"Because I died," he said, trying to fill in the blanks that "everything else" left open. As if he didn't intensely hate the circumstances enough already. But he couldn't really blame her, he supposed. He was only 17 and hell, for all he knew, he might be stuck at 17 for the rest of his life. Of course she wouldn't be interested in him.

Steve had the feeling the whole wave of anger and sadness had yet to really sink in. It was being masked pretty well by embarrassment. He took the opportunity to turn away entirely so she couldn't see the look on his face or how red it was.

"I'm such an idiot," he muttered.