I had a lot of success too! But yeah . . . 'course I had plenty of practice failing at it.

[But, he sees, it's not quite the same thing. He tilts his head and watches her, thinking about the implications of what she'd said there.]

But . . . the kinda dating I did back home, those weren't people I cared about a lot. I guess that'd be pretty different. I never tried confessing before to someone I really, really liked, 'cuz I never really, really liked anyone 'til I got here. Know what I mean? It's pretty easy when you've got nothin' to lose. That's the secret of guys like me! Ha ha . . . yeah, it'd hurt more than just my pride if I really put myself out there for someone and got turned down. That's normal, right?