Dad nodded. “Okay. You know it’s healthy and normal if you do. And healthy and normal if you don’t. Right?”
I nodded and stared at my feet.
Dad let out a slow breath. “Did you tell him?”
I shook my head. “We were kissing.”
“Okay.” He stared out my window for a second. The curtains were open, and dusk was settling over the neighborhood like a blanket. “First, it’s okay to hit pause on kissing so you can communicate. Relationships, or even just casual, you know, whatevers, need communication. And second, if you don’t know what to say, you can use your hands to guide his. So if you don’t want them... uh... in your pants, you can gently guide him to somewhere better, like your back or your knee or whatever.”
“Okay.”
Dad gave me a shaky grin.
As hard as it was to have conversations like this, he never made it seem like he didn’t want to do it.
“Have you ever talked to Landon about his past relationships?”
“A little,” I said.
“Did you talk about how intimate they were?”
That made me feel a little sick to my stomach.
“Some,” I said.
Landon told me he’d done more with girls than with guys. That he had his first kiss in sixth grade.
Sometimes I wished I’d started dating sooner. Maybe then I would’ve had some practice at all this.
Maybe then I would’ve known what to do and what to say.
Dad ran his hand through his hair.
“Does it make you nervous, that Landon’s more experienced?”
“No. Maybe. I don’t know.”
“I know this isn’t fun to talk about with your dad,” he said. “But I want you to be healthy and safe and happy. Okay?”
“I know,” I said.
“Good. Okay. Good.” He took a deep breath. “Next time, just tell him you’d like things to go a little slower. Let him know you enjoy, uh, kissing and stuff, and you want to wait for the rest.”
“All right.”
Dad patted his legs and stood up. He kissed me on top of my head and then rubbed the back of it. “I forgot you had skin back there,” he said.
“Ears too. I look like the Grand Nagus.”
Dad snorted. The Grand Nagus was the leader of the Ferengi, this alien race with huge ears and an obsession with profit.
“You’re perfect just the way you are,” Dad said.
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Now finish up your homework so we can watch someDeep Space Nine.”
Most mornings I went for a run before my shower.
