If Only I Had Told Her

Finn finishes reading the book Autumn lent him and realizes that “if Autumn had depicted [his] love in such perfect nuance, then it means she knows” (75). He goes upstairs and asks why she left after he kissed her in seventh grade. She says that she wasn’t ready and that he scared her. Feeling guilty, Finn apologizes for kissing Autumn, but she stops him. He asks to kiss her, and she says yes. They have sex even though they do not have a condom.

Autumn tells Finn she loves him. He thinks, “I’m so happy that I could die” (90). She asks if he really loves her. He is confused, thinking that she must know the depth of his feelings. He asks, “[I]f you didn’t know then why did you leave me?” (92). She explains that she enjoyed the sudden popularity she experienced in middle school and didn’t want to jeopardize it by spending time with him. Autumn now admits that she loves him too; she might always have felt this way, but she realized it two years ago. They agree to be girlfriend and boyfriend, but this means Finn has to break up with