“Damn.”
“Suddenly, three years of college went by like that”—she snapped her fingers—“and I remained a virgin.”
“I’m sorry, Ottavia.” I offered her a hug. I didn’t know what else I could do or say.
“Thank you for listening,” she said, and we held each other tight.
When we separated, a smile tugged at her lips. “But with all that being said? I’m happy I waited.”
“Why’s that?”
“Meetingyouwas a breath of fresh air. You, the Craigslist ad, your whole situation with ‘Jane’—all of it—it was quite possibly the strangest thing I’veeverbeen a part of.” She giggled. “And I loved it. Even when I was trying to convince myself I hated it.”
“Yeah?”
“But once you found out about my background, you weren’t scared off—even thoughyouhave more reason to be scared off than anyone else.”
“No one’s ever accused me of being smart.”
“You make me laugh,” she whispered, nestling closer to me. “I like being with you. You have this way of making me feel normal. Like everything’s going to be okay …” She trailed off, her voice carrying a hint of sadness that tugged at my heart. Because she could see a future where thingsweren’tgoing to be okay in the end.
I snuggled her in closer. “Everythingisgoing to be okay.”
“Yeah …”
A palpable melancholy came between us, casting a shadow over our connection. We both felt its weight and understood its origin, yet neither of us wanted to address it. It was so heavy, so pervasive, sougly,it was better left unsaid.
Desperate to make things light again, I changed the subject.
“I heard you worked a shift at McKayla’s sex store?”
“Good Vibes Only!” she cheered. “Yeah. It was so much fun with those girls. I loved it.”
“But with all due respect, you were a virgin an hour ago, so—”
“Oh,shush.”She sealed my lips with her finger. “I know what you’re getting at, but it’s not like you need to have had sex to know how to work a cash register.”
“Good point.” My hand went to the small of her back and pulled her closer. “I feel like we oughtta throw you a party now.”
“A party? For what?”
“Because you finally lost your V-card. That’s what we did back in the day when one of the boys lost his virginity—we would all get together and throw a bash for the guy. We called it a V-Party.”
“Oooh, sounds fun.” She snickered. “Only problem with that is, I don’t want anyone to know I was a virgin. So it’ll have to be a private V-Party with just you and me.”
“I’m perfectly alright with that, too,” I joked and took her hand into mine. “So what kind of party would you like?”
“Hmm.” She bit her lip, a devilish sparkle in her eyes. She could play coy all she wanted, but I could tell she knew exactly what she wanted.
“What is it?” I prodded.
“You go first. Then I’ll tell you mine.”
“Okay.” I drew a deep breath. “Unfortunately, you know, because of the team’s mandate on me, I can’t really be seen out partying these days. And I really shouldn’t drink anything at all, or my conditioning coach might know tomorrow and rat me out. So whatever kind of party you want, it has to be kinda low-key.”
She giggled. “Understood.”
“But Iwasthinking, if you wanted to stick around for a little, I could order in some of your favorite food?”
