Over the next few weeks, David and Kelly restarted their relationship. Slowly. Carefully. On the third date after that night, Kelly wore the same outfit – outside of her apartment. At first, she refused to look at anyone around her but as the night wore on, she raised her head and started smiling again. When an older couple remarked on what a handsome couple they were, Kelly grinned with her teeth and pressed up against David, laying her head against him briefly.
After every date, David walked Kelly to her apartment and stood carefully in front of her door. Some nights Kelly would blush and very clearly not look at the doorframe and other times she blush and wink at him as he kissed her (mostly) chastely good night.
They talked a lot – a good bit about her parents and the near cult they were involved in that started with a group of born again Christians. She was sixteen years old when she worked up the nerve to ask a classmate for help. A government investigation was eventually launched and her classmate's parents took her in. Two years later, Kelly's family and the whole group moved to Arizona and set up a compound. She never heard from them again but she bore the scars still. The fact that she was still a virgin with intimacy issues was just one of the many lingering struggles she had to deal with.