I did peer down from time to time, however. I wasn't totally lost. But from that kiss, I stop thinking of myself as Kip, Asian kid who is waiting for a girl. I'm Kip, the kid who's found my girl.

I start to wonder what the summer will be like now that I have a girlfriend. And the year after that. I guess I should be lucky that I never thought of college. Then I would have been in trouble. So we date and date, but now we're steady (since the kiss, you know.)

Dates are usually dinner and a movie, or hanging with our group of friends (her group... I'm still kinda floating when it comes to a set group of Marquette friends.) Actually, it's usually with Hannah. I start to realize that Gwyneth and Hannah are so close that they're almost one unit. We call it "Gwynethannah" which sounds funnier when everyone's real name is used. Still can't make it to her house in less than twenty minutes but the kissing is good.

So everything's good. We do do some weird stuff, like crashing the St. Patrick's Day dance at her school. (it's not really crashing when you don't make a scene, so technically we were bored and went to a crappy dance) At weird times like this, I look at myself as if from very high and think, "WhatamIdoing" a lot.

My problems come when I try to integrate some of my Marquette friends into this happy mix. My disastrous double date with Joe Linn and Gwyneth and her friend Sarah will probably go down in my mind as the most awkward time I've ever had with peers. I had to do all the labs for chemistry for the rest of the year just so he'd speak to me again. I learn not to try to bring Gwyneth into other parts of my life. Don't fall off the cloud, son. It's a long way down.