She stepped in to kiss me good night and brushed back my hair, smiled at some memory, and went on to Haylee’s room. I hoped she had at least washed away any traces of smoke and brushed her teeth before doing anything else. She had to; I didn’t. I kept listening for Mother’s voice being raised, but I heard nothing out of the ordinary. She dimmed the hallway lights and went to her room.
When I came out of the bathroom, Haylee was waiting, sprawled on my bed. The happy expression of excitement, revealing how she was nearly exploding with the need to tell me something, annoyed me. I had enjoyed my time with Matt. I liked him very much, and thinking about how we were together made me feel warm all over, eager to go to sleep and to dream. Haylee, on the other hand, looked like she would stay up all night talking. There was also that familiar “I’m ahead of you” look that irritated me so much.
“So what did you mean?” I began, folding some clothes I had left out and putting away my shoes.
“Sit down, for God’s sake, Kaylee. I have a lot to tell you.”
“It’s getting late,” I said. “Mother is going to wake us up early. You heard her.”
“Will you stop being such a child? I lost my virginity tonight,” she blurted. “That’s what I meant.”
I knew it; I just didn’t want to hear about it, but I could see that would be impossible. “Why did you do that? You hardly know him,” I said.
“That’s not important. He’s not bad-looking, and he’s no virgin. He was a good boy to lose my virginity with. I’ve heard stories girls like Toby Sue and Melanie tell about how painful it was and how they bled and how they were so sore afterward. They made it sound more like losing a tooth or something. Melanie hasn’t had sex since, for example. How good is that? The boys they were with probably were losing their virginity at the same time, so they didn’t know what they were doing. They were like ‘slam, bam, thank you, ma’am’ lovers, if you could even call them lovers.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s an old expression Toby Sue told me. It means the boy has an orgasm before you do and then just says thanks and good-bye. Selfish and inexperienced boys, that is. I knew Jimmy was experienced.”
“How?”
“Val Hepworth told me she did it with him a few weeks ago at her house, and it was great. She did it with him because Paige Blackman had done it with him and told her about it and how good it was.”
“So that’s why you began flirting with him?”
“He was flirting with me,” she said, insulted. “I didn’t give him the time of day until I wanted to.”
I sat on my bed, and she sat up and backed up against my pillow and headboard, spreading her legs.
“I’m a little sore, but I didn’t bleed,” she bragged.
“I thought that always happens.”
“If your hymen has not been broken, it usually does, but I have one of those vibrators.”
“What?”
“You remember. I showed you pictures of them in that magazine at Toby Sue’s.”
“How did you get one?”
“Paige gave it to me. Her mother had three of them, and she swiped one for me.”
“Ugh,” I said, recoiling. “You took someone else’s vibrator?”
“I cleaned it well. Don’t worry.”
“Where is it?”
“Taped under my bed. Mother will never find it. Anyway, it made a big difference. I’ll give it to you, and you can prepare yourself for the big night.”
“I don’t want it. I don’t want to think of it like that.”
“Right. You want to be floating on a cloud with violins playing. Don’t be such a child, Kaylee.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Stop being it, then,” she said. She pouted a moment and then smiled again. “I wasn’t sure I was going to do it tonight. I thought I would come close and wait maybe until the next time, but he’s good. He didn’t force himself on me or anything. We went to his bedroom, and when we were kissing, he brought my hand to his penis. I didn’t even know he had taken it out.”