Virgin(78)

“Ughhh, how many times are you going to ask me before you believe I want to go out and get trashed?”

“But I know you’re going through a lot and I don’t want to force you to go to some random party where you won’t know anyone,” I continued.

“I think maybe you’re the one who wants to get out of going to the party, not me,” she said, touching on the exact problem, as she always did.

“Fine,” I grumbled. “I feel weird. I hate mixing social groups. What if you don’t like Emma? What if she doesn’t like you? And Jack is still AWOL and I hate my life.”

“First, please can you give Emma and me a bit more credit? We’re both your friends, and I’m sure we can get on for one night, especially with the aid of alcohol. And second, we spoke about Jack. You’re going to find out what’s wrong and then put it to rest and move on with your life.”

She was right. She and Emma were amazing and I was lucky to have them both. If Jack was going to ditch me, I would survive. But he probably wasn’t—he’d been so keen before, and I couldn’t imagine he would lose interest. His last text had had a kiss at the end, so he clearly still liked me. I just felt weird because . . . well, because I wasn’t a virgin anymore. Things were different now.

“Is that my phone or yours?” asked Lara as we lay exhausted on my bed and my phone beeped.

I checked my pocket. “Oh my God, it’s from Jack,” I cried as I opened the text.

“I told you that you were being overly dramatic,” she said. “Go on, what does it say?”

“He says, ‘Hey, how was the diss? Are you going to that party to celebrate tonight? Eric is going with your favorite person and invited me. I’ll go if you go.’ And it has a kiss on the end,” I finished triumphantly.

Lara nudged me. “You’re ridiculous. He always liked you. He wants to go to this party with you.”

I closed my eyes and let out a massive sigh of relief. “Thank God I’m not one of those girls. He still likes me post-sex. And you get to meet him tonight!”

She rolled her eyes. “Great, now I’ll be a third wheel.”

“Or you can take this chance to get over Angus and Jez and those rubbish men and find someone new,” I said, my eyes sparkling. I added smugly, “Although, now you get to know what it feels like to be the third wheel.”

She groaned. “Oh my God, I couldn’t bear it. I’m gonna text Jez and get him to meet me afterwards. At least then I’ll have a backup booty call if I feel depressed while you go off with Jack.”

“Or you could find someone new at the party,” I suggested again.

“No,” she said. “I really can’t deal with someone new right now. I’ll just go to Jez’s tonight, as I’m guessing you’ll be bringing Jack back here.”

I did my best innocent face. “You and Jez could always crash in the bath.”



By the time we were banging on the flat door two hours later, my head was so full of cheap prosecco that I didn’t even care that it was Hannah who opened the door for us.

“Ellie.” She smiled at me faux-sweetly. “So nice of you to come. Hi, I’m Hannah.” She turned to Lara, air-kissing her as she introduced herself. I gagged inwardly. Why was she pretending she was the host when she didn’t even live here?

“Hello,” I replied, gritting my teeth. “How are you?”

“Oh, you know, shattered post-diss . . . O-M-G,” she cried out suddenly, spelling the letters out. “Are you shagging Jack? Eric told me. In fact, he told me everything.”

I stared at her in horror. Please God, let her not actually know everything. Please let Jack have kept his damn mouth shut. I turned my face into something vaguely resembling an excuse me face and grabbed Lara’s arm. I bolted into the living room, dragging her after me.

Lara looked up at me. “Ow, can you let go of my arm, please?”

I released her arm, feeling a bit more sober. “Did you not hear that? She says Jack told Eric everything. What if she knows I was a virgin up until a few days ago?” I whispered urgently.

“Don’t be dramatic,” said Lara.

“I’m not being dramatic! This could be a total disaster.”

She shrugged her shoulders at me and walked into the kitchen, barely batting an eyelid at the groups of very cool-looking people draped over corners and armchairs. She looked like the kind of girl who didn’t care about not knowing anyone at a party. With a resolute sigh, I tucked my hair behind my ears and followed her into the kitchen.

In the two seconds it took me to follow her, she won over Luke. He was in his cream cable-knit jumper that looked vintage, though I had definitely spotted it in the window of Urban Outfitters. His eyes took in her perfect body, hair, clothes, face, wit . . . The jealousy list started whirring through my brain but this time it didn’t feel nasty. In fact, I was kind of proud that my best friend from home was such a hit. Normally home friends were always dressed wrong and ended up bored in a corner. Not Lara.