiful from the top. The sun is going to go down soon anyway. Come on, David! Let's go over there."

David, still a little confused from his anxiety attack, shook a little. He wasn't used to girls calling him by name. He never got into a relationship informal enough so that the girl felt comfortable calling him by his name. He couldn't decide if this was significant or not.

"Yeah, sure. Let's go over there."

It was when the sun was just about to go down over the mountains that they first kissed. Suzanne initiated it, of course, but David didn't mind, nor did he hesitate. He really liked her and she him. He was amazed by her face. The twilight hour seemed to magnify every curve of her face and body; in the daytime her face shone with a strange light, its beauty perhaps rooted in its oddity. The setting sun detailed the shadows produced by her chiseled face, and it caused David to stare for some length of time at her before her lips moved towards his and gently pressed themselves against his mouth. He was finally relaxed after having been tense the whole afternoon. For the moment, he forgot his reserved nature and put all of himself into the first girl he had ever kissed.