First

‘You’re just jealous.’ He laughs when I open my mouth to rage at him. ‘I’ll see you later. And don’t drive like a frigging maniac, okay?’

He plugs in his other ear bud. A few lazy stretches and he jogs away in the opposite direction I take to get to the campus. I watch him for as long as I dare before starting my Camaro and heading out.

Class isn’t bad. Our final is to turn in a research paper, which I finished weeks ago. My professor wishes me well, releasing me early. I call Maya, my closest friend, as I walk toward our favourite coffee shop. ‘Where are you?’

‘Wow, you’re out early. I’m about five minutes away. Get us a table?’

‘Sure.’

It’s not as busy as normal, probably because it’s the middle of a finals hour. I order my drink first and claim a small table near the back. Maya joins me a few minutes later, all breezy apologies and sweetness. She rushes off to order her drink and brings back both to the table.

‘So did you ask him?’ she asks as she sits down. She knows about my plan. In fact, she’s tried to talk me out of it. It was only when she realised how serious I was that she gave in and agreed to help. She called it risk mitigation and I told her to stop trying to use big words she found in my business textbooks. Even if she used it correctly.

I sip my iced coffee. ‘A big fat no. Technically a hell no.’

Maya frowns. ‘What’s wrong with him? Can’t he see you’re freaking gorgeous?’

‘Says the woman scouted for modelling jobs,’ I retort.

Maya and I are studies in contrast. I’m thin and small breasted, with nearly white-blonde hair and a swath of freckles over my nose. Maya’s nothing but curves, with rich bronze skin and the thickest, most luxurious tight curls I’ve ever seen. Seriously, when Maya walks into a room, heads turn. Add those killer looks to her sharp wit and free-spirited personality and any man is a goner. Too bad for the general population she seems to have found the one.

Maybe I should try her methods …

She must be thinking the same thing because she asks delicately, ‘How’d you ask him?’

‘We were having a normal conversation,’ I say. ‘We were joking around and I asked him if he wanted to help de-virginise me and—’

Maya chokes on a sip of her latte. ‘De-virginise? That’s not even a real word!’

‘He understood it fine.’

‘And he said no?’

I nod. She taps her finger on the side of her cup.

‘I didn’t expect that. I mean, he’s so …’

‘Yeah. Trust me, I know.’

And I do, since I know exactly where her mind has drifted. Maya’s first meeting with Dally had occurred our freshmen year when he came to the mall to help us get Old Blue started. He’d come directly over from work, so when he hopped off his motorcycle, he was still in his dirty, greasy mechanic’s jumpsuit. The sun was high and the pavement hot and he swore and muttered under his breath the entire time he laboured over the engine. About an hour in, he’d given up on propriety and unzipped the jumpsuit partway, exposing his white tank top, and tie

d the sleeves into a makeshift belt around his waist.

At that point, Maya made the excuse we were going to go buy him some water and dragged me away to grill me about whether or not Dally and I had done it. Thus, she learned about my virginity and my brother’s hot roommate in one fell swoop and was not at all surprised when a few days ago I brought up my plan.

Maya is still thinking. ‘Did he say why?’

I sigh and lean back in my chair. ‘Apparently he’s worried Jake will get upset.’

‘That’s the understatement of the century,’ she mutters as she takes another sip.

I glare at her. ‘This isn’t about Jake, okay? This is about me and what I want.’

‘And what you want is …’

Dally. I push that thought down quickly. ‘To lose it before commencement.’

Maya sees through me in an instant. Her eyes go all gooey and sad. ‘Oh honey, I know how much you like Dallas—’