The Curves Ahead - Wattpad Award Winner

Chapter 18

Part of the joy of writing Curves has been how easy the chapters have flowed.  It takes approximately 3-4 hours to complete a chapter, but the minutes pass like no time at all, because I love the story and I love Evi - she's a part of my soul.

This chapter has taken about three times the normal amount of time to finish.  I've been back and forth so many times, called my good friends for opinions, weighed the options, read the comments.  It's done now, but I don't feel the same sense of satisfaction as I normally do.

That really comes back to the amount of negativity in the comments for the previous chapter.  I understand that my books are like Rorschach picture - people react to the story based on their own experiences and life journey.  Having said that, when this book is written in a spirit of acceptance and non-judgement, it's bitterly disappointing to see people calling Evianna a sl*t or a h0, simply because she's decided to have sex.

For those that have made their feelings very clear, I hope you'll read on with your heart a little more open, and realise that a woman who chooses to sleep with a man isn't necessarily evil.  And, as my nana used to say, "If you can't say anything nice..." 

I'd never felt like more of a naughty teenager than I did in front of Heather that afternoon in my bathroom. "You're going to have sex with him?" Her voice was terse, but I could hear her trying to restrain what she was really thinking.

"Yup. I decided today. He's coming to take me to dinner and then I'll bring him back here afterwards." I held up two different earrings in front of my lobes, trying to decide if the black pearl studs suited better than the dangly silver strands. "I'm single, he's single, there's attraction there, and I'm finally in a place where I'm down to get naked. So, yeah, why not?"

I settled on the pearls, which complimented my LBD with the asymmetrical sweep. Beneath my dress, my legs were shaved and my Triumph lace underwear was holding me flawlessly. Smoothing my poker-straight hair, I beamed at my reflection, then smiled over at Heather. "How do I look?"

"Spectacular."

The straight line of her lips told me she had more to say. "Okay, out with it! What?"

"Nothing. I'm not your mum, and you're a grown woman."

Despite her blasé words, I had to know what she was thinking. "Heather. Seriously, just say what you need to say."

"Nope."

"Look, I thought this was what you wanted!" I turned and leaned against the sink, eying her as she lay in the dry bathtub in her jeans, filing her nails. "You've been pushing me for weeks to love my body and be comfortable in my skin. Now, you're sitting there giving me the cold shoulder because I'm actually ready to sleep with someone?"

"Do you really want to know what I think?"

"I do!" I'd been reliant on Heather's opinion since the day I'd met her. I didn't agree with everything she proposed, but I always wanted to hear it.

"I think there's rarely such a thing as casual sex. One party is always more invested that the other. I think sex is special, and worth having with the right people, and you think that too, from everything you've told me. I also think you're not as single as you're pretending to be. And lastly, I think you need to call Matt before you do anything."

I sputtered like water drops on a hot hair iron. "Call Matt? He's not my boyfriend, Heather. It's so complicated, I don't even know what to call it. Yeah, we both have feelings, but it hasn't gone anywhere. Besides, I gave him permission to go off and do whatever he wanted, even if that was with Taylor; why can't I do the same? And who says that Lightfoot isn't the right person to sleep with? Who says it can't be totally casual?"