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Chapter 9: 'Tis the Season

JENNIFER'S LOFT apartment overlooked the Hudson River in the Meatpacking District, and it was where we met that night. For the first time, I was the last one to arrive, making excuses up until the last minute to delay the inevitable meeting with my friends.

I walked into the living room followed by J to find Amy and Lena sitting on the couch looking directly at me and smirking.

"What?" I asked.

"We want all the details," Lena demanded, a grin on her face.

I pressed my lips together and shook my head, "I hate you," I mouthed staring at Amy.

"We have a right to know Olivia! Come here, we brought chocolate," she quickly patted the spot beside her, while Lena moved to the opposite side making room for me between them.

I fell on the couch sighing, "There's not much to say, I spent the night at Harry's, and that's pretty much self-explanatory," I said while unwrapping a Twix bar.

"When I arrived at his house she was only wearing his shirt and her hair was screaming 'screwed' in a very good way," Amy winked at me and I gave her an eye roll in exchange.

"So, any comments? The guy is a sex-symbol for Christ sake! We wanna know something!" Lena insisted.

"Well, I googled him, as Amy suggested, and he might live up to his reputation in that field," I couldn't help but laugh.

Amy punched the air while yelling, "Go, Harry! I knew he had potential!"

"I mean, what can I say? It was good?" I said and vent over covering my face,  embarrassed. The motion leaving most of my lower back exposed.

"More than good I would say..."Lena said while tracing her fingers across the skin in my back, "these are definitely finger marks!"

I turned around, my eyes widened, "What?!"

Amy's jaw dropped as she pointed at me exclaiming, "You had rough sex with the teenager!"

I jerked up from the sofa and hurried to look at myself in the full-length mirror J had in the foyer. Lifting my shirt, I twisted to have a better view of my lower back. There they were: three bruises bellow my back ribs that certainly looked like finger marks. Images from that night started flashing in my mind.

A kiss leading to a wild make-out session on his couch, eventually turning into 'round 1'. An innocent visit to his home studio on the first floor leading to starting 'round 2' on the stairs and finally finishing on his bedroom. And last but definitely not least, Amy's arrival interrupting a very promising 'round 3', on the kitchen counter she later found me leaning on trying to conceal my intentions. The bruises could have been the result of any of those moments. Thinking about it, I was surprised there were only three and not a hundred. At that point, I wasn't sure if I should curse or bless Bob Dylan.

I tightly shut my eyes while taking a much-needed deep breath trying to pull myself together before returning to my friends. I walked back to the sitting area quietly, lips pressed and cheeks flushed, unable to make eye contact with any of them. Lena, Amy, and J were in the same position as I left them while trying to restrain the laughter.

"I just bruise easily, okay?" I mumbled an explanation and it was all it took for my three friends to laugh uncontrollably for several minutes.

"So, what's the story? Are you two dating now or..." J enquired.

"Of course we're not, it was just a one-off. I'm not looking to date right now, "I explained," plus, the guy only dates models, I'm lucky it was nighttime, and he had good lighting at his house. I'm not risking my chances of him seeing my imperfections by hooking up again."