Tom's sophomore year at State practically flew by. He'd really come into his own. He took to the Landscape Architecture program like a duck to water and actually had the faculty competing over who got to assign him to their internships. In the spring, he joined a fraternity and made some friends he knew he'd have for the rest of his life. The brothers in his house definitely knew how to party, although they weren't anywhere near as bad as some of the other houses that were notorious for all-night bashes that turned into morning-after puke fests.
And he met plenty of girls.
He never had trouble getting dates. Swimming just often enough to stay in shape, he had an athletic build that a lot of girls told him was "buff", and more than a few of them fawned over "his cute smile". Tom ended up sleeping with some of them.
But every now and then, his thoughts turned to Amy. He wondered how she was doing. Mostly, he wondered if she felt like she fit in, if she'd made friends, if she'd started to think about what she wanted to do. And yet, he couldn't deny that one of the things he wondered about most persistently was whether she was still a virgin.
They'd parted as friends -- or maybe, as the phrase went, "friends with benefits" -- and Amy had insisted that she wanted to stay in touch during the academic year, but Tom warned her that they would both probably get wrapped up in life at their own campuses. And sure enough, he'd gotten a few e-mail messages from her in September, but come October the correspondence had died out.
Early June found him back home, basking beneath the sun in his front yard in the few free days he had before he started a job with the Parks Department. And he was still wondering whether Amy's virginity had survived her first year at college.
When a shadow fell across his face, he was pleased but not surprised to see her standing above him. She looked great.
"Hey," he greeted her with a smile, propping himself up on his elbow. "Long time no see. How was your first year?"
Amy beamed back a friendly grin and sat down beside him on the blanket he'd spread out on the lawn. "Great! You wouldn't believe some of the things that happened..."
Like it was for most everyone, Amy's first year had been an eye-opening experience. She recounted the highlights for Tom with enthusiastic, animated gestures, and her zeal was so infectious that he found himself with a permanent grin plastered across his face. When the heat started getting uncomfortable, he invited her inside for a cold drink and continued to listen to her stories.
They were sitting on the couch in his living room, cooling off with some ice water, when the conversation turned to sex.
Tom wasn't terribly surprised when Amy confessed she'd had a change of heart about her virginity. Still, it took some effort to keep the disappointment from showing on his face. She'd probably found someone to experiment with.
"I guess I got tired of it being such a big deal," Amy said thoughtfully in between sips of water. "It's like it was becoming this gala event, some larger-than-life production that would never happen because everything had to be just right. The right mood, the right reason, the guy I would spend the rest of my life with. It shouldn't be that much work."
"Kinda takes all the fun out of it," Tom agreed with a nod, although his smile had diminished somewhat.
"That's exactly it!" Amy threw her hands up to punctuate her point. "My first time shouldn't wait until I have my whole life mapped out, right down to retirement. It should be fun, something so good that I won't just enjoy it, I'll remember it."
Wait.
Tom blinked as his brain caught up with what Amy had just said. "Your first time...? You mean, you haven't...?"
The sly, womanly smile that Amy directed at him shot straight to his groin. As she spoke, he went from zero to rock hard in less than ten seconds.
"I want my first time to be with someone I can trust, someone who I know won't take advantage of me or hurt me. That's you, Tom," Amy explained softly, reaching out her hand and letting her fingers dance teasingly along his arm. "I haven't met anyone yet who's made me feel as good as you do. You're everything I could want in a lover. So how 'bout it? Are you willing to teach me some more, or should I go find someone at the pool?"
Amy's playful smile abruptly became a yelping laugh as Tom pounced on her and pinned her beneath him on the sofa.
"Deal," he agreed before diving down for a fierce, possessive kiss.
It looked like it was going to be another incredible summer.
But that, as they say, is another story. |
