“Oh,” she said. “That sounds painful.”
“I don’t know. I’ve never done it.”
“You haven’t?”
“I’ve had a lot of seizures at school,” I said. “Although, even if I hadn’t, I’m not sure I would have been anyone’s first pick.”
“You’re my first pick.”
My feelings for her turned ever so slowly in my chest.
“You think we could find out?” she asked.
“If you’re a virgin?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I know that I met boys before. But I was a lot younger then. Maybe too young for that. But I want to know. It doesn’t seem right not knowing if you’re a virgin.”
I hesitated. “I don’t carry condoms around.”
“I don’t think I have VD,” she said carefully. “The kind that Bill jokes about.”
I was glad for the dark because my face must have turned ten shades of red. “That was Bill being a jerk.”
“I don’t think I have anything wrong with me.”
“I’m sure you don’t. That’s not what I meant for the condoms. I mean, if we don’t take care of things, you can get pregnant.”
“Oh.” She paused, her voice even softer when she spoke again. “When I was in the hospital, they asked about my period. When I had my last one.”
My face burned again.
“I had no idea,” she said. “I didn’t even know what she meant. So, I asked the nurse what a period was. She said when I bled between my legs.”
“Did your mother say anything?”
“She wasn’t in the room. I was with the social worker and a nurse. You know, after I said Mother had hurt me. We were sorting all that out.”
“What did the nurse say?”
“She went to my chart and said that I was on some sort of shot. It’s one you only have to get every few months, so you can’t get pregnant.”
“I’ve heard about that,” I said.
“Well, I’m on it. So, I can’t get pregnant.”
Her last word hung in the air.
She wanted to do this.
With me.
“Tucker? Can we do it, so I can find out?” Her eyes shone, catching the hint of light from the window. “You know, like an experiment. Forscience.”
That made me grin. “Well, I can’t say no if it’s for science.”
She pulled my face to hers. We kissed, and it was like no other kiss that came before. Until then, we’d always reserved something so that we wouldn’t bend so far that we might break.
But now, we held nothing back. We kissed everything, touched everything, and when I felt inside her body, there was resistance.
