“Eyes.” She spoke quietly.

I closed my eyes, covered them with my forearm until she gave me the go ahead.

“Come here.” She sat next to me on the bed.

I prompted her to lay down on my lap. She stared at the ceiling and I stared at her. I crossed my arms so I wouldn’t touch her, if I did I would get carried away.

“Why did…just start from the beginning.”

Her shoulders tensed up.

“I can’t.”

“What?” I sniped.

She turned to look at me, her head moving farther down my leg. Good.

“I mean…it’s a really long story.”

“I want to know why he left you walking around in the dark. Something could have happened to you.”

“It’s Florence, nothing happens in Florence.” Her brow arched as she pursed her lips at me. I shook my head, smiling a little.

“Doesn’t make him any less of an asshole.”

“He wasn’t I swear. I told him I had a friend waiting and I left.”

“He believed you?” I snapped.

“Dillon, how much attention do you show your one-night stands?” I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. My mouth formed a hard line.

“I guess that’s…fair.” She nodded.

“Just tell me everything, Lori. No judgement, it’s me. Why did you leave with him, were you going to…”? I couldn’t bring myself to ask her.

Her cheeks flushed, her whole face was red.

“Lori…” she swallowed, keeping her lips in a hard, pressed line.

“Okay, I have no choice but to tickle you into submission.”

“No!” Too bad I was stronger than her.

I tickled her abdomen until she was writhing beneath me, trying to get away from me. I held her down with one arm, her breasts pillowed against my forearm but I had a mission, I couldn’t get distracted.

“Okay, okay!” She shrieked. I let her go.

She pulled her tank top back down, but she was wearing pants this time so I wasn’t too messed up.

“Alright,” I exhaled, “lay it on me, Cheesecake.”

She sat up and looked at me. My eyes drifted down to the exposed skin of her breasts, lingering for a bit before I looked at her face. Her soft, angelic face framed by her wavy black hair.

“I hadn’t decided in the beginning, but after he bought me that drink I just started thinking…” her eyes found mine and she stopped.

“You can’t laugh.” She said.

“I won’t laugh.” I made the sign for scout’s honor and she nodded. She took in a shaky breath before continuing.

“I thought ‘this is it’ that it could be the moment I finally…you know.” I couldn’t help it.

“Lori, please don’t have sex until you stop calling it ‘you know.’” She smacked my chest and I deserved it. And I noticed her eyes linger on my abs before finding my eyes again.

“Noted.” She glared. “Anyways, that’s what I was thinking. I got to his house and we were making out…”

“Making out? Is this the seventh grade?” Man, I’m an asshole.

“Dillon. Stop it.” I looked at her, she was really upset about this. I took a deep breath, feeling like an ass. I took her hand for a second.

“Okay, I’m sorry.” She nodded and continued.

“After we were making out he started talking to me, and I didn’t mind. He’s actually a pretty nice guy. But I just couldn’t do it. He wasn’t an ass about it or anything, but I didn’t want him driving me home or anything because I didn’t want to really talk about it. I left and then called you.”

“But…you sounded really upset. I was really worried about you.” I held her gaze.

“I know. Because I felt stupid. Really stupid. And I was…embarrassed.” She muttered.

I held her shoulder softly. Before I knew it, I was caressing her face with the back of my knuckles. I felt butterflies in my stomach; I ran my thumb across the swell of her cheek. She leaned into my touch but when our eyes met, I tore my hand away.

“You should never be embarrassed to talk to me. I’m your best friend.” She smiled a bit and nodded. 

“I know. It was probably all the alcohol.” I laughed a bit.

“You know you’re a light weight, Cheesecake. You can’t do stuff like that. And I was scared to even let you go with him.” She nodded and sighed before laying back on my lap.

“I don’t even know why it bothers me so much.”

“What? Being a virgin?” She nodded.

“Lori,” I sat her up again. This time I was serious, I didn’t want her upset about this anymore.

“You almost made a huge mistake tonight. And that scares me, it should scare you.” I took a deep breath. “There is nothing wrong with being a 22-year-old prude—I mean virgin.” She giggled, “it just means that whatever lucky guy gets to break you in will be the first to touch you, make you feel good. And there is nothing wrong with that. It should be special, and not the first night you meet a guy at a bar. Don’t let it bother you anymore.”

I locked eyes with her. She nodded slowly. I grabbed her hair and parted it in two—it looked cute that way. I ran my hands down her head until I cupped her face, forcing her to look at me.

“I just think sometimes…that something is—I don’t know, this girl told me I look too much like…a girl.” I made a confused face.

“What kind of twat would say that?”

“My old roommate.”

“Well, she is a 'c-u-next Tuesday' and that’s stupid. Not everyone has a crazy libido, and I’m pretty sure there is some kind of club for people like you. What a cretin.” She giggled and it made me relax.

“You think so? You don’t think I... that I’m not womanly enough.”

“What? No.” She chewed on her lip nervously and averted my gaze. I used two fingers to lift her chin up. Might as well go down all at once.

“Lori, you’re beautiful. And sexy.” Her eyes widened, “you have an awesome rack and quite the ass on you. Seriously, you gave me my first hard on.” She gasped.

“What?” I didn’t even regret telling her.

“Yeah, when we were fifteen. My parents’ Fourth of July pool party. You showed up in that bright red bikini.” I was sure my face was bright red too.

She laughed uncontrollably and I laughed uneasily. I wasn’t sure if I completely made a fool of myself and made her uncomfortable.

“Oh my gosh. Is that why you disappeared until later that night?” I nodded. I hid until the fireworks, when she was fully clothed.

“Wow.”

“So, there you go. Even then you…and you’ve grown up so,” in so many words I told her it’s only gotten better--worse. Worse for my cock.

“Oh.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and laughed again.

“The sun is almost up…I guess we should go to sleep.” I broke the silence.

She nodded. I moved to get off the bed but she stopped me.

“Can you…it’s just cold.” I nodded. No, this isn’t new either. Really, guys can sleep with girls all the time and it doesn’t mean anything other than shared warmth.

“Sure.”

I got into bed with her. She laid on her stomach, facing me while I laid on my side. Our knees touched, but that was about it. I closed my eyes and was about to drift off to sleep.

“Dillon?”

“Hmm?” I didn’t open my eyes. She didn’t say anything. I opened one eye to find her nervously chewing on her lip again.

“What’s up, Cheesecake?” She didn’t look at me. I sighed. “Are you still thinking…”

“No, no you convinced me, I just…” I opened my eyes completely and nudged her shoulder. She looked at me and flushed before looking away again.

“I was wondering if you still—if your hard on was a one-time thing or it still happens. Because of me.” She whispered hesitantly. My heart might have skipped a beat as I closed my eyes.

“All the time, Cheesecake.”