She didn’t want to leave in the morning; she wanted to stay with Steve forever. She felt so comfortable and warm with him, but the time came to meet Andrew. She drove into the city reluctantly. When she arrived at his office, Kenzie was already there; both stood up when she arrived.

Andrew extended his hand to her, smiling. He was a man in his early 30s, with a short, fit build, and a well-mannered coif. Jenn was comforted immediately by the grip of his handshake; it was firm and warm and made her trust him immediately.

Kenzie recounted the details of what had happened, while Jenn input some of her own experiences. Andrew sat watching her intently from behind his desk, pausing to write notes on a legal pad now and then. When the girls stopped talking, there was a silence while Andrew thought of what to say.

“Well,” he started, and then paused. “I think Kenzie is right. This is exactly as it sounds. The hospital lawyers have drafted a settlement to give you all that medical care, sure, but you would have to agree not to talk about it and not to sue.”

Kenzie resisted rolling her eyes. I told you so.

Jenn looked downtrodden. “But I haven’t really thought about this at all — I try not to. What’s so bad about that?”

Andrew shifted in his seat and rolled up his sleeves. “I understand that. This situation is definitely very intense for you, and I don’t want to pressure you. What that means, however, is that this conversation we’re having right now is illegal. I’m not your attorney; you’re not my client. We can’t be discussing it. It means you could never talk about it to your sister, and you could never say anything about it later in your life. You could never speak ill of the hospital or expect it to repay you for anything that happened to you. Basically, you’d get free coverage for treatment, but other than that, it would silence you forever.”

At those words, a pregnant silence fell in the room. Then Andrew coughed and shuffled the papers around on his desk. He looked back up at Jenn to find her hands crossed in her lap and her hair covering her face as she stared stonily at the floor. “Jenn, I,” he paused and lowered his voice. “I don’t want to be too intrusive, and I can’t even begin to imgine what you went through. Please know that I— I want to help; in any way possible.” He glanced up at Kenzie, who was in turn looking at her sister with great concern in her eyes. When Jenn lifted her head back up and her eyes met Andrew’s, she, too could see the care in his eyes. Despite having just met him, she felt like she could depend on him. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Andrew gently explained a few more terms in the settlement the hospital and agreed to work for Jenn pro bono, especially as she came to a decision about what to do. He was gunning for a trial; he hated seeing victims of abuses such as these silenced. He knew his senior partners at the firm would advise him to take a quicker, cheaper approach by avoiding a trial and agreeing to a settlement by both parties. Ultimately it was Jenn’s decision, but the more he discussed the options, the initial fleeting thought of taking down this powerful hospital system wouldn’t leave his mind. He hoped Jenn would make the right decision — for everyone.

As the girls stood to leave, so did Andrew. He walked around the side as Kenzie and Jenn began to walk out. He hesitated for a moment, and then awkwardly patted her back, as it to reassure her further. Jenn jumped at his touch, and gave him a slight smile, which he returned — Kenzie, standing at the door, couldn’t prevent a little smile from appearing on her own lips.

As soon as the door to the law firm shut on their way out, Kenzie elbowed Jenn’s side. “What was that?”

“What was what?”

“You practically melted when he touched you!”

“What? Kenzie, come on, don’t be ridiculous.” Kenzie stopped Jenn short and stood with her hand on her hip, one eyebrow raised. “Oh, please, like you didn’t like him.”

“No! Of course not! I’m with Steve, remember?”

“That doesn’t mean other people don’t do it for you. Plus, I mean, you haven’t been going out with Steve that long. You’ve barely had time to know if he’s doing it for you.” She winked; Jenn blushed. “Well, then. Talk!”

“Wait; hold on a minute, where are we going?” Jenn looked around and realized they were still downtown. They parked their cars at separate lots, and eventually they’d have to drive home.

“I don’t know, for a walk. Come on, Jenn, tell me!” Kenzie dragged Jenn by the elbow.

Jenn groaned. She always knew these conversations were going to happen around her sister, but this time she was kind of excited about it. Sure, a lot had happened to her since she had first been intimate with Steve — and before then, too — but she finally knew what it was all about. She had a little experience now, and she had discovered that she loved being intimate with someone. She was glad Kenzie wanted to talk to her about something, anything, besides the ordeal and the potential lawsuit. Most people she’d talked to tiptoed around talking about anything real. They seemed to think it might overwhelm Jenn or be too dramatic for her, but not Kenzie — Kenzie knew Jenn well enough to know Jenn needed someone like her, to talk and laugh and tease with, and she was happy to have reached a point that she could talk openly about things in her personal life.

“Things are going well. Steve is great, and he’s being really understanding about all of this — don’t start with the ‘heir-apparent’ thing right now, Kenz,” Jenn’s voice adopted a slight chill when she realized Kenzie was about to revive the conversation about Steve being the hospital executive’s progeny. “It’s just nice that he understands I have to do this all at my own pace. Like the other day, we were, well, we were fooling around —” Kenzie smiled and started nodding her head suggestively, and Jenn pushed her, laughing. “Quit it or I’m not going to tell you! Just the other day, we were, you know, making love” — Kenzie rolled her eyes; her sister still couldn’t stop using euphemisms for sex — “and in the middle of it I realized I loved the way he felt.”

“Inside you?”

“Well, yes, but everywhere. When he touches me and kisses me. It’s really nice.”

“Aww, my baby sister, all grown up and getting down and dirty!” Kenzie ruffled Jenn’s hair. Then she put on a mock serious face. “Careful, you might become a sex addict.”

“Oh, whatever. I just mean I never knew what I was missing.” She paused, thinking about the times she and Steve spent together. Although it had been only a very short time since she had first been close with him, she was learning more about herself every minute they were together: her turn-ons and turn-offs; the things that drove her wild; the feelings she loved the most.

In fact, talking about Steve now had made Jenn a little hot, but she tried to play it off around Kenzie, who would have gone berserk if she knew what Jenn was thinking. “Actually, I had a question for you, Kenz.”

“A sexy question?”

“Well, yeah. See, Steve’s birthday is coming up soon, and I’m not sure what to get him. I was kind of thinking maybe something, um, special. You know, in the bedroom.”

“Ohhh, I like the sound of that.” Kenzie grinned. “What did you have in mind?”

“That’s what I need you for. I have no idea.”

“Well, an easy one is lingerie. Buy something really sexy, cute, and dress up for him. Maybe do a little dance, too.”

“Oh, that is a good idea.” Jenn took out her phone to make a note of the idea. “I was thinking maybe something more, too.” She grew visibly uncomfortable, looking down at the ground and scuffing her shoe on the ground. “Like, I don’t know, maybe a blow job. But I don’t know how.”

Kenzie had to stifle her laughter. “You haven’t done that yet? Oh, this is so exciting, your first time for so many things.”

“Oh, shut up and help me.”

“Fine, fine. Let me think.” Kenzie put her head in her hand for a moment, resting her elbow on a nearby mailbox. “Okay, do you remember those Shake Weight things? Those were made for hand job techniques — except less aggressive. Seriously, don’t treat a guy like that in real life, but then if you combined it with a popsicle you’d be a blow job expert.”

Jenn cringed. “Oh, god.”

“No, listen, okay, you treat his cock like a Shake Weight and take the shaft into both hands—“ Kenzie provided a generous pantomime of the action with her own hands, as strangers walked by eyeing her with slight concern “—and then you also take it into your mouth to get it nice and wet. You run your hands up and down while using your tongue to circle the tip or lick up and down the shaft, and take him into your mouth once in a while. But don’t bite off more than you can chew! That reminds me; make sure your teeth are nowhere near him.”

“Wow, this sounds ... intense.”

“Ha, well, they don’t call it a job for nothing. It gets pretty messy, but it’s actually kind of fun once you get the hang of it — I mean, you get to have total control over the guy’s body and pleasure. Just keep that in mind. Just go get ‘em, tiger,” Kenzie said with a smile, punching Jenn on the arm playfully. Jenn gave her a look before the sisters parted ways for the afternoon. She didn’t feel any better about it, but at least Kenzie had been honest. She always was.