It doesn't work that way, in Ned's experience. He knows how paranoid that makes him, that the very reason he has difficulty trusting the kindness of someone like Ginsberg is that he's been lied to before, hurt before. Though he doubts anyone wanders around blindly trusting the people around them, he does wonder sometimes if he is a little too suspicious, too cautious, too ready for the moment when the tables will turn against him.

He isn't sure why it's the first topic to spring to his mind; on another day he would worry about giving Ginsberg the wrong impression and frightening him off, but he asks with a certain guilelessness that will hopefully pre-empt any suspicions.

"Tell me about the first time you fell in love? Or... something like that. A happy story."