There Are Worse Things I Could Do (18+)

32. Ana

"Ok tell me everything! Ev-er-y-thing!" Aaliyah said eagerly, bouncing on her heels on my bed, one giant glass of white wine in each hand. She handed one to me, and I practically chugged half the glass in about 10 seconds.

I was so fucking relieved to be home.

Liam and Theo had simply responded to my texts with a thumbs up emoji, so I knew they were pissed. But I was kinda expecting more pushback from them. I was pretty surprised that I didn't get an angry phone call from either of them or that they didn't follow me home or some shit.

Maybe all three of us needed a little space.

"Ok, everything starting from..?"

"Starting from the second you hung up the phone with me, after I told you to confess your feelings. Because then you obviously did!" She clapped excitedly. "And then they 'murdered your vagina'." She winced a little as she said it, but still looked pretty delighted.

The aforementioned vagina was still pretty tired, and I was dreading having to get to the part where I started to doubt whether this would actually work out... but I couldn't help but smile, seeing Aaliyah so excited for me. It made me feel like a bitch all over again, when I thought about how deflated I'd been when she told me about Jonathan for the first time. It was surprisingly really nice to finally have something to contribute to the "boyfriend" conversation.

So I told her everything. And I didn't leave a single detail out this time.

I almost skipped over the part where Theo forgot the condom, but I needed her to fully understand why I felt so conflicted right now. She probably wouldn't totally understand if I told her, "We had a night of incredibly passionate, toe-curling sex, I had about 400 orgasms, ate my favorite tacos and popsicles, and then they bought me Chanel bubble bath and made me breakfast this morning. They adore me and want me to move in with them. I'm terrified."

I expected her to freak out and start lecturing me about the risks of unprotected sex—not like I hadn't heard this lecture a billion times before—but she just listened patiently, her eyes only widening slightly when I got to the part about Theo not using a condom the one time.

I didn't tell her about what I'd talked to Nora and Kelly about at the shelter yet, though. I was still trying to figure out if that was even worth mentioning, since it all sounded so ridiculous. They were like the gentlest gentlemen I knew, besides maybe my Grandpa Ken.

"Ok...." Aaliyah said carefully, after I told her that I'd decided I needed some space from them while I digested everything. "So...I mean, he pulled out right?" My eyebrows shot up. Shocked didn't even begin to cover how I felt about her asking me that.

"Um? Yeah, but still. Mom always said pre-cum can still—"

"Ok, but you are still on birth control, correct?"

Seriously? This was not how I expected this conversation to play out.

"Yes! I have the implant thing, because God knows I'd never fucking remember to take a pill everyday. But you know what mom has always said about how fertile—you just mentioned this last night—Mom has always warned us—"

"Yeah, but mom's situation was extremely different, Ana. Our father—"

"Sperm donor."

"Our sperm donor was—is—an actual psychopath. Mom is still freaked out about one of us getting pulled into a toxic relationship like she did. Look at what happened with Daniel and Sienna."

"Or Daniel and Emma," I muttered.

"I mean...I guess," Aaliyah shrugged. "But I think we both know that the chances of you getting pregnant from pre-cum while you're on birth control are extremely slim. And I haven't noticed any red flags from these guys yet. I mean, I haven't met them in person, which is kind of strange." She looked at me pointedly. I rolled my eyes; she'd been pestering me for weeks about me letting her meet them in person sometime, but I kept making up excuses.