“Oh! Um . . . about to do it now.”
“Do it. What are you waiting for?”
God, I really needed to stop staring at his back.
“DO IT! Naughty girl! Naughty girl!” A squawk filled the room and I turned and shot Chloe a look.
“Talk about pressure!” I put the Coke to my lips and threw it back and, as I did . . .
Sweet, black liquid trickled down my throat. Like syrup. Slippery and refreshing. I closed my eyes and savored the moment, and when I opened them again, Noah had turned around and was staring at me with one raised brow. I had noticed that he could raise one at a time.
“And?” he pressed, looking eager for my reply.
“It’s amazing!” I almost squealed in delight as the cool liquid pooled in my stomach. “It’s . . . it’s better than coffee. Better than chilis, better than, God, I don’t know what it’s better than, but it’s better than all of that . . .”
“Better than sex?”
“What?” I swung around as Maxine walked into the kitchen.
“Better than sex,” she repeated.
“Um . . .” I felt my jaw loosen in shock. Sex! I knew what that was all of a sudden. Five seconds ago, sex had not even existed in my head and now, it did, and the thought of it made me blush and flush and I wanted to run and hide my face because I was sure it looked strange. And Noah’s face looked just as strange, as he glanced at me and then quickly away.
“What?” Maxine asked. “Tough crowd. You would think I walked in on an Amish convention or something. It’s just sex.”
I sipped the Coke again to avoid looking at her.Had I had sex? Did I have sex, and if so, who did I have it with? Was I good at it? Did I like it? Did Noah have it? Who with? How often? And. . .
“Can I borrow your beater? I’m trying to make these whey protein muffins.”
“Sure.” Noah pointed at the cupboard and Maxine walked over to it.
“Thanks. If you guys want one, they should be ready in about twenty minutes!” And with that she turned and exited. Leaving this massive, white sex elephant in the room with Noah and me.
“I . . . can’t remember having sex,” I suddenly said, even though I really hadn’t wanted to say anything about it at all.
Noah looked awkward, as if he didn’t know how to reply.
“Sorry, was that an overshare? It’s just weird, before Maxine said the word ‘sex,’ I didn’t even know it existed, really. And now I do, and that’s strange. What else don’t I know exists?”
Noah shrugged his big shoulders. “Who knows? You’re just going to have to find out.”
“When? When am I going to find it all out? And why do I know some things and not others? And surely I should remember something like sex? Or what a Coke tastes like? I mean, who the hell am I?”
Noah looked at me for a while. He seemed thoughtful and then he pushed a piece of paper across the table towards me. “You should start making a list. Write down all the things that you’ve discovered about yourself in the last few days.”
I sat down and looked at the blank piece of paper and imagined filling it with bits and pieces of myself.
“Do it,” he urged, passing me a pen now too.
“Right!Things I know about myself,” I scribbled.
1. I like sweet, milky coffee.
2. I like spicy foods.
3. I like Coke.
4. I like plants.
