"Dear me, how you have changed!" Boris rose to meet Rostov, but in doing so did not omit to steady and replace some chessmen that were falling.
He was about to embrace his friend, but Nicholas avoided him.
With that peculiar feeling of youth, that dread of beaten tracks, and wish to express itself in a manner different from that of its elders which is often insincere, Nicholas wished to do something special on meeting his friend.
He wanted to pinch him, push him, do anything but kiss him--a thing everybody did.