“Every detail. Now.”

Beth meets me at the door as I put my keys back in my purse. I guess the jingling riled her from her spot on the couch, and like a little puppy, she wanted to greet me.

“Can you let me take my shoes off first?” I ask, balancing against the wall to slip the straps down my ankles and pry the shoes from my feet.

I look around the apartment. It’s so different from where I just was. His office was warm, a little dark, tidy. He seemed like he was anal about keeping things in order, just so. Or maybe the bank just happens to have a good cleaning staff.

Whatever it was, his office is nothing like my apartment.

I nearly trip over the array of sneakers I have at the door as I go over to the couch to plop down.

“Okay. Yeah. Shoes off. Good idea.”

Beth mutes the TV and goes into the kitchen with her bowl of soggy cereal remnants and puts it in the sink.

“I’m listening!” she calls out. “You can talk while I’m doing this.”

“Okay!” I respond. “Let me just have a second to collect my thoughts.”

“That hot?” she asks, padding back into the living room and plopping down next to me on the couch.

“Well…” I say, unbuttoning the top button on my blouse. “Yeah. He was.”

“Okay, so let’s hear everything!”

“Well, you know how I have all of these forms and crap to fill out. So, I went there to get my account number.”

“Yes. I know. Very responsible of you,” she says, pulling a plush throw-pillow against her chest.

“So, I was waiting on line, and just kind of zoning out. I was nervous, because I didn’t know if they could help me.”

“With your account number?” she asks, cocking her head to the side. “Seems like a simple enough request.”

“I know. But you know that I have bad luck with that sort of thing.”

“Yeah,” she says. “That’s actually true.”

She knows I’m talking about the time I once forgot my photo ID when I went to pick up my first paycheck from a temp agency I worked for a few months ago. I had to schlep all the way home to get it. It was Friday afternoon, and no one who knew my face was there working at that time.

Oops. Guess I just forgot to put it back in my main purse after using a different purse when I went out to dinner with my parents the night before.

“So I’m just waiting on line, minding my own business, and this really hot guy comes into the bank. He’s got this beard, and he’s really tall. And he walks past me, and he doesn’t touch me or anything, but I could just feel him. You know?” I say. A little shiver starts in my spine and moves to my knees. Good thing I’m sitting down.

“Yeah,” Beth responds. “I know that feeling. So he hit on you?”

“No,” I explain. “So now I’m getting annoyed, because I’m thinking this jerk is cutting the line. He probably has some big account with the bank, and he thinks he can just go to the front of the line and get special treatment.”

“Ah, gotcha.”

“No, no. Turns out he works at the bank. He’s the manager.”

“Woah,” Beth says. “Plot twist!”

“And then, he’s kind of hovering behind the glass divider thing, and then a girl who works there comes and asks me to get off the line because her manager wants to speak with me. I was so nervous at that point. I thought I was in trouble for something.”

“But babe, you didn’t do anything!” Beth says, gripping the pillow against her chest.

“I know, but the whole thing was kind of weird. So anyway, then I go back into this guy’s office, and he helps me with what I needed, and then...he gives me his number.”

“Just gives you his number?”

Beths eyes squint into little slits and her mouth contorts into a smirk, silently judging me with her expression.

“Yeah,” I say, squirming in my seat a little.

“Are you sure that’s all he gave you?” she presses.

“Okay. No. We also...did something.”

“You dirty girl! I didn’t know you had it in you!” she exclaims.

“No, no! We didn’t have sex, or anything, if that’s what you think!” I whisper.

“What, then?”

Beth is literally on the edge of her seat. And she’s right. What I did was crazy. But it wasn’t just what I did. It was what I let him do.

“He kind of...touched me. God, it’s so embarrassing!”

“Touched you? You’re kidding me. Where? Boobs?”

“No! He just put my face in his hands and kind of brushed his finger against my lips. It was...it was hot, and we didn’t really even do anything. And the way he went out of his way to help me.”

Beth’s fanning herself with a beauty magazine from the coffee table.

“Yeah. The way he picked you off that line. It’s like he chose you. Damn. That is hot,” she says.

“And I know I’m never going to see him again after this date we go on.”

“So you do have a date?” she asks.

“Of sorts. I have his number. And he asked me to call him. After five.”

“And what makes you think this guy is the guy? If you think you’re never going to see him again?”

“Well, that’s what makes him perfect. It’s too embarrassing to tell a guy that I’m a 22 year old virgin. So this is perfect. Just get it out of the way, so I can move on with my damn life.”

“Julie, I have to say that is very mature of you. You’re growing up before my very eyes,” she says sarcastically.

“Oh, stop,” I say.

I can’t bring myself to tell her what else happened in that office. I’m still reeling from it.

And that part’s just for me.