Chapter 18

• Nathan was addicted to Kelly. He had to admit it to himself now because there was no explanation for his actions. After their trip to the zoo, their lives began to shift offline. Their two online dates per week became a real date and an online sex date, and Nathan was desperately trying to think of anything else to call it. And he still wanted more. More of her time, more of her attention, more of her.
• He framed one of the pictures of them at the zoo and put it on his desk. He talked about her with his friends and family, calling her his girlfriend. He made more plans for their future, imagining what it would be like and ignoring the fact that he was paying her.
• They were getting used to physically being with each other and had moved into much more natural behaviors. They went to the zoo again, this time visiting the right side, seeing African, Australian, and Asian animal exhibits before taking the sky car back to the entrance. He bought her a stuffed animal tiger in the gift shop, and she then agonized over trying to buy him something before giving up. Until their next date, a more typical movie and dinner, when she presented him with a stuffed pink flamingo (she went back to the zoo without him when she thought of it) and a flowering succulent. The succulent now perched on his kitchen island, after a brief stint on his work desk where it ended up not getting enough light, while the flamingo sat on his nightstand.