-Ben, didja wet your pants?- I asked silently. -Or did you get sprayed by a hose? Or what?-

       He answered me aloud.

       "You moron, you poured Coke on my crotch!" I laughed.

       "Just try to remember not to ever call me Crissi again!"

       "Why don't you like to be called Crissi?"

       "Because."

       "Because why?"

       "Because." Come to think of it, I never thought about it. It just seemed like something to bug him about. I tried to think of a reason.

       "Everyone doesn't call you Crissi because you don't like it," Ben said, "It's because Cristabel is so much longer and harder to say."

       "Well, I'm Cristabel, not Crissi. Crissi could mean anything. Crissy or Christina or Kristie or Cryst-" Ben cut me off.

       "I won't call you Crissi anymore."

       "Yes, you will."

       "No. I promise, I never will again."

       "Don't make promises that you can't keep," I said.

       "I will keep it," Ben replied, pouting.

       "I don't beleive you!"

       "You'll see. I will."

       Either way, I win! If he calls me Crissi again, he didn't keep his promise. If he never calls me Crissi again in the rest of his life, then I got what I wanted in the first place. Well.

       "Okay," I said, still dubious. We reached our hotel and went to our room.

[Notes on this: 1. I wonder why Ben doesn't tell Cristabel that he doesn't mind being called "Ben" even though his real name is longer too? 2. I'm aware that "beleive" is a spelling error.]