I walked Karen up to her door, and she timidly said, "Thanks for the lovely evening." I can tell she wanted a good-night kiss from me, but this whole Cheryl thing had really been plaguing me. I think I might still be in love with her. I just wanted to make a quick escape and check up on Paul and Wendy and somehow avoid snubbing Karen. A trick like that takes far too much skill.

I bowed a little, said, "Don't mention it," and tried to spin back down the driveway. She caught me, though, and started kissing me. I couldn't really push her away--I mean, we had kissed fairly vigorously during the dance itself, and I never really explained what was going on in my head--but I couldn't kiss her back and feel right about it either.

I just stood there, immobile, with my jaw clenched. Karen kept on kissing me and rubbing her hands along my back either not noticing or not caring that she was getting no response. Finally, she broke off, and took a few steps backwards to the door, waving at me. I don't think she stopped looking at me until I got into the limo.

Paul and Wendy were just staring at each other, making the ride home one of the tensest situations I've ever been in. I was just glad to get out of the car.

"Nice to have met you, Paul," I said as I got out. "See you tomorrow at work, Wendy."