"No you didn't."
"I swear. I knew."
Faint laughter drifted across the field as another Rake story found its mark among his boys. Neely could barely make out Silo and Paul in a group of ten others just under the press box. The beer was flowing.
"After you took the plunge in the backseat," she said, "and I was tossed aside, we still had two years left in this place. There were moments when I would see you in the hall, or the library, or even in the classroom, and our eyes would meet, just for a second. Gone was the cocky sneer, the arrogant look of everybody's hero. Just for a split-second you would look at me like a real person, and I would know that you still cared. I would've taken you back in a heartbeat."
"And I wanted you."
"That's hard to believe."
"It's true."
"But, of course, the joy of sex."
"I couldn't help myself."
"Congratulations, Neely. You and Screamer began your adventures at the age of sixteen. Look at her now. Fat and tired."
"Did you ever hear the rumor that she was pregnant?"
"Are you kidding? Rumors are like mosquitoes in this town."
"The summer before our senior year, she tells me she's pregnant."
"What a surprise.Basic biology."
"So we drove to Atlanta, got an abortion, drove back to Messina. I swear I never told a soul."
"Rested twenty-four hours, then back in the rut."
"Close."