Lisa raises her eyebrows. "That’s good, right? I mean, you’re okay being involved with this guy?"
I nod. "Yeah, it’s no big deal."
I look down at my coffee. It's milky and sweet, the way Lisa always makes it, even when no one else drinks it the way she makes it.
"You slept with him, didn’t you?" she asks.
I snap my eyes up to her. I shake my head, but I'm smiling.
"You did! You sly dog, you slept with him!" She shifts in her seat, changing her position a little. "You have to tell me everything. Oh, my God, Nicole lost her V-card."
I shake my head, feeling silly now that she's making such a scene about it. At the same time, it makes me happy that she does. No matter how much I want to pretend it wasn’t important to me, it totally is.
"It’s no big deal, right?" I say. "You told me that."
Lisa gives me a look that suggests I should cut the bullshit. I laugh.
"Okay," I say. "It's a big deal to me. And it was fantastic."
Lisa smiles, looking satisfied with herself, like the idea that I had a good time in bed with a man was because of her, personally.
"I knew you would say that," she says. "I’m so glad you took that leap. What was it like?"
I shake my head, reeling a little. "I don’t know. A little sore. I guess that’s normal, right? He was nice about it, though. Gentle and all that. He makes me feel like I’m the only woman he’s ever been with."
"You’re not though, right?" Lisa asks.
I shake my head. "Doubt it, with a man as confident as he is. Besides, he knew what he was doing. I think he’s been with someone before."
Lisa nods. "Well, you did it. I’m so proud. You look different, too. I knew something was up. Are you going to keep doing it now that you’re over on the other side?"
I laugh, feeling embarrassed. "What kind of question is that?"
Lisa shrugs. "I’m just asking. The more you do it, the better it gets. The very first time is always the worst because it hurts, and you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. Once you have a couple of guys under your belt, it’s so much better."
I chuckle. "I don’t know. One time, or maybe two, at a time, okay? I can’t even think about my future sexual exploits. It literally just happened."
"Yeah, okay." She drinks some more of her coffee. "What is he like? I know you can’t compare him to anyone, but is he big? Was he good in bed? Did he do a lot of foreplay, or did he go right in for the kill?"
I roll my eyes, laughing. "Is this what I’ve been missing out on? Detailed discussions about men’s anatomy and their style of lovemaking?"
Lisa shrugs. "It’s how it works. Women are more disgusting than men when it comes to dirty talk. You should know that."
I don't have a lot of friends to compare my life with. Lisa has been my contact to the outside world when it comes to men and sex.
"I’ll see," I say finally. "About doing it again, I mean. I’m sure Thomas would want to. He’s been wanting to do it from the start."
"You’re going to keep going back to him?"
I shrug. Of course, I'm going to keep going back to him. "I like him," I say.
Lisa shakes her head. "Just because he took your virginity doesn’t mean he has to have a hold on you. You’re more than within your rights to say thank you and goodbye."
I shake my head. "You’re really a piece of work, you know that?" It seems to me that Lisa thinks like a guy more than anything else. "I want to go back to Thomas. I like him."
Lisa blinks at me. "So, when you say you like him, you don’t mean the way he is in bed. You mean as a person."
I nod.