"I think getting into trouble with someone sounds like the best part about having a crush. Or about being friends, even. I didn't have a whole lot of those, so I mostly got into trouble by myself, which isn't nearly as fun, especially when you're already kind of a weird kid. I'm glad you kissed the girl who lived across the street. That was brave."

And he admires bravery; it's one of the few qualities he can recognize and appreciate in himself, although admittedly, sometimes bravery and stupidity are awfully close together, at least for him. Bravery makes him blunder into awkward situations just as often as it benefits him, but he wouldn't change it. He likes having Ned leaning against him like this, talking, like maybe they can talk enough to make the evening go by quickly enough that Ned won't have to deal with his obviously uncomfortable feelings about Halloween soon enough. He's committed to trying to make it at least somewhat tolerable.

"I never tried to kiss Jane. We were too young, and I pretty much blew my chances with her by being that weird foreign kid who didn't quite know how to talk to anyone. Not that I'm not still kind of that guy, except that I'm an adult and American now. It's a lot less endearing coming from someone my age than it was coming from me when I was six."