Finding relationships is easy... Keeping them is the real game.
That's what I'm learning in my first one. It's not easy. Our rival schools are an hour apart, my best friend's turning secretive, my parents are controlling, and my brother's still an a...
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After a lunch of homemade soup, a heaping pile of red candy snacks, and two movies, the color returned in Harper's cheeks. We snuggled inside a nest of blankets on my bed. She pressed against my side, and my pre-Calc homework was spread across my lap.
"Did you hear the rumor that your boyfriend bought like two hundred condoms for Homecoming? Extra-large." Her eyebrows lifted. "With a body like his, he'll break your—"
"No." Was nothing private or secret anymore? Lord help me if Jake heard that one. "He's being a gentleman, I swear."
"He is?" She looked surprised, which I couldn't blame her for. When we first met, Logan was not a gentleman when he'd tried to use me to throw Jake off his game.
Key words being 'tried to.' He hadn't succeeded, apologized, and we'd move forward.
"He's taking my V-card seriously." I finished the last homework question. My teacher was so cruel. 'It's only three questions' was fifteen given the a through e parts on each, which I tucked into my bag and dropped onto the floor.
"Wow," she mumbled. "I'm surprised. And impressed. How do you feel about that?"
"Lucky."
Given my limited experience, him considering my virtue felt safe and trustworthy. Then again, my bar was so low on appropriate boy behavior, maybe I wasn't the best barometer here.
"And frustrated?" I stared at her, and we dissolved into giggles, relieving some of today's tension. "If you have an itch, let Logan Junior scratch it."
Logan junior? She didn't mean—My laughs dissolved. "No. I am not—I can't." I didn't need a vibrator, which I only owned because of her, relieving my frustrations.
"Just kidding... Ellie," she said, testing the nickname. "And you can if you want. Auditioning the finger puppets isn't as bad as you think."
Auditioning the what? I blinked, so she continued with a finger gesture curling her first and middle fingers into her palm, "You know, girl's night in, happy hand time, play clitar hero... Take matters into your own hands?"
I cupped my forehead. How could this kind of talk never faze her? She was a female version of Jake, and apparently, not done with this embarrassing topic.
"Do you still have the dildo under your bed?"
"Yes." My eyes rolled. "Still unopened, for the record. Probably where you're sitting. I'm afraid Mom will find it in the trash. What happened to the other nineteen?"
"I still have them." She sighed. "Guess we'll be getting reacquainted for a while."
My brain needed a few seconds to translate her words. She wasn't resolving the issue with Ryan, which she should. I couldn't imagine what he was thinking right now.
"You can call him if you'd like."
Her body stiffened like every previous time I'd mentioned him. But, again, she shook her head and diverted the conversation, "I have a better chance of complimenting Jake than saying anything to Ryan. I'm...doing him a favor."
