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bacon is the cruelest of the pretend things, because it actually smells like bacon, but they never get the texture right. I'm telling you guys, the day they can nail the texture, pigs are endangered.”
    “Endangered? What?” I ask.
    “Duh. You don't see pink little piggies running around in forests. If not for farms, they won't exist. So that's why I'm doing my part.”
    I can tell from the side of his face, James is grimacing.
    Julie tried going vegan like her brother for a few weeks, but the no-animal-products diet didn't stick. Technically, she only tried being a true vegetarian, because vegans like James don't wear leather, but there was no way she would give up her closet full of shoes.
    Of the diet, she said it was too restrictive, but personally, I don't think it was quite restrictive enough. We describe Julie as a pickavore —as in, she's bloody picky and won't eat random things for random, unknowable reasons. One time she told me she'd gladly switch to food pills, if they were available, so she wouldn't have to worry about what to eat next. Hearing her talk about food and diets makes me glad I'm not a girl.
    “Are any of your girlfriends meeting us at the lake?” I ask Julie. For a moment, I soar up to the sky, imagining the fantastic luck of Austin meeting up with us at the cabin.
    Julie shrugs. “I'm not really that close to any of the girls from school. Besides, they're not as much fun as you guys. It'll be like old times, just the three of us.”
    “That's true. This might be the last time for just the three of us,” I say.
    She turns and gives me a worried look. “What do you mean by that?”
    I draw circles on the window with my finger. “Nothing. Well, we're getting older, and next year we'll graduate.” I draw a giant circle, my finger squeaking on the glass. “Man, I am so craving bacon right now. Can we stop somewhere? I can't stop thinking about bacon.”
    “We just ate,” Julie says. She's right. The wrappers are still on my lap. I don't know where my head's at today.
    James turns up the music, probably to discourage bacon talk. I stare at the outskirts of town: yellow house, yellow house, brown house, blue. The houses are getting further apart as we get into the country.
    I shouldn't have let Austin leave. I suppose I couldn't have forced her to stay either—that would technically be kidnapping. But I could have been more convincing. I love you, I said. Why didn't she just shoot me right then and there?
    Could I get her phone number from Julie's friend, or ... from Julie? Man, that would be awkward to ask. I need to change the subject, and get my mind off Austin while I'm stuck in a vehicle for the next hour with James and Julie.
    What were we talking about? Bacon. Right. I could say something about how I think little piglets are super cute, but I could probably hold one in my arms while I ate a bacon and tomato sandwich, and does that make me truly evil?
    “I had sex last night,” I say.
    Julie sprays orange juice out of her mouth and all over the windshield, coughing and sputtering.

Chapter 7
    After my confession about what happened last night, James goes, “Ah! Ah!” in a combination of shock and laughter.
    “With a nice girl,” I say matter-of-factly, as though it's perfectly reasonable that I had sex, for the first time, with a girl I'd known less than twenty-four hours.
    Julie sops at the sprayed juice with a napkin. “You gave her your v-card?” she asks.
    “Dude. Guys don't have v-cards,” James says to his sister. “Try. Try to be cooler around my friends, okay?”
    “I bet it wasn't her first time,” Julie mutters toward the side window. I can't see her face, except for the edge of her cheek, flushed red.
    “Julie, you're like a sister to me,” I say. “I don't feel that way about you. It's science. We all played together in the same tub growing up.”
    James says, “Hey. We don't talk about tubbie bubble time.”
    “You only have a crush on me because it's