Lucas
"She's a virgin?"
"How many times are you going to say that? Yes, Chris, she's a virgin." I barely manage to choke out the dreaded word.
It's been three days since Scarlett dropped the V bomb on me and to say it's been awkward ever since would be an understatement. We've barely said three words to each other and I think we've been mutually avoiding one another so that we don't have to talk about the most awkward night of our college careers.
"I didn't even know there were virgins in colleges still. I thought girls had, like, a virginity pact in high school? You know so that they come here with experience."
"Apparently not. Exhibit A.- Scarlett. The lone virgin on campus." I grab another beer and pass one to Chris. This virgin fiasco is messing with my head. Virgins are extremely rare in the group of people I hang around with and when one does come into my circle, I make it my mission to stay far away. Virgins make me nervous because I know they tend to get attached quicker and easier than non virgins. Attachment is something I don't need from some random girl whose name I won't remember in the morning. I don't want to be anyone's first if I'm just going to disappear after its over. Of course I wouldn't do that to Scarlett, but her being a virgin just confirms the fact that she's even more innocent than I thought. She's too pure and I don't want to taint her with my ways.
"How did you manage to bag the only virgin on campus?"
"Luck I guess." Truthfully I think this is the universe messing with me. The only girl that I would want to build a connection with, that goes beyond sex, is a virgin.
"How'd it go after she ya know told you about...the situation?" Chris grimaces. I think my older brother is taking this worse than me. He really thought he would have at shot at sleeping with my girlfriend after how dinner went.
I finish off what's left of my beer and reach for another one. When I'm conflicted or confused I drink. I know it's not the best coping mechanism but none of my ways of coping are. Since sex is off the table, and Jeremiah isn't in town to get me a gram, beer is the next best thing. "The mood was completely ruined and I ended up sleeping on the couch with a raging hard on because I didn't think I would survive the night with her pressed up against me."
"Hey, man you're a better person than me. That's for sure." Chris wipes his mouth on the back of his sleeve before taking the last beer in the six pack. "I would have left. Maybe found me a decent looking freshman and took out my frustrations on her."
"What the hell Chris? Firstly it's my house. I'm not just leaving my own house because I didn't get to sleep with her. Secondly what sense does it make to cheat on her with some random ass chick? I want her to sleep with me, not break up with me."
"Okay firstly," Chris says mocking me. "It's technically it's Mom's and Dad's since they're paying for it and all but whatever I still would have left. Secondly, is it really cheating if you're using sex as a coping mechanism? You call it cheating, I call it therapy. Thirdly virgins make me nervous, so yea I would've probably screwed up and fucked someone that isn't a virgin just to calm my nerves. Virgins are too pure for us."
Staring at my brother, I realize that no matter how hard I try to deny it, we're basically the same person. We're both players who use our good looks to get the thing we love the most - sex. We like having a good time and we probably drink and smoke more than we should but it's all in good fun. Most importantly as much as we sleep around we don't sleep with virgins. Chris did once and ended up with a kid. It's the one thing that's makes us different. I know how to pull out. He doesn't.
"What are you going to do about it?"
"It? What do you mean it?"
"You do know that you're not an actual blonde right. That, that shit is just dyed? Stop being stupid. You know what it is."
"Okay what do you mean what am I going to do about it? I can't just break up with her because she's a virgin." I would never dump Scarlett over something as trivial as that because sex isn't what I'm after for us. I don't really know what i'm looking for out of this but it's not just sex. Although that would be an added perk.
Shrugging Chris says "I mean you can. No one is stopping you."
"My conscience is." I stare at my brother wide-eyed. Sometimes I think that he's actually stupid.
"A conscience is for pussies." Chris says taking a sip out of his bottle.
"I can't believe we're related."
"I keep telling you that mom adopted you but you never want to listen."
"Chris...Shut the fuck up."
"Okay pretending I didn't hear that, topic shift. What else do you know about your Virgin Mary?"
What else do I know about her? I never really thought about what I know about her but when I think about it, I really don't know much. I know very trivial things like she's a vegetarian and she's from Connecticut, but I don't actually know anything about her. Scarlett's a very reserved person. She doesn't like talking about herself or her past.
"Not much." As lame as it sounds I answer honestly. I don't know much about my girlfriend.
"What's her insta? You can tell alot about a person by their feed."
"Chris?" I start, trying to stop my brother from whatever stupid thing he's going to do but he quickly interrupts, something that he does a whole lot.
"Dearest brother have I ever lead you astray?" Chris rolls his eyes, speaking in a fake british accent.
"No but-"
Passing me his phone "Never mind I found you girlfriend. You need to be quicker than that."
Sure enough, there's Scarlett in all of the internet glory. ScarlettRose has 43 photos, 2,583 followers and she's only following 92 people.
"Ooh, she's one of those internet baddies that never follows anyone back." Chris says leaning over my shoulder and invading my personal space. "You see anything interesting?"
He taps her most recent post before I can even answer. Her most recent picture is of her in her car wearing sunglasses cheesing for the camera with the caption 'Will I ever get sick of exploring Boston? Here's a secret. NO #617' A handful of comments are underneath the selfie from mostly guys but the one that stands out the most is from someone called 'PapiReyes' It the only one she replied to.
Papi Reyes: Who keeps getting finer everytime I see her? Here's a secret. It's you😍
ScarlettRose: Well you know how I do 💁🏾♀️❤️😂
"Papi Reyes? Click that." Following the advice of my brother, I tap the name but it leads me to a private page of some guy that Scarlett actually follows.
"We need to do more research."
Another six pack later and we have successfully found every form of social media that Scarlett has, including a Pinterest and Wattpad that's basically just cheesy romance stories written by lovestruck teenagers. It looks like her favorite of these gushy stories is something called Healing You.
"Okay baby brother I have come to the conclusion that Scarlett is not only hotter than I had originally thought, but she also comes off as perfect." Chris finally puts his phone down and turns to me.
"Okay and.. I feel like there's a but."
"There is, it's a really big but, and it's not hers although she has a really fat ass-"
"Chris go on with whatever you were going to say before I have to knock your ass out for talking about my damn girlfriend."
"You need to try something for all that built up anger in your system Lucas. You ever meditate? Anyways all her socials were made the same day about a year ago if you didn't notice. And when you google her there's nothing at all. Seriously there's nothing. She has no real internet trail except for those socials that she obviously specially curated to fit this image she created for herself."
"What's wrong with that? Isn't that a good thing?"
"You would think but don't you think that it's strange that you can't find a single thing about her on the internet. Her name had no hits. It like she was completely erased from the internet. If you want to hear my theory I think that she doesn't really exists."
I get up from the couch, sick of listening to Chris talk nonsense, "Scarlett exists. She justs isn't on the internet. Big whoop. Not everyone is google-able you idiot." As defensive, as I am, a small part of me thinks Chris may be onto something about my girlfriend. Maybe she isn't as real as she seems.
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Quick filler chapter while I write the insanely long, mindblowing, story shifting Chapter 41.*
Thank you guys so much for all the support on this story!!
*Chapter 41 is going to most likely be for followers only just because of the nature and topic of the chapter. With Wattpad deleting books I don't want to risk anything. Start hitting that follow button now, so when you get that notification for Chapter 41 you can dive right in!