"What? No, Amy. Nick Saunders can get any woman he desires. He has no need to force or beg me. And for what reason? I'm not rich nor in his class."
"So why did he kiss you? I mean, that means he’s attracted to you, right?” Amy came to sit closer to me. “What are you not telling?”
"Nothing. I don’t think he’s attracted to me. I think he was trying to spite an ex-girlfriend."
"What? That's low. Are you sure?”
"I don’t know. That’s what it looked like. We had just met and started to talk, then this poster girl approached us and he asked me to kiss him.”
“And you said yes?”
“No, I said nothing, and he kissed me.”
"And then you ran off?” Amy looked at me incredulously.
“Sort of,” I answered, avoiding her gaze. Amy had a way of making me regret my actions, and she was doing a good job of making me feel like I had done something wrong.
"Sara, please tell me you didn't walk out on the richest man in the world because he kissed you."
"I don’t…"
"Tell me you didn't let Nick Saunders slip out of your hands because he kissed you."
"Amy, the guy kissed me without my permission."
"You just told me he asked you.”
“Yes, sort of.”
“Did you want him to kiss you?”
“Yes, kind of,” I said. Now that I was away from him, I admitted I had loved the feel of his mouth on mine.
“Amy! Do you know how many girls would die to have him touch them? And he went as far as kissing you. Nick Saunders is not a kisser!”
"How would you know that?” I asked, but before she could answer, I figured it out. “You read it somewhere.”
“Yes, I did. He said he never kisses women. Too intimate for him.”
“I guess he lied then,” I said.
"Or maybe he likes you.”
"I don’t know,” I said.
"Did he enjoy it?” Amy asked.
“Fuck, Amy. How would I know?” I said. “He didn’t seem to mind, but that doesn’t give him the right to kiss me without my permission. We're two different people. In my world, men ask for permission to kiss women. No, only a man I am dating has a right to kiss me. I don’t care how rich he is, a random stranger cannot just kiss me because he can buy the whole world. I don't know about you, but..."
"That's okay, Sara. I spent the whole week getting you ready and this is how it ends. You're telling me I'm a whore because you're a virgin?"
"I didn't say that."
"Then what are you saying? In your world, in my world. Maybe you should let a man fuck you really hard so you can lose that air of innocence around you. Sometimes you make me sick."
Amy was right. Maybe I was too naive about the world to know how things worked. Maybe a billionaire kissing me wasn’t the worst thing on earth. Maybe I had overreacted, but seriously, why would I not? It was offensive to take advantage of me. Nick Saunders had been wrong.
"Amy, I'm sorry. I didn't plan for the evening to turn out this way. It's just that you don't go to a ball uninvited every day, and you certainly don't plan to be kissed every day either." I hugged Amy, who was pouting. She ignored me for a moment but returned the tight embrace.
"I'm so sorry, Sara. I'm totally wrong. I should be mad at Nick for kissing you without your permission and rather I'm mad at you for running away from him. That's so insensitive."
I wanted to agree with her, but I knew when to leave things alone. Amy hardly ever apologized, and her apologies carried a lot of weight. I needed to back down.
"Amy, that's okay," I said. That seemed to cheer her up. She put her purse down and made me sit next to her. She turned on the desk lamp nearby and saw my face.
"Oh gosh, Sara, you’ve been crying! You look like a mess. I'm so sorry," she said as she grabbed a tissue to wipe away my tears, which had since dried.
"It's okay. I'm fine now. I was just so mad and confused, and you know how it is."
She nodded, and after a few minutes of comfortable silence between us, she looked at me with a mischievous smile. "So tell me, how was the kiss?"
"Really?” I asked, blushing. My flustered face didn’t get past her.
"You liked it! You virgin-whore," she said, punching me playfully.
"I didn't like it," I said, stifling a giggle.
"Oh now, Sara Madison Nolles. I know you did. That smirk on your face tells me all I need to know. You totally enjoyed being ravished by a billionaire!”