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“I’m not dismissing anything. I’m just saying—” Before he could finish, Gia came into the room.

“Can one of you help me find the poster board?” she asked.

“There’s some in the garage,” Jim said. Before he followed her out, he said, “I’ll hope that you’ll have worried for nothing.”

I took the pillow I was holding, put it under my head, and curled up on the couch in a fetal position. I turned the television on and the channel to some mind-numbing sitcom. As the opening credits rolled, I dozed off. I didn’t know how long I’d been asleep before I heard a knock on the front door. I didn’t want to see anyone right now, so I tiptoed to the door and looked through the peephole. I recognized him immediately even though we’d never met. It was Jason, looking nothing like the confident kid I’d seen with Gia in our driveway. I looked terrible for our first meeting, but when I opened the door, he looked worse than I did.

“Hello,” I said. “You must be Jason.”

“Uh, yeah. Is Gia home?”

“Come in, I’ll see where she is.” While Jason stood uncomfortably in our entry hall, I went upstairs and knocked on Gia’s door. “Jason’s downstairs,” I called out, because she didn’t say I should come in.

“Why did you let him in?” she called through her closed door.

I opened it. I wasn’t going to have this conversation out in the hall. She was sitting on her bed staring at her computer. “Was I supposed to leave him standing on the doorstep?”

“Yes,” she said. “Tell him I’m not here.”

“I already told him you were. I thought you were dating him?”

She ignored the question. “Tell him I went to bed.”

“It’s five forty-five.”

“Then say I’m studying, and I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” She was watching a YouTube video of some teenager giving contouring and highlighting makeup tips.

“Fine.” I walked into the living room, trying to keep my expression neutral. “I’m sorry, Jason, she’s studying for some big test. She’ll call you later.”

“She doesn’t want to talk to me, does she?” Jason asked. Had my stupid face ratted me out? “Thanks for trying,” he said, and I closed the door behind him. I went back upstairs to Gia’s room. She’d moved on from YouTube to funny memes.

“What’s going on with you two?” I asked.

“We got in an argument.” She lowered the screen on her computer.

“He seems miserable.”

“I’m miserable.”

I sat down next to her on the bed. “Can I ask what the argument was over?”

“Sex.”

Okay, be cool.“What about sex?”

“He thinks we should do it, and I don’t want to.” She leaned back against her headboard, crushing her stuffed zebra.

“Then don’t.”

“He says I’m the only seventeen-year-old that hasn’t had sex.”

“That’s not true.”

“Maybe I should just get it over with before I go to college.” She pulled the stuffed zebra out from behind her and held it close to her chest.

“That’s not the reason to do it.”

“You’ve been married for a million years. What could you know about sex?”