Things have changed and Maeve can feel it as they play through the next few holes. Everything is just a little bit charged where it hadn't been before and it's both frustrating and exciting. She doesn't want to like Steve, because liking guys is so often the kind of thing that ends up going very poorly. All her life, she doesn't think she's had one single good experience.

Jackson had been sweet and he'd been a good boyfriend, but she'd fucked that one up by just being herself. By being too much of herself when he had so much going for him. And Otis... well, she mostly tries not to think of him.

Steve isn't like either of them. She has no idea if that's a good or bad thing. She knows she wants to kiss him again. She also knows she doesn't think she can make another attempt, not if she's going to get gently turned down again.

"Victory is very close to being mine," she announces once they've reached the last hole. "So show me what you've got."