Some Kind of Normal

Hailey didn’t notice, because she was doing her best selfie poses in the mirror, contorting her lips into smooches and smiles. “Mom told me not to rely on just the pill and to use condoms, because you know.” Her eyebrows rose and she whispered “STDs.”

“Huh.”

She whirled around and made a face. “She even bought me a box so I’ve got lots of them if you…” She paused, eyebrows scrunched something fierce. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”

“No.”

Yes.

But I didn’t know why I was uncomfortable. It’s not as if Hales and I hadn’t discussed sex before or talked about boys and all the stuff you could do with them. Even when she actually started doing the things we talked about, I was okay with it. I wasn’t a prude. I didn’t judge.

Maybe sometimes I hid behind the whole “pastor’s daughter” thing. It was a good way to keep guys away when I wanted to, but the plain truth was that I just hadn’t met the right guy. Jason wasn’t the right guy.

Maybe that was it. Maybe I was hypersensitive because Trevor was the one. Why else would I come here with him? Why else would I be thinking about the things that I was thinking about, namely getting naked with him.

If we did it, would people know? Would I be different? Would they be able to tell? I bet Mrs. Hannigan from church would. She had some weird internal radar when it came to that stuff and was always talking about teens and how wicked they could be. Would she look at me and just know? I heard that she wouldn’t let her daughter ride a bike because she thought she’d hit a bump or fall and somehow lose her virginity. Can you imagine?

“So,” Hailey said. “Let me guess. You lied to your parents and told them you were spending the weekend at my house?”

“Nope.” Well, not really.

I pushed past Hailey, and she followed me into the bedroom. A lamp was on near the bed, but it was small and barely cast any light. I guess some people might think it set the mood or something, but I was just glad that it made the bed seem a little smaller. Not so overwhelming.

“Damn, that’s a big bed.”

I groaned. “Hales.”

“I’m just saying. Link’s is smaller.”

“Do you want to switch rooms?” Yeah. I was now irritated.

“Chill,” she said, testing the mattress out with the palms of her hands. She giggled, pushed up and down a few times, in an exaggerated motion. “Good. It doesn’t squeak.”

“Oh my God, Hailey.”

She stepped back. “Just teasing, though you should know the walls in this cottage are paper thin.”

“Okay. Got it. Are you leaving?”

“Like, I can hear Brent snoring from here.”

I paused. Oh. She was right about that one.

Hailey took a step toward the door and paused. “So what did you tell your parents?”

“Nothing.”

She frowned, and I had to marvel at how her one eyebrow rose while the other didn’t. “What do you mean nothing?”

“They don’t know.”

“What do you mean they don’t know?”

“Hales, they don’t know I’m here.”

“But…” She made a weird face and threw her hands into the air. “Okay, don’t take this the wrong way, Everly, but in what world does that happen? Not in Everly Jenkins’s world. Aren’t you going to go, like, straight to hell or something?”

I made a face. “Ha. Ha. Ha. You always throw the religion thing in my face.”