" Hey, Lesa, what was your first kiss like?"

Lesa froze up, felt awkward. It was bad enough that Neda was staying over in her room so late, but to be asked that...

" Oh, um, it was kind of weird... I didn't like it at all..." She answered, hoping that Neda didn't notice her blush.

" Really? I'm just kind of nervous... I want to tell Lt. Honda how much I like her, but I started thinking about the fact that I've never kissed anybody before, and that I might be bad at it..."

Lesa bit her lip, didn't look over to Neda.

" ... We could... practice, maybe," she suggested weakly. " Practicing doesn't count."

" You think so?"

" I mean, it only counts if you think it counts, right?"

Neda rolled over to face her.

" ... If you say so," she said.

Lesa kissed her.

... It was really nice.

... She really did like Neda, a lot.

... A tight feeling in her chest.

Neda drew away.

" That was kind of weird," she said.

" Y-yeah, it was..." Lesa lied.

" I guess it's cos we're both thinking about somebody else."

" Yeah, probably... That was a bad idea, wasn't it?"

Neda sat up, smiled back at her.

" I mean, I think I sort of get it," she said. " It's pretty late, so I'm going to head back."

" Night."

" Night."

Lesa curled up on her bed, foreign taste still in her mouth, and realized that she felt very sick.