Madeleine cracked up and started laughing, letting her head loll back in her merriment. “You’ve got a thing for Brian. Whew…” She helped herself to the last of his water, since her Coke had spilled and she was still thirsty. “If it helps, I’ve seen him naked. It was an accident but it was totally worth it.”

She fanned herself and sobered. It was necessary to think through her explanation; she didn’t want to seem evasive, but some of those details were personal and not really her business.

“Eh, Valerie wants to sew her oats, try to figure out who she is. You know. Totally normal college stuff. She’s a nice girl. She spilled the beans to me and I told her that Brian’s a besotted romantic with big gaga moon eyes and he wouldn’t be down with an open relationship, she was gonna break his heart, blah blah blah. They ended up having an argument and breaking up. Now I guess they’re back together, except apparently I was wrong.”

She scratched her head and settled her glasses higher on her nose.