Voyeur Extraordinaire(28)

Her arms were propped up on the table top and her chin was resting on the back of her hands.

“First base, second base, third base?” she elaborated calmly, not even batting an eyelash.

I choked on my coffee and spewed half of it on the table, coughing. “What?” I sputtered. I reached for a rag and wiped up the spilled liquid, buying myself time to consider my reply.

“Come on,” Amy urged.

“I kissed a couple of guys on parties.” I lowered my gaze. “And then there's been Chris.”

“And?”

“We went out twice. I don’t even know why I agreed to it. I didn’t even like Chris all that much, but I was glad for the attention,” I admitted reluctantly. Not that I’d been much more successful in finding the right guy ever since. Maybe my expectations were too high. But going out with Chris was one of the things I'd like to make undone if I could.

“Tell me more about it,” Amy said eagerly. “What exactly did you do with Chris?”

“I'd rather not,” I said slowly, my nose wrinkling in disgust. The dates with Chris had been one of the biggest mistakes in my life. It had made him even more insistent. Amy kept staring at me.

I held up my hands. “Okay, okay,” I said. “We kissed and he fumbled with my boobs. It didn’t do anything for me. Then he tried to reach into my pants but I wasn’t in the mood at all, so I pushed him away. He asked if I was frigid, then drove me home. After that I went out with him one more time and we kissed again and he grabbed my boobs again, but I felt nothing, and that’s it. Maybe Chris was right. Maybe I’m frigid.”

Amy laughed but after a moment or two she quieted and gazed at me with a piercing look. “You don’t really believe that, do you? That guy was a jerk, that’s all.”

“No.” When I’d touched myself while watching Adrian having sex with all those women, I’d definitely felt something, but I couldn’t tell Amy that. “Maybe I just need a man who knows what he’s doing.”

I shrugged, then bit my lip nervously, not sure why Amy was looking at me so imploringly.

“Tell him.”

I frowned at her. “Tell who what?”

Amy leaned forward until her face was close to mine. “Tell Adrian that you're not experienced before this ends badly.”

I gaped at her, slowly shaking my head. “You can't be serious!”

“Nora-”

“I won't tell him. He'll think something is wrong with me,” I blurted.

“Nothing's wrong with you, Nora, but you need to tell him.”

“No. End of discussion.” I stared at my coffee intently, my face burning from embarrassment.

Amy's sigh sliced through the silence, and I felt bad for talking to her like I'd done. She was only trying to help me, and I was grateful for it, but I could not talk to Adrian about my inexperience. He’d probably laugh at me. I wasn't planning on having sex with him anyway, so it didn't matter.

For the first time since I'd known Amy, she gave in and didn't try to make me talk about it. I appreciated her even more after that. After we'd finished our coffee and eaten some oatmeal without sugar – apparently my favorite cookies were out of the question since they weren't good for my skin – I was given thirty minutes to shower and get dressed. Amy should consider a career in the army. She could be really bossy and commanding if you gave her the chance.

As soon as I stepped out of my room, dressed in jeans and a simple white t-shirt, Amy grabbed me, and from that moment on I didn't have a single moment of peace.

She dragged me through every decent shop in New York that was remotely in my price range and made me try on extravagant dresses and skirts I was probably never going to wear. I didn’t mention that the thrift store would have been the better choice given my financial predicament. I was close to giving up when Amy ushered me into a small boutique in Harlem. It was dark and crammed, but Amy seemed to know what she was doing. She headed for a rack with dresses and after some shuffling pulled out a red satin dress. It looked breathtaking. With dread, I peeked at the price tag. It was only $40. “Wow, that’s a bargain.”

“It’s second hand,” Amy said. “I hope you don’t mind?”

I shook my head and took the dress from Amy, then headed into the narrow dressing room. When I came out in the dress, Amy and I exchanged a look. This was it. The dress ended a couple of inches above my knees, had a high neckline in the front but a plunging waterfall neckline in the back. It hugged curves I didn’t even know I had. I stared at myself in the mirror. “You look perfect. Adrian won’t be able to keep his hands off you,” Amy said with a satisfied smile. Considering that she didn’t want me to lose ‘it’ to Adrian, she was really doing everything in her power to make it happen.