Grace looked at me, then Libby, and then back to me. “It’s not a big deal. It was nothing, and I haven’t been acting differently since spring break. You’ve only been around me three weeks, Libby! Have you noticed a difference, Alex?”
“Um…no, not really. Well, you do stare off into space a lot, like you’re thinking hard. But I want to know about the fling!” I moved to my knees and started hopping. I was just glad the conversation was not about me.
Grace laughed and pushed me over.
“Come on, Grace. Tell her about hot Noah,” Libby said with a wink.
I stopped jumping. “Noah? Isn’t that the name of the guy who bumped into you at A&M? It was Noah, right?”
“Yes!” Libby said as Grace answered at the same time, “No!”
Libby looked confused. “Grace, you two did so know each other. He said he was glad he didn’t knock you down this time.”
Again, my mouth was hanging open. “You had sex…with the hot A&M guy? How in the hell did you manage that?”
Libby giggled.
Grace began moving about nervously. “It’s not a big deal. I don’t want to rehash it. It’s over.”
Libby’s smile faded.
I reached for Grace’s arm. “Grace, did he hurt you or something?”
Grace rolled her eyes. “No! God, no. He was actually a great fuck. That’s all he was though.” She got up, headed over to her desk, and sat down. She opened up the laptop and began searching on the Internet.
Libby and I looked at each other.
I wasn’t sure if I should push for more info or not. “Well, can I ask if you knew he was going to be there?”
Without turning to face me, she said, “Nope, I had no clue.”
“So, y’all just bumped into each other again and decided to, as you call it, fuck?”
She turned and looked at me, and I swore she had tears in her eyes.
“Yes, Alex. We exchanged numbers on the beach. I wanted to get laid, and he wanted to get laid, so it all worked out perfectly. We fucked, and when we were done, I got up and left. End of story.” She turned back and began typing an email.
There was more to the story than Grace was letting on.
Libby stood up and walked over to Grace. “Grace, do you want to talk about it?”
Grace spun around in her chair and smiled at us. “No. Really, y’all, it’s not a big deal. Please, can we move on?”
Libby and I both said, “Okay,” as we looked at each other.
I glanced back up to Grace and made a mental note to talk to her alone later.
I pulled up and parked behind Will’s truck. Instead of having Will pick me up, I had decided to just meet him at the clubhouse. I took a deep breath as I opened the car door and got out. I walked up to the clubhouse door.
Right before I reached it, Will opened it. “Hey, beautiful.”
My heart skipped a beat, and my stomach dropped at the sight of him. I loved him so much, but I knew I had been pushing him away. I couldn’t deal with the fact that he knew Blake had touched me. Lying in bed at night, I would wonder if Will thought any different of me.
He reached for my hand, and I began to panic. We were going to be alone in the clubhouse. Will would surely want to make love.
Am I ready?
Yes.