"I mean, how do you know that you don't like kissing boys if you've never kissed one?" Dante looked over at Ari. He seemed distracted by his own words.

Dante sat up on his bed. They were hanging out in his room. "I think we should try an experiment. You're my bestfriend, right?" Maybe he was being unfair. He was upset. Dante had never kissed a boy. But he knew he wanted to. How could Ari decide he didn't without...trying?

Ari denied it. Any reasonable boy probably would in 1998. Dante stood up. "I won't tell anyone. C'mon." He might've been begging. Just a little. "Look, it's just a kiss. You know. And then we'll both know. We won't really know until we actually do it."

"Stand up." Dante spoke, and Ari listened. "Close your eyes," Dante knew it would work for him. It always would. He kissed Ari. And then he really started kissing him.