Alissa had grown a good deal in the past year, her figure had filled out and she had lost the awkwardness that plagued most teenage girls, she was a very lovely young woman, but when she caught sight of Randy she ran right up to him and threw her arms around him as though nothing had changed at all.

Randy embraced her with a delighted chuckle, pleased to see that she was well. "My, how you've grown!"

She stepped back and let him get a good look at her full curves, "Haven't I? You haven't changed at all though," she gave him another hug, "I have missed you so, I missed our evenings together,"

"It hasn't been the same without you," said Randy. "Now you must tell me about the school."

"It was dreadful, all the girls did was gossip and speculate about getting married," Alissa grimaced.

"It sounds awfully boring," Randy commented with a smile.

"It was! I missed home," said Alissa, tugging at one of her long, dark, curls, "W...when I said goodbye...did you...did you dislike it?"

"Well, no," Randy replied, "though it did leave me a bit confused."

"Confused? About what?" asked Alissa.

Randy fidgeted. "My experience with girls your age is limited. What exactly was the gesture meant to express?"

Alissa blushed and whispered in his ear, "It means I love you....you know the way a woman loves a man..."

Randy bit his lip. "Do you... still feel that way?"

"I think I feel that way more now than when I left," she confessed reaching up shyly to touch his face.

Randy could feel his cheeks growing warm and attempted to will himself not to blush, lest she notice him turning green. What was he to say to her? No one had ever been in love with him, including the woman who'd borne his child--a child who was already older than Alissa. Likewise, he had never held such feelings toward anyone, himself. The concept was strange to him, only witnessed in his parents and a small few others he had known, but mostly heard of from what seemed a very great distance. Still, he didn't pull away from her. "I have never had those words spoken to me," he admitted. "I am not sure of what to do."

Alissa gave him a gentle kiss, "Well, I won't force you, I understand if you don't feel the same way,"

"Know that I do love you," Randy reminded her with a soft smile.