Losing Virginity

by Ava Michaels

  “Uh, Mario.” The dude said awkwardly.

  “Oh, hi, Mario. Well, now that we know each other, you can hear my good news, too. I had the most amazing date with the most amazing guy.” I acted extra giddy and went into way more detail than necessary about Big Stick’s grandma’s picnic basket. I didn’t share about the tryst we had. No way. Not with this big ape literally in the middle of mating season. Nope. I just went on and on about the picnic basket and the little danties tucked inside it. Mario looked at me as if I belonged in an insane asylum. Finally, I pretended to be a little shocked at Jess’ lack of comments.

  “Jess, are you busy? Would you rather I come back at a more convenient time?”

  “Yeah, kinda,” she said. Her voice was muffled because it was buried somewhere halfway down the dense, dark forest of her boy’s abdomen.

  “Okay, have fun you two,” I said, still sing-songy as I shut the door. I sat in the living room and after a while I heard a cry of delight come from both of them. Let them have their fun, I figured.

  I stopped outside under the tin awning at the front of Chote’s Hall. I huddled up on a bench next to a girl from down the hall who was smoking a cigarette and took out my cell phone. Boldly, I dialed Big Stick’s number.

  It only rang twice before he picked up, and his voice was ebullient.

  “Hey, what do you know, it’s Diana, the goddess of love!”

  I giggled at the overt silliness of this, but had no complaints.

  “Hey,” I began, and then he interrupted and we quite literally finished each-others’ sentences simultaneously: “I had a really, really great time today.”

  I had trouble holding back my excitement. Just his voice brought thoughts of the way his body had looked today, on that shore, in the rain. When was I going to see him naked? I was ready but anxious.

  “Hey, I was thinking you might like to take me out tomorrow night. That is, if you don’t have any other plans… Like sailing the seven seas or pillaging whole villages of wenches?”

  I was taking the initiative.

  He paused for just a moment.

  “You know, I’m going to be tied up for the rest of the afternoon and tomorrow raping and pillaging and a-plundering, but… I could possibly fit you in around say seven.”

  “Where are we headed to, Captain?”

  My captain.

  The Maria Rosa was the name of the place. It was an Italian restaurant that I didn’t imagine many freshman girls got taken out to, no matter how much money their dates had.

  “Meet me there,” he said. “My skiff’s in the shop.”

  “Okay, see you tomorrow.”

  “Bye.”

  ………

  The next day I walked through the rain undaunted yet again, knowing I had a few hours left until my date and just hoping that Veronica wasn’t getting her action this afternoon. That would leave me with pretty few options for outfits to borrow considering walking back to my apartment would make me late to the restaurant. Maybe Alex would have something. Actually, it wouldn’t surprise me if Alex did have some sexy, skimpy little negligee type number kicking around.

  Luckily, Veronica was in her room, and the loud, high-pitched caterwauling was just Alex. Apparently there was a big house party at some rich townie’s place off-campus tonight and they were going to carpool with some of the party animals from Dunbar. It was 5:30 PM and the two of them were already drinking really sloppy homemade cosmos out of beer glasses and flouncing around the room while throwing pillows at each other as they compared really bad dates.

  “What are you doing all wet and shit?”

  I wore Big Stick’s from yesterday so it was still damp, plus it was raining outside again. She was hustling over to me urgently, Alex nipping at her heels. She grabbed onto the soaked shirt of Big Stick’s I had on.

  “Okay, we’re pouring three more drinks, and we’re sitting down and finding out exactly what the hell happened here,” Alex warned.

  I felt myself being yanked inside by two pairs of arms, and today, it felt nice. I had gotten my orgasm the day before but not the V. I was pretty sure I had found myself a man, and it certainly seemed like we couldn’t keep away from each other. I had a story to tell.

  I managed to suck down about two sips of the terrible cocktail they had made me while I gave them the Reader’s Digest version of my glorious afternoon delight with Big Stick.

  Veronica kept looking like she was going to slap me and exclaiming, “oh, no!” and Alex was rocking up and down on the edge of the bed like an excited child.

  I finally calmed both of them down by yelling, “Okay, okay, guys listen… I have another date with him in an hour… And I really just came here to borrow an outfit.”

  “Shit, Olivia, that’s all you had to say.”

  Veronica beamed and stood up in just her panties and bra-clad glory. She opened her closet with flourish, revealing a serious smorgasbord of “going out” outfits. Alex squealed and raced over to help her choose for me.

  I had to say no to a good half dozen get-ups, one of them literally leopard print, before I agreed on a simple but elegant-looking pink one piece skirt/top combo. I changed into it quickly and tossed Veronica my wet clothes.

  “Would you mind terribly throwing those in with your wash?” I grinned, knowing I was asking a lot of my friend, but also that she loved being as involved in my love life as possible.

  “Oh, don’t worry about that,” Alex yelped, gesturing towards Big Stick’s shirt. “I’ll take care of that one for you, K.”

  “That’s a little pervy, don’t you think?” Veronica smiled. “I can just imagine you sitting in your lonely little apartment sniffing that nasty thing.”

  “Excuse me but my apartment is never lonely,” he barked back.

  “You notice how he didn’t deny it?” she pointed out to me as if I didn’t hear him.

  Finally, after a couple quick changes to make any runway model green with envy, I was ready for my date.

  ………

  Veronica dropped me off and I waited outside the elegant, simple front of the Maria Rosa. It was a little disconcerting at first, seeing a lot of the couples going in: I recognized them as professors from around campus. But none of my professors entered so far, luckily, but enough to make me feel both a bit intimidated and a bit higher on my social horse. I couldn’t imagine the awkwardness if Tunde had happened to waltz in with whatever gorgeous piece of intelligentsia ass he probably kept on his arm.

  As I was watching the couples heading into the restaurant, Big Stick’s firm, gentle hand on my arm startled me. I turned around.

  “Hey there,” he said, smiling.

  He was impeccably dressed as usual and had on dark slacks, a tucked in light blue shirt and an open, casual suit jacket. He had no tie on and his shirt had a few buttons undone. He looked enchanting, in a completely different way than he had yesterday out on Crystal Lake.

  “Well, hello there… Big Stick…”

  He leaned in. “At your service,” he whispered and winked.

  Jesus Penus! I couldn’t stop smiling as he took my arm and led me into the restaurant. He already had a table reserved so a waiter showed us the way.

  As he was pulling my chair out for me, I leaned into his ear and quickly whispered that he had really made my afternoon yesterday. He could probably hear me salivating like a dog that wanted more. And oh did I.

  “You made mine too.”

  I let Big Stick make the wine selection. It was white again, but one I had never heard of.

  “So,” he said. “I’m guessing I did right by you yesterday?”

  He was making the understatement of the fucking year. My fucking lifetime.

  “You would be guessing correctly,” I said, tipping my wine glass back a bit too far. I didn’t want to seem a lush to him. It was crazy how quickly the events of that afternoon had caused my feelings to swing like a pendulum.

  Both Big Stick and Carlos ignited a similar kind of passion in me, a sim
ilar wish to just let myself go, it was just that… But Big Stick had his shit together, so it seemed. Carlos was something else, a fantasy that never would end well in the real world. The intense feelings Big Stick brought out in me scared me a bit and made me feel even more immature than usual.

  Stop it! I yanked myself out of this introspection that was bound to get me nowhere by treating myself to a long stare into Big Stick’s eyes. Tonight and every night after, I hoped to be his girl.

  He returned it with a smile.

  “Would you like to take a look at the menu?”

  I nodded and took one from him gently. I hadn’t mentioned to him that I wasn’t really all that much of an Italian food fan, but I figured I’d manage. He didn’t even have to look at the menu before he decreed that he’d have the Eggplant Parmigiana and bruschetta toast points. He’d clearly been here before.

  “So, how many girls have had the pleasure of coming to this restaurant with you?” I asked playfully.

  He looked up at me. “Honestly, it’s usually just meetings for work at this place,” he said.

  Now, that’s something we had never gotten around to talking about. Just how did the mysterious, charming Mr. Dawson make the money to support his seemingly lavish lifestyle? I was just about to open my mouth and ask him, when I saw something that inspired pure horror in me diagonally across the packed dining room.

  Betty fucking Bartok!

  The dumbest bitch in town was about to ruin my night.

  Her malevolence suddenly infected the whole dining room. And who was that she was dining with? Sitting across from Bartok, who was wearing apparently the same damn pantsuit she wore every day to work and that made her look like a linebacker, was a large woman with a buzzed haircut that made her head look like a pea on a mountain of mashed potatoes. She was bent over her plate and fiendishly shoveling spaghetti into her mouth.

  Also wearing a sensible pantsuit that was just several sizes larger, the woman had several earrings climbing up her left ear and just one little stone in the right. It hit me then that this was probably one of Bartok’s higher-ups from corporate. That had to be how Betty got her position at We Can Do It! They were in the same “club” and Betty was more than willing to play the game and her superiors probably loved it. Freakin’ kiss-ass in order to hide the fact that she really didn’t do anything or know anything about the job she had. It made me mad. It made me mad because I was the person who had to hide her face when it should have been her.

  “Don’t turn around!” I hissed at him across the table.

  This was turning into a retread of our night at The Snake Pit being spied on by Veronica and Alex. Except this date night seemed to have the possibility of much more disastrous social consequences. There’s no way I could introduce him to Bartok or vice versa.

  Putting my hand over his, I continued, lowering my voice, “My boss is in here. I pray to god she doesn’t see us…”

  “What’s the big deal?” he asked, laughing. “It’s not like we work together.”

  “That’s not the point!” I hissed. “You don’t know what a living nightmare this woman makes my life… If she saw me out on a date with anyone I can only imagine the hell I’ll have to go through next week. She doesn’t like me at all.” I rolled my eyes and nodded my head. “I know, how could anyone not like me? I’m freaking awesome but she doesn’t. And seeing her hear is just too, too much!”

  “Okay, okay,” he said, laughing. “I won’t look. But just so you know, you are awesome.”

  I took a quick peep over his shoulder to see what Bartok and Bartok, Inc. were up to.

  Betty had her hand on her companion’s hand. Weird. Actually, she seems like a… Lesbian. “She’s a lesbian!” I screamed inside my head. Maybe it would be best to just erase that whole sight from memory.

  I couldn’t. Maybe that's... The way Bartok was. Maybe that was why she was always such a horror to me…

  ………

  Oh, the rest of dinner was difficult to say the least. It’s no easy feat, trying to keep the conversation going, to be consistently charming, and all the while trying to keep your head down or obscured behind your dates.

  To make things easy, I just ordered what I thought was the same thing as Big Stick. It turned out to be the veal parmesan, actually, it turned out to be quite tasty. I hate myself for saying it but had I kept my appetite it would have been a damn good meal. I may never order it again, but this one time in my life, those few bites were good.

  He saw through me and chuckled when he had cleaned his plate and I had barely touched mine. I can’t believe that my mouth had so disobeyed my brain when the waiter came around. That’s how much Bartok tended to rattle me.

  “You’re not very hungry tonight. What’s going on? Need something sweet?”

  I could hear Betty’s wicked cackle coming from across the restaurant, and I briefly saw her raising her palm into the air and clenching her fist like she was crushing a walnut. Her companion, or whatever she was, roared with malevolent laughter at this.

  “Hey, do you think we could just go hang at your place?” I asked innocently. “You’re right; I’m just not all that hungry tonight. Besides, I think it would be really nice to spend some time alone with you… Indoors.”

  "That sounds fantastic, Ol," he smiled.

  Big Stick paid the check with his Visa Platinum card and he gamely helped me escape without being spotted by Betty, shielding me with his body as we edged our way out the door.

  The walk back to Casa di Dawson was nice, alongside Crystal Lake, with Big Stick by my side and holding my hand tightly.

  “So, I was asking you about the girls before me …” I began.

  He laughed.

  “Were you really? I thought you were asking me about the restaurant.”

  “Smart ass,” I said.

  “Okay, okay,” he began, shaking his head. “Honestly, I haven’t had a lot of time for dating since… High school.”

  Big Stick not having a lot of time was something I believed. Big Stick not going on a lot of dates? This was not something I believed. I had seen him with plenty of girls in the elevator. It didn’t matter since he didn’t sleep with them… Supposedly…

  I gave him a sarcastic nod and smile. I had already made the stupid mistake of letting Ryder in on my big secret way back on our first date so I didn’t want this conversation to take an inevitable turn towards my embarrassingly scant sexual and romantic history.

  But still, I had an aching, probably unhealthy curiosity about Ryder’s past exploits, so I pressed him a little.

  I was sorry I did. He recounted in a bashful way his brief relationships with Laura, the eternally over-dressed senior English major, Valerie, an “open-minded” coffee shop owner from the area, and I stopped him there. He did that thing any guy would do when pressed on these matters – explained the girls’ looks and personalities in such a way as to downplay how attractive he found them.

  Naturally, this did not work, and I ended up picturing Greek goddesses with lots of money, high IQ’s, and the sexual prowess of porn stars.

  He grinned.

  “I’ve never met anyone quite like you before though, Ol…”

  “Do you mean that like I’m an odd duck?”

  “No, I mean that like… You’re beautiful and incredibly funny, and when we were on the island yesterday… I don’t know, I just was only thinking about pleasing you. My manhood was an afterthought.”

  Damn. Big Stick was a pleaser… Self-service was no longer in my future!

  We held hands even tighter as we ascended the stairs to his apartment.

  ………

  Ryder closed and locked the door. He grinned at me as he was shrugging off his blazer. I stepped much more confidently across his maple wood floor this time, casually breezing into the kitchen, leaning against his refrigerator in what I hoped was a seductive pose.

  “You feel like making us a drink?”

  “Sure, make yourself at home,” he s
aid.

  I bounded over to that exceedingly luxurious sofa of his and flopped onto it. Comfortable? Was I ever.

  Ryder materialized quickly with two martinis, dry, with twists of lemon. I brought mine to my lips and shivered at how cold it was – crystalline shards of ice floated on the top. I had never really drank them before, but I eagerly took a sip and felt the sharp, intense cool buzz of the martini immediately bring the night into crisp focus. All I wanted to do was to melt into Ryder’s arms.

  He sipped his casually and asked me what I felt like doing.

  “A movie perhaps?” He grinned. “I have the original Star Trek films too… On Blu-ray.”

  I set my glass down and wrapped my arms around his neck, drawing his lips hard against mine ignoring the question. For just a moment, I pulled back from him.

  “This is what I want to do...”

  He hoisted me onto his lap and I gasped at the feeling of his body between my thighs before I was silenced by his passionate kisses. He ran his hands across my back and over my hips. I towered over him slightly, tipping my chin down to keep our lips together and couldn’t help the way my body was responding to his. This was what it was supposed to be like. My heart raced at his touch, going faster and faster every second.

  I felt the straps of my top fall down over my shoulders, and I moaned as Big Stick’s hot, urgent kisses travelled down over my neck and onto my breasts. His hands gently kneaded them through the black bra I had specially selected for tonight making goose bumps spread across my body. But, within a few minutes I couldn’t stand the fabric and I unhooked the clasp from behind, letting the bra fall and his hands slip up underneath the loose material.

  I tugged at his blue shirt, trying to pull it over his head without even bothering with the buttons. He stopped me for a second.

  “That’s a $2,000 shirt,” he said, frowning.

  I was taken aback for only an instant before he grinned and pulled it over his head, ripping the silky blue fabric at the arms in the process.

  “I was joking Olivia,” he said smiling.

  I squealed and began planting kisses all over his chest, wanting all of him tonight. This is really happening, I kept thinking to myself. I was nervous and excited and scared and elated all at the same time. It was like the climb of a roller coaster. That terrifying feeling in your stomach when you are wondering if this was such a good idea but then realize it is too late to turn back, and you wouldn’t even if you could. Ryder groaned and tipped his head back, a wide, blissful smile on his face as he let me undo his belt and ease the zipper of his slacks down.