“Kelsey, how am I going to make ends meet?”

“Oh come on, girl, don’t worry, we’ll figure something out.”

I look at her and smile, trying not to let my anxiety get the better of me. We’re in a coffee shop around the corner from her apartment with two massive coffee drinks that look more like desserts than coffees in front of us. I use my spoon to take some whipped cream off the top of mine.

“What’s it like being a nanny?” I say.

“It’s nice, Cherri. I like it. If you like kids, it’s a perfect way to make an income.”

I look at her and try to picture her at her job. She’s always so silly and misbehaved when she’s with me. What kind of people would put their children in her care?

“Tell me again about your family?” I say. “The Wilsons?”

“Well, the mom’s an attorney. She’s pretty high-powered and career oriented, but she’s nice, you know. She loves her children, she just has a career and needs to make things work.”

“And the dad?”

“Mr. Wilson, well, let’s just say he’s a DILF I’d definitely very much like to F.”

I laugh and hit her on the arm.

“You’re so bad.”

“Well, you asked!”

“He’s a married man, Kelsey.”

“Yeah, and I’m a twenty year old girl with an active imagination.”

“You’d never go for it though, would you?”

She shakes her head. “I mean, if something happens to Mrs. Wilson and she’s suddenly out of the picture, well then all bets are off.”

“But while he’s married?”

“Of course not,” she says. “What do you take me for?”

“I was just checking,” I say, spooning another scoop of whipped cream from my drink.

“We can’t all be as innocent as you, Cherri, but I’ve got standards.”

“Does anything ever happen though, with the other nannies?” I ask, unsure why I’m so preoccupied with this one detail.

“Oh, you bet! Lots of single dads hire nannies, and you can only imagine what happens then. Like look at us. I’m twenty, you’re nineteen. To a middle aged single dad with no woman in his life, we’re like candy.”

I cover my mouth to stop myself laughing.

“It’s true, Cherri, and don’t underestimate the intimacy of being a nanny. If the guy’s single, then it can get pretty complicated really fast. Like you’re in his house all day. You’re seeing his things, his clothes, his bedroom. You’re watching his kid, maybe preparing his food. If he’s a hot guy and he’s nice to you, it’s very easy to develop serious feelings for a guy in that situation.”

“Well, I’d just be doing it for the check. If I don’t get a job pronto, I’ll be losing my apartment.”

“You can always move in with me.”

“Yeah, thanks. I know. It’s just, you’ve already got two roommates. They wouldn’t be too happy to see me on the sofa every morning.”

“Then I’d put you in my bed.”

I smile at her and touch her hand.

“Thank you for always being such a good friend, Kelsey. I really don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Well, come on, let’s open this computer and get you signed up for some jobs.”

I open my laptop. It’s a five year old brick I’ve had since high school but it still works. The coffee shop we’re in, as well as offering the most delicious coffee concoctions you can imagine, also has free wifi.

“What should I search? I want to be a nanny?” I ask.

Kelsey nods. “I forget the name of the site I used. I could probably look it up in my email.”

I shake my head. “I’m sure I’ll find it.”

I open google and type, “nanny jobs New York city”.

The first hit is an add that says, “Jobs for young females, NYC. Make serious bucks fast.”

It doesn’t look like a nanny site but the words ‘serious bucks’ jump out at me. I think of my grandfather and the medical bills he’s facing.

I click on the ad and make a face at Kelsey.

A website pops up. It’s all gold and fancy, like the website of some Vegas casino. It asks me to enter my gender and age.

“Looks kind of scammy, Cherri.”

“There’s no harm in checking it out,” I say, clicking female and entering nineteen for my age.

The next question makes my eyes pop.

“Are you a virgin?”

“What the hell is this?” I say to Kelsey.

She looks at me mischievously. “Now I’m curious,” she says.

I click on yes and the site opens up.

Prestige Virginity Auctions. Make up to twenty thousand dollars auctioning your virginity online.

“Holy crap!” Kelsey says, covering her mouth.

“I bet you wish you’d saved yours,” I say to her, grinning.

“Oh, sure I do. That’s just the best way imaginable I can think of to lose my virginity.”

“Twenty grand,” I say to her, and all I can think is that it’s the exact price my grandfather said he’d need for his surgery.

One night and everything would be taken care of. Well, maybe not everything, but his surgery, and given the fact he needs the surgery to stay alive, that’s a pretty big weight on my mind right now.

“There’s a video,” Kelsey says.

I click play on the video and a girl starts talking.

“So, you want to sell your virginity?” the video says, way too loud.

I look around the coffee shop, completely mortified, as I turn down the volume. It doesn’t look like anyone overheard us but this video isn’t exactly the type of thing I want to broadcast in public.

“This is insane,” I say.

Kelsey shrugs and pulls her earbuds out of her pocket. She puts them into the headphone jack and we each put one in our ear. Then I click play again.

The girl on the video goes through everything. She seems very excited about the prospect of selling off her virginity, talking about all the hot, rich guys who go for this sort of thing. She says it’s the easiest money she’s ever earned in her life and that she bought a convertible with the cash. She says not only did she end up sleeping with a hotter guy than she would have if she got drunk at a bar and slept with some random, but she got paid for the pleasure.

In the last line of the video she says, “Come on girls, you’re going to lose it anyway. Why not make it count? Too many girls are giving it up for a lot less.”

I stop the video and look at Kelsey.

“Well, that was interesting.”

“I’ll say,” Kelsey says.

“Come on, try to remember the address of your nanny company.”

“Wait,” she says. “Click on the more information button.”

“What? Why?” I say.

“I’m curious, Cherri.”

“Why are you curious?” I lower my voice to a whisper. “You’re not even a virgin.”

She blushes and I realize for the first time that she’s been less than truthful with me for the past six months.

“Actually, I am,” she says.

I look at her and instantly realize she’s not kidding.

“No way!” I say.

“It’s true.”

I start laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“All this time you’ve been lording it over me like I’m some sort of freak for being a virgin, and all along, you are too.”

She shrugs.

“Well,” I say, “we’re not seriously considering this.”

“Why not?” she says.

I look at her and feel my heart suddenly pounding in my chest. The very thought of doing what this website suggests makes me nervous.

“Because we’re normal people, Kelsey.”

“Normal? Really? You’re grandfather needs expensive surgery. My parents are losing their home.”

“They are?”

She’d never told me this before.

“They’re struggling,” she says.

“And how much would they struggle with the news that their only daughter had sold her most precious gift?”

“For twenty grand, I think they’d live with it. Plus, they’d never know.”

I sigh and look again at the website.

“Come on, get real, Kelsey.”

Kelsey lets out a little laugh and snaps out of the thoughtful daze she’d fallen into.

“Sorry. Nanny jobs. Minimum wage, unglamorous, unexciting nanny jobs. Let’s find you one of those.”

I hit her on the shoulder.

“Who says mine’s going to be unexciting. I might get a single dad!”

I move the cursor to close the auction website but Kelsey stops me.

“Let’s fill it out.”

“What?”

“Come on, what’s the worst that can happen?”

I hit her again on the shoulder. “If it will make you quit bothering me about it,” I giggle.