An Instant Attraction

Chapter 5

Dinner with the family had been enjoyable, but I'm more than thrilled to be back at the apartment for the night. The day of traveling has definitely caught up with me. I throw my cropped sweats back on and plop myself onto the couch. Kristin has changed too and joined me in the living room. After scrolling through movie selections for a few minutes, we mutually decide on Pitch Perfect, although we end up talking through most of it. Kristin tells me about her friends and offers suggestions for different things we can do over the next week before school gets started.

She tells me a little about her boyfriend, "I can't wait for you to meet him tomorrow. He's amazing. We've been together for almost two years now. He's a hockey player, so his schedule during the season is a little crazy and demanding, but we try to spend as much time together as possible." I recall seeing pictures of him on Instagram, and just as I'm thinking it, she grabs her phone.

"This is Luke," she says holding up her phone showing me a photo. His face is attractive and he has short brown hair. He's in his red and white Boston University hockey uniform holding his stick up behind his shoulders. "They had these professionally done for the team promotions. You need to follow their Instagram page, Terrier Hockey."

After rambling for a few more minutes she switches gears and puts me on the spot, questioning me about what happened between me and Zack. She knew about the break up, but living in California most of our communication had been through text, and I never got a chance to give her all the gritty details. The only person other than me who knew what happened was Kat, but it felt good to talk to Kristin about it too. I knew she would listen and be supportive and nonjudgmental, so I opened up and gave her all the details. I had been too embarrassed and ashamed to tell anyone other than Kat before. Not only of his behavior and what he did, but also because I took him back after the first time.

"I'm just so thankful that I never slept with him," I admit, feeling another wave of relief as I say it aloud. She looks at me with shock, not really believing what I had just told her. "I really thought we would when we first got together, but then when he cheated, I just couldn't bring myself to trust him enough," I explain. Sure, Zack and I had still fooled around but I just never got that level of trust back in order to take it to the next step. I look up at Kristin and she still seems to have the same stunned look on her face.

"What are you thinking?" I ask.

I can see her carefully trying to form her words, but she ends up blurting it out, "You're almost 21 and you're totally hot...you can't still be a virgin!" Between the look on her face and her words, I can't contain my laughter.

"No, I'm not a virgin," I tell her.

My thoughts quickly flash back to my high school boyfriend, Justin. We had lost our virginity to each other during our senior year in a childish attempt to solidify our relationship before we each went off to college. Of course, it didn't work and we ended up breaking up right after graduation. He had quickly changed his tune and no longer thought we could make it work long distance. I had been seventeen and blinded by young love, I had no other explanation. We had done it a couple time, but at that age and being each other's firsts neither of us really knew what we were doing. Being a guy, I'm sure he had gotten more pleasure out of the situation than I had. After Justin I had dated a couple guys, but there wasn't anyone serious until I met Zack. We had fooled around, kissing and touching, but it's been just over two years since I had actually had sex.

Rather than giving her all the details, I simply say, "Justin and I slept together senior year." Kristin had actually met Justin during one of their family visits to California.

"Shit, girl, I forgot about Justin. He was a cutie, but it's been a while. We need to get you back in the game," she laughs. "Soon you'll be in with the hockey crowd. We'll find someone for you." She keeps talking, explaining that Luke will often stay over so that they can have privacy, apparently, he shares a house with a few of his teammates. "I'll make sure to give you a heads up if he's going to stay over and we'll try to keep it down," she winks. I just laugh.

She reaches over and wraps her skinny arms around me and gives me a little squeeze on the couch. "I'm so happy to have you as my new roomie," she squeals.

The conversation changes again, this time to school. We make plans to check out campus tomorrow and maybe do a little shopping. Soon I'm to the point where I can no longer keep my eyes open, so I stand and say "goodnight" as I close my bedroom door. Sitting on my bed, I decide to send a couple quick texts to my mom and Kat saying *Goodnight from Boston! I set my phone on the side table and lay down, pulling the comforter up and over myself. The pillow is soft against my head, and I'm out as soon as my eyes close in the darkness.