Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

"Noelle Lange." Ariana twisted her hair into a bun and stuck a pencil through

it. "Are you jealous?"

Noelle hesitated for a split second and Ariana knew that no matter what Noelle said next, she had hit the nail

directly on the head. It was rare that Noelle showed a chink in the armor, and Ariana savored the moment.

"Don't be ridiculous," Noelle said. "I don't get jealous." She gave up on the zipper and sat down on the floor

to sort through another pile of clothes. "And besides, we weren't talking about me. We were talking about

you. And how you're so nervous to meet Daniel's parents that you can't even pull together a few pages of

decent bullshit."

"It's not that," Ariana said slowly, using her mouse to highlight everything she'd written about Madame

Bovary's more-than-questionable ethics. Her finger hovered uncertainly over the delete key. "I'm sure his

parents are fine." She lowered her finger and pressed the button. Her failed efforts of the past few days

disappeared, leaving a clean, blank screen. Ariana instantly felt better. It was nice when mistakes were so

easily wiped away.

"So what is it, then?" Noelle asked impatiently. "You're acting like you don't even want to go. The place

sounds amazing. It's supposed to be extremely-" "Exclusive," Ariana finished for her, slamming her laptop

screen closed in exasperation. "Believe me, I've heard. And it's not that I don't want to go. It's just that I'm a

little nervous about ..." She paused and glanced down at her lap. "About Daniel."

"Nervous about Daniel?" Noelle echoed. "Why? You're going to be with your hot boyfriend at an exquisite

resort doing nothing but skiing, sitting around the lodge, and ..." She paused, a devilish grin spreading across

her face. "Having sex. And now I get it."

Ariana buried her face in her hands. "Ugh. What's wrong with me?"

"Just pre-virginity-loss jitters." Noelle shrugged and threw a Hermes scarf at Ariana. "Stop thinking about it

and just do it already."

Ariana picked up the scarf and wrapped it around her neck. "But I just want to make sure it feels right." "It's

definitely not going to feel right," Noelle offered matter-of-factly. "It's going to feel like hell. So you have a

few glasses of wine first, and it's over before you know it."

"That's not what I mean." Ariana flopped down on her bed and wrapped her arms around her squishiest

pillow. "I just don't want to regret anything about my first time."

"You really have to deal with this obsessive need of yours to control every aspect of every situation," Noelle

said, amused. "And besides, what's to regret? Daniel Ryan is the perfect guy. And he loves you. Everybody