Page 51 of A Good Book

Her nose wrinkled as she sat at her desk and turned on the light. “Ouch.”

“Yeah. Totally ouch.”

“So were you going to have sex or was he just going to finger you? Oral? Sixty-nine?” She giggled.

I tipped my head to try to see the bump in the mirror. “I don’t know. He didn’t say what his plans were.”

“What were you wanting him to do?”

“I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it.”

“Liar. Of course you’ve thought about it. You’ve been drooling over this guy since you got here. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it. And if you say something about spooning, I’m going to tell everyone on our floor that you’re still a virgin.”

“Why would you say that?” I eyed her reflection in the mirror.

She slid a tape into her Walkman. “Ben told me.”

“He told you I’m a virgin?”

“Mm hmm. It’s fine. I think it’s kind of sweet. And a little weird, but to each their own.”

“Why do you say it’s weird?” I pulled my chair away from the bed where Matt had moved it.

Olivia glanced at me, pushing her glasses up her nose. “Because your first time is totally not cool. It hurts, and you just lie there praying for it to end, especially if you’re not really turned on, if you know what I mean.”

I nodded slowly.

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t know what I mean, do you?”

I shook my head.

She leaned back in her chair, propping her socked feet onto her desk as she continued to fiddle with her Walkman. “If you’re not really turned on, then you might not be wet enough, and there is nothing worse than dry sex your first time, or any time, but definitely not your first time.”

“Are you wet for me, Gabby?”

I was embarrassingly naïve and inexperienced. Until Olivia mentioned being wet, I wasn’t sure what Matt meant. Apparently, I wasn’t that wet, or surely I would have felt it between my legs, like starting my period.

“Hypothetically, how wet is wet?” I asked.

She snorted. “I don’t know. If your underwear is a little wet, then you’re definitely good to go. Like, you know when you touch yourself and your fingers get really coated? That’s where you want to be.”

I blinked one too many times, which caused Olivia to gape at me in shock again.

“Stop! You’re totally joking, right? Gabby, you’ve masturbated, haven’t you?”

I swallowed hard.

She cupped a hand over her mouth and mumbled, “Oh, my god.”

I blushed, biting my lips together.

“No wonder you’re still a virgin. You have no idea howamazingit feels to orgasm. Gabriella! Ahh!”

I cringed, pressing my finger to my lips so she didn’t alert the entire floor.

Olivia hopped out of her chair and grabbed my shoulders, shaking me. “You have to touch yourself! You are totally missing out onthe best feeling in the world!”

She released me and hugged her body in an oddly seductive way. “Gabby, why do you think people have so much sex? It’s not to make babies. I mean, sure, that can happen too. But there are over five billion people in the world because sex is that good, not because everyone is dying to change dirty diapers. And the songs … all the good songs are about sex. Books. Paintings. Sculptures.”