The Virgin Ceremonies

Chapter 02: Virginia: Family Secrets

Chapter 02

Virginia: Family Secrets

I was lying on my bed, my strawberry brunette hair fanned out on my pillow. My breasts rose and fell with each breath, a tight white t-shirt over my chest, my curvy waist and belly bare. I wore my favorite cotton shorts, blue and white striped, with my long legs crossed, my foot bobbing.

My phone hovered above my head as I scrolled, but I wasn't paying attention to what I was seeing. My 18th birthday party was over, and in two days, the real party, the ceremony, would begin. My phone slipped from my grasp and hit me in the face.

"Ow, kittens!"

My cousin Quinn poked her head through the door, her brown hair tied back, her warm cheeks in a smile, a bit of flour on her chin. "Ginny? Did I hear 'kittens'?"

"I'm going to stop saying 'kittens' and start saying the F word again," I said, rubbing my nose. I sat up, sighing. "I'm so depressed."

"I know. The cookies will be ready in 10, but they gotta cool first."

"Cookies can't save me," I said, burying my face in my hands. "How do I get out of this?"

Quinn sat on my bed. "Do you want me to cheer you up again?"

"Yes."

"Okay, here we go. It's going to be great. He's going to be so gentle, and sweet, and warm. And remember, my mom is going to ask the same guy I had."

"The playboy dancer, great."

"He was great!" Quinn said. "So attentive."

"I should have had sex with someone else first, like you did."

"Okay, hush!" Quinn said, looking around the bedroom. "You know I suspect my mom bugs our apartment. If she ever found out, she'd burn my inheritance and make me watch."

"I can't do this," I said seriously. "I have to talk to my mom again."

"It's going to feel amazing."

"It's not about how it feels. It's about my choice, and I don't get to choose. I just get your leftovers."

Quinn frowned. "You said it was cute that we'd have the same guy."

"It is, insofar as it's 1% better than a homeless man taking my virginity."

Quinn came around and sat behind me and started massaging my shoulders. "He's going to kiss your body like you've never been kissed before. He's going to touch you in ways you didn't even know you liked. And best of all, you're in control. No other guy for the rest of your life will work as hard to please you as this guy will during your ceremony. You say it, and he does it. By the end of the night, he'll know your body better than you do."

"I doubt that. I really think I should talk to my mom."

"Okay, Ginny, look," Quinn said, turning me halfway around to look me in the eye. "You cannot break a centuries-old tradition. Our family has done this forever. My older sister did it. I did it. Our moms did it, our grandmothers, and so on."

"You're supposed to be convincing me, not mothering me."

"I'm giving you the hard facts. If you don't do it, your mother will disown you, and you'll break Nana's heart. Remember when Ophelia threatened to tell my dad?"

"Of course. Your mother slapped her. God, she scared me to death."

"My mother was dead serious; she would have disowned Ophelia. Then we had the 'big talk' with Nana and our parents and our cousins from Europe. You know how important this is. Do you really want to go through that again?"