High school senior Jess Smith meets Ace of Spades, an online friend who helps her question her mask of celibacy and recognize her true asexuality. Except that their friendship begins to develop into something more.
[Featured April and May 2020 under...
After dinner, I raced back up to my computer to play Everquest with my guild. To my surprise, I found an email from Ace.
Wow, that was quick!
Barely making a squeak, I closed my bedroom door to avoid prying eyes. Sometimes Mom loved to check in on me to see what I was doing online, and I was certain she wouldn't understand.
All she'd have to do is see the word sex out of context and she'd blow it all out of proportion. The topic was more or less forbidden in our household apart from health concerns and scientific inquiry.
Pretty hopeless.
Even though Mom might have favored my asexuality, she sure as hell wouldn't tolerate me talking about it. Openly. With a man, no less. This was my one chance to learn from Ace and ask questions, so I couldn't let Mom mess it up.
My hands turned cold and clammy as I stared at the computer screen. One anchor stood out among a sea of crazy messages from my so-called friends.
"Eric Stevens," I murmured under my breath with a furrowed brow. "Sounds vaguely familiar."
My heart thudded insistently against my ribs and I took a deep breath. My stomach gave a little flip.
Why am I so nervous?
Stop that! What are you, twelve?
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Platonic attraction made perfect sense to me. I had a few groups of friends of both genders at school. But I'd never want to be anything more than acquaintances, pals, or friends.
Aesthetic attraction seemed reasonable to me as well. Many times I'd seen guys like Jack the Jock at school rallies. Their chiseled beauty often gave me what I called 'the warm fuzzies'. Thanks to teenage hormones, even I went 'hot damn' (at least on the inside) at a nice pair of arms or a six-pack.
But that longing, admiration, or giddiness had never developed into any X-rated fantasies about them. I just admired certain physical traits.
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I'd only ever experienced an emotional attraction with one guy, Bryan Johnson. For once in my life, my grandparents had been cool with me spending time with a guy my age because our families had known each other from church.
