Coolness was very cool, but was it an obstacle to something else?

Hilary wasn’t sure. Often, she felt, she would be close to sensing something else, something
shall we say “deeper,” but every time, right then, something cool would happen.

And sometimes that thing that happened was very cool. She had met various celebrities,
for example, while on the verge of religious experience.

She felt like she was being tested, or tempted.

The cultural model for temptation at that time was a chocolate cake. Often these cakes were
named for something relating to sin or temptation.

The choice between feeling sexy and having a sugar high was like two identical twins
fighting for the same magenta jumpsuit.

Hilary kept winning gift certificates.