At lunch, Teddy searched the school for Lorelei. He had decided to be brave. His bravery included him asking Lorelei out.

"Hey, what are we doing?" Vern asked eagerly, as always at Teddy's side. "Are we playing detective? Aren't we a little old for that?"

"I'm looking for Lorelei." Teddy's eyes scanned the tiny lunchroom, but didn't see her.

"Ooh, do you want fries with your sex?"

Teddy whirled around to face him. "All right, what THE fuck?"

"You're looking for Lorelei."

"Yes…"

"I thought that meant you were getting laid."

Scoffing, Teddy replied, "You wish. Well, I mean, I wish too, but no. I'm going to tell her the truth."

"Tell the truth?" Vern asked, bewildered. "Isn't that what deathbeds are for?" Then he stopped in his tracks and squawked. "Oh, God, look! Cassie!"

"Who opened the gates of hell?" Teddy said, then laughed because he thought his joke was quite funny.

Vern, however, did not, but that was just because he wasn't actually paying any attention to Teddy. He was staring at Cassie like she was walking down a runway. He envisioned a gentle wind blowing through her hair and a radiant light behind her, etc; the works.

As she passed she looked at him and smiled slightly.

"Oh my God!" Vern cried.

"Oh dear God," Teddy muttered.

"I'm gonna go follow her now…"

Teddy watched as his best friend trailed behind Cassie like a lovesick puppy. He rolled his eyes in disgust but continued his search. Just as he was about to give up, he saw her come out of the girls' room. "Hey, Lorelei," he called when she looked past him.

She stopped walking, looked at him, scowled, and waited for him to come up to her. "Hi Teddy," she said, somewhat vaguely and indifferent.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked.

"Ahh…" She shrugged. "I guess not. I don't know. You're stupid."

"I was just trying to make sure that that butt fucker didn't do anything stupid and hurt you, you know," Teddy told her. "I wasn't trying to make you feel bad or anything."

Lorelei nodded mutely, then put a hand on his shoulder to steady herself while she stood on one leg and inspected the bottom of her other shoe.

Teddy stared at her.

When she was finished looking at her shoe, she stood normally and smiled. "Just checking for toilet paper."

"Of course," he laughed. He crossed his arms over his chest, glad that she didn't look like she was going to leave him anytime soon. "Hey, so, uh…" He tried to conjure the nerves to ask her out. "Uh…"

"Uh?" She looked at him expectantly.

"Uh…"

Chris suddenly came up behind Teddy. "Hello."

"HELLO," Teddy said loudly. He was happy that there was a distraction so that he could have some time to re-grow his backbone. Why was it so hard to ask her out? This was Lorelei, after all--she was harmless and she wouldn't embarrass him.

"Looks like a heavy conversation," Chris observed. "Should I come back later?"

"Teddy was just talking to me about Reese," Lorelei filled him in. "Did you want something?"

Teddy watched with affection as she turned about four different shades of red.

"Actually, I just wanted to talk to you about Reese," he told her, shrugging. "But I guess if Teddy's already beaten me to it, then you don't really need to hear it twice, right?"

"Uh, right," she said.

He put his hand on her shoulder the way he would do with Gordie. "So, yeah, well, okay, so just--stay away from Reese, I guess. I wouldn't want to see someone as cool as you get burned by someone as assholey as Reese. I think I'd feel kinda responsible."

"Why?" Lorelei asked, spinning from his touch.

Chris gestured weakly. "Well--you know…with the whole Anya and…me and the whole…uh, lips, and the…bad…"

She smiled gently, rather embarrassed. "It's okay. You and Anya may got on with your bad selves."

They both laughed. Then they looked at each other. Then they stopped laughing abruptly. Then they snickered, somewhat nervously.

"Well," Chris said, smiling. "I'd better go. I'm supposed to drive Gordie to his house quickly, and we'd better leave if we want to make it back to school before lunch is over."

"Why does Gordie have to go home?"

"Because it suddenly dawned on him during Phys. Ed class that his cat doesn't have a litter box."

"He has a cat?"

"Yeah. I think he and Brooke co-own it, but it lives with him. It's like a joint-custody thing."

Lorelei threw her hands up in the air. "WHAT? BROOKE?"

Chris grinned, shrugging helplessly. "They like each other, I think."

"Oh my Lord, what is happening to this world?" She shook her head. "New couples are sprouting like rabbits."

"Rabbits?"

"They fuck a lot."

Chris stared at her.

"Therefore, there's a lot of little rabbits, because they multiply--never mind. It made sense at the time but now it doesn't so leave me alone. Go find Gordie."

Laughing, he said goodbye and then left in search of Gordie.

When Lorelei looked back at Teddy, he was smiling evilly.

"Stop looking at me like that, Theodore," she growled.

"What a charmer you are," he laughed. "And don't ever call me Theodore again."

"Oh my gosh, I just realized how dorky the name Theodore is. No wonder you go by Teddy."

"Thank you Lorelei."

"Anytime, Teddy," she said, grinning. "Anyway, is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about? I'm hungry. It's lunchtime. I should be eating."

Teddy didn't know what to say. He wanted to tell her so many things, but he didn't know where to start or how to say it. So he just said, "Not really. I'm kinda wondering what you're planning on doing with Reese though. Are you still going to let him see you and stuff?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. I'm a big girl, Teddy, I'm not going to let him walk all over me."

"I know you're perfectly capable, but he's such a jerk, Lorelei."

She sighed heavily. "He called me beautiful, Teddy."

He looked at her in surprise. He didn't mean it, he wanted to yell at her. If I could just SAY it, I would mean it!

"I don't know what I'm going to do about him though," she told him. "Now that Anya and I have come to an understanding, it's different, but still…he really did make me feel better yesterday."

Couldn't she tell that he was the one that cared about her? Reese didn't give a shit; he just wanted to get back at Chris and Anya and he didn't care about the girl that he was using to make that happen. He didn't know how funny and uniquely sweet she could be, and he sure as hell didn't know how beautiful she was. Teddy always thought she was smart--so why was she being so stupid?

"So," he laughed. "Did he nail you yet?"

When she didn't say anything, he looked over at her with a smile, but she was just glaring at him. She shook her head contemptuously. "God, Teddy."

"Come on," he said desperately, grabbing her arm when she started to walk away. "It was a joke! A light-hearted remark! Cheerful banter!"

"I'm not laughing, am I?"

"No. You look like you want to squash my head in."

She smiled sarcastically. "Yes."

"Look, I'm sorry, all right?" he said softly. "I didn't mean anything by it. I just wish you'd forget about him."

"Why do you even care?" Lorelei demanded.

"Because it's you," he snapped angrily.

"Um, pardon me?"

"Um, what?" He felt like puking. Why didn't he ever think before he spoke?

"We're just friends," she said, confused. "I thought we were just friends. You…oh my. Teddy?"

"I have to pee now," he blurted and darted for the bathroom.

"Teddy, that's the ladies room," she called.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered, and kept on walking.

He couldn't get the look that had been on her face out of his mind. Had that been a look of good horror, or bad horror? "Dammit," he murmured. Sadness wasn't an emotion Teddy Duchamp liked to deal with--he was better with anger and all that good stuff. But he realized that the girl that had been starting to introduce him to other feelings, like happiness and innocence, had just made him sad.