The Perfect Holiday

“Don’t be naïve, Molly,” Dan said. “He might be sleeping with other women. Unless you’ve talked about being in a relationship, you should always assume the other person is sleeping around.”

My jaw dropped. “You’re kidding,” I said. “People don’t do that!”

“What did I say about being naïve?”

I blushed. “You make me feel like such a dumb kid,” I said, shaking my head. “I never even thought about this stuff before.”

“Well, there’s a bit of a learning curve,” Dan said dryly. He reached for a slice of pizza and plucked the pepperoni off before eating. When he set them down on the box, I reached for one and chewed without even tasting it.

“I’m starting to figure that out on my own,” I said. I sighed. “This is just…harder than I thought it would be. And I don’t think I could sleep with anyone else! I like Alex too much. The thought of being with another guy just seems weird and kind of awful to me.”

Dan gave me a sympathetic look. “Molly, just promise me one thing.”

“What?”

“That you’ll never tell Alex any of what you just said to me,” Dan said. “You need to maintain a little…secrecy. That makes you sexier, trust me.”

I frowned. “I guess,” I said. “But I wouldn’t know how to bring this stuff up, anyway. I already have such a hard time talking to Alex.”

Dan shrugged. “You’ll get better,” he said. “Just keep practicing. And remember what I said – you can always meet some guy who has a crush on you, even if you never sleep with him. Practice on him – someone who likes you no matter what.”

I was about to reply as I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. “Oh my gosh,” I said. “I hope it’s Alex!”

Dan rolled his eyes. “You’re hopeless, Molly.”

My stomach churned and twisted when I saw Rebecca’s name flashing on the caller ID.

“It’s my roommate,” I hissed. “We got in this huge fight last week and we still haven’t talked!”

“You should answer it,” Dan said. “Maybe she wants to apologize for being such a meddling bitch.”

I blushed. The phone kept buzzing and buzzing. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of agony, I swiped the call open and held it to my ear.

“Hello?”

“I know you know it’s me,” Rebecca said. She sounded miserable. “Molly, I’m really sorry. This is just hard for me. Neither of us has ever dated before – we’ve both always spent so much time together.”

“I know.”

“Can you come out and meet me? I’ll buy you dinner.”

I looked down at the mostly empty pizza box. “Sorry, I just ate. I’m on campus – Dan and I ordered a pizza.”

“Oh, okay. Drinks then? We could go to a bar and I’ll buy you a few beers.”

I swallowed. Part of me wanted to say no, to yell at her for being such a bitch. But the other part of me desperately missed my friend. This had been one of the loneliest weeks of my life and I was looking forward to making up and getting over it.

“Okay,” I said. “Where do you want to meet?”

Rebecca gave me the address of a bar close to campus and I hung up, slipping the phone into my pocket.

“We’re going to get drinks together,” I said, getting to my feet and picking up my things. “Sorry, I felt sort of like I had to say yes.”

Dan waved his hand in the air. “Hey, don’t worry about it,” he said. He rolled his eyes. “You think you have a dramatic life? Try being a gay man.”

I laughed. “Thanks for not minding,” I said. Dan pecked me on the cheek and I set out for the bar.

When I got there, it was so crowded I could barely squeeze past the bar. Rebecca was at a small table in the back, nursing a glass of white wine.