"Okay," I answered with a laugh, one that sounded a little too shrill and excited to my own ears. I wanted to be calmer than this, but I was excited and surprised and feeling things I hadn't ever really felt before. With Sal, it had all been over before it had even really had a chance to begin and I missed her fiercely, but this was just more.

And it was new.

"But we can tell other people," I said. "Our friends."

Beverly would want to know, I could tell that even before anything happened, back when I admitted to her that I thought I liked Eddie. And I had already told Elio some of what happened at the party and I thought I would likely tell him about this. He just seemed to know so much more than I did.