New Love

Chapter 30: Emily

The following weekend, I sat in the living room of our apartment with Mia, Casey, Ashley, and Lucy. The guys were having a poker night so the girls decided to gather for some fun of our own.

I sat on the opposite end of the couch from Lucy. I wasn't crazy about even hanging out with her, but since she lived here too, it wasn't much of an option. After our date last Friday, Jay and I had talked everyday on the phone. Texting when we weren't talking. It felt like something had shifted between us after that night. I felt closer to him than I had before, but Lucy being here and bringing up his name as often as possible, made me realize it could never really be.

"So," Mia bopped into the living room, holding a glass of wine. "I propose a game." She plopped in the chair and pulled out her phone.

"What kind of game?" Ashley asked.

"Loaded Questions for her." Mia wagged her phone at us, a website with that name pulled up on her screen.

"Are these questions that are going to make me uncomfortable.?" Casey asked.

"Most definitely." Mia nodded. Casey had been the president of the Celibacy Club. In high school, she didn't cuss, or drink, or have sex. I even remember her blacking out curse words in any book she was reading. Since I had started school here, I had only seen her drink once. Even tonight she had been nursing the same glass of wine since she got here.

"If you don't want to answer a particular question you can take a drink instead." Mia continued to relay the rules that I was sure she was making up on the spot.

"Sounds like it could be fun." I shrugged and took a sip of my beer. I was curious to see how Lucy would answer some of these questions. Particularly about her relationships.

"First question," Mia scrolled through her phone, looking for the perfect question. "Here we go... at what age did you lose your virginity?"

"Guess I'll go ahead and drink." Casey held up her still full wine glass.

"I can't believe you are still a virgin." Ashley said.

"Well, we weren't all spreading our legs for Alex Parker in high school." She looked pointedly at me.

"Shit," I laughed. "Right. Sorry about that."

"I was 17 and it was with Will." Ashley piped in.

"18, and with Jay." Lucy added. "Even though he won't touch me now."

"Oh Jesus," I said under my breath and took a sip of beer. Ashley looked over at me, hiding a smile. "Mia, please tell me Scott is not the only person you have slept with."

"The question was how old you were when you lost your virginity, not with who." Mia reminded us. "But we can make how many the next question since everyone but Emily has answered it anyway."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I was 16 and I have slept with six guys."

"Oh, well, I was 17 and my grand total is four."

I raised up my beer. "Guess that makes me the resident slut!" I joked.

"Six guys doesn't make you a slut," Ashley saud. "At least you are experienced. I don't know if I will ever have sex with anyone but Will."

"You are lucky you have found your person." Ashley and I had bonded over the past week. I had talked to her a couple times via text about my dilemma with Jay. She was a really sweet and surprisingly funny person.

"What does that say about me?" Lucy piped in. "My person doesn't even want to be my person anymore."

"I guess that means you have to find someone else to be your person. We don't always get it right the first time," Mia answered.