Jodi’s smile widens. “Aimee Spencer, are you blushing? Is this conversation embarrassing you? What if I were to… I don’t know… tell you that Jason has a name for his penis? And it’s very descriptive.”
“Shhhh,” I murmur, my eyes scanning the nearby tables.
Jodi smacks her lips together. “I can see that you’re not a fan of the word penis. How about if I were to say… nipple? Or orgasm? Penetration?” Her voice is dangerously loud and the people around us are starting to look. “Scrotum?”
“Jodiiiiii!”
“Aimeeeeee!” She mimics my whiny tone then bursts into her signature breezy laughter. For someone so incredibly petite, the girl can make some noise. “I wish that you could see your face. You’re like this.” She crumples her forehead and contorts her mouth into a scowl.
I roll my eyes and take a sip of my coffee. It’s not that I’m a prude. I’m not. It’s just that I haven’t talked to another person about this kind of stuff in a long time and it feels strange.
“So,” she says, catching her breath and dropping her eyes. “How about you? Any secret lovahs to disclose?”
“Nope. No guys for me.”
Jodi narrows her gaze. “Girls then?”
“No girls either.” I laugh and twist my hair around my finger. “I already told you. I decided over a year ago not to date because I wanted to focus on school and keep a clear head.”
The thing about Jodi is that I like her. Being around her makes me feel almost normal. I can pretend that I’m what everyone wants me to be—just a regular college freshman making a new friend. I want to tell her things about my past—about Jillian and why I am the way that I am—but I’m not sure how much honesty is too much honesty. So far she hasn’t asked about the scar on my neck, or why I don’t drive, or why my mother texts me practically every hour to check up on me.
“I had hoped that was a bad joke because that is possibly the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. What college freshman doesn’t date and wants to focus on school?” Jodi bows her head toward me. “Is it herpes?”
It takes me a second to register that she’s asking me whether or not I’ve got herpes. “What?” I shake my head. “No, I don’t have herpes!”
“Well, that’s a relief.” She twists her mouth to one side. “Aimee, you have… you know… dated before, right?”
It’s true that I haven’t gone out with a guy in recent memory, but that doesn’t mean that I’m Amish or was ever on the fast track to becoming a nun.
I clear my throat. “There have been a few eggrolls.” Well, one eggroll really… “Just not recently.”
Jodi claps her hands in front of her body. “Thank God! If you were going to confess to being a college freshman with her virgin status still intact, I was going to lose my shit over here.”
“I am not a virgin.” Not technically. I tuck my hair back behind my ears and lift my chin. “I’m familiar with penises, scrotums and all kinds of penetration.”
“I’ll be sure to lock that important information up for a rainy day. You never know when knowledge like that will come in handy.” A new voice says.
My heart gives a wild kick. I know that voice… I spin around and Cole is there—standing beside the sofa with his head cocked to one side and that increasingly familiar dimpled grin on his face. My mind runs over my conversation with Jodi. I’m familiar with penises, scrotums and all kinds of penetration.
A quick glance in Jodi’s direction proves that she isn’t going to be any help. Her bottom jaw is resting in her lap.
“That was completely out of context,” I murmur faintly. I know that every available inch of me is flaming fire engine red.
It’s obvious that Cole notices my mortification, but instead of giving me space to breathe, he steps closer and his smile only gets wider. “Of course it was,” he replies casually, swinging his backpack to the ground by my feet. When he sits on the sofa next to me, my heart races and my skin prickles. “And I certainly didn’t mean to put a stop to such a fascinating conversation—especially one about penetration and penises—but I saw you sitting over here and I wanted to let you know that we’re having a party at my place Friday night. You should come.” He turns to Jodi. “You should come too.”
“Th-that sounds great,” Jodi stutters, shaking her head and blinking like she’s just waking up. I would roll my eyes, but I think that’s the exact same reaction that I had the first time that Cole spoke to me. “I’m Jodi.”