Love always, your bestie, Izzie. xoxo
I then quickly unwrapped her gift, eager to see.
“Sorry… it’s not much,” she apologized. “I don’t have a lot of cash. I need to find another job.”
She’d recently gotten fired from McDonalds for reasons she never really explained. I still hadn’t gotten a job because my dad was too unreliable to drive me, being intoxicated most of his waking hours. My brothers both had their licenses, but were also too unreliable.
Getting my driver’s permit was first on my to-do list. Losing my virginity was second. Both would require Gavin’s assistance. Yes, I could have achieved the latter with any boy in the neighborhood. They were all too willing. But there was no way my first time was going to be with one of those imbecile delinquents. Gavin was the only one I could imagine being with.
I opened the box to discover a funny Garfield mug and a pretty silver necklace, its pendant a pink sprinkled donut, the wordFriendsetched on top. She smiled wide and fished a matching pendant out of her sweater. Her donut was blue and topped with the wordBest.I leaned in to give her a long hug. The gifts meant so much because they were so me. She knew I was obsessed with Garfield, amongst many other comic strips, and that I loved donuts with a passion she couldn’t quite understand.
I was almost brought to tears. “Thank you so much, Izzie.”
She bounced off the bed to help me put on the necklace. “Best friends forever, right?” Her soft touch sent a shiver down my spine as she fiddled with the clasp.
I smiled. “Yes… forever. Can you imagine us when we’re eighty?”
She laughed. “Yes, we’ll probably both be in one of those seniors homes, making trouble.”
I chuckled. “No…you’llbe making trouble. I’ll just be tagging along.”
She grinned playfully. “I’ll have all the old geezers wrapped around my little wrinkled finger.”
I raised a brow. “I bet you will. Will you still even be having sex then?”
“Hell, yeah.”
I laughed out loud. Yes, Izzie had once told me she loved sex. She’d already been with three guys. Paul Manning, good-looking enough but kind of a jerk in my opinion, was her first. By the time she hooked up with John Stevens, the second boy, I was happy that we didn’t have to talk endlessly about Paul anymore. The third was amanshe insisted, not aboy. He was apparently so much better at pleasing her than the other two. As close as we were, she never confided who he was, said she didn’t want to get him into trouble. I listened attentively, wanting to take in anything she would give me, because I totally understood. I wanted a man too. For a brief moment, I wondered if she could be talking about Gavin. I quickly concluded that it couldn’t be him. Honestly, it could have been anyone. She was always hanging around with her uncle’s friends. Every boy in town wanted to bed Izzie, but only three had had the pleasure.
She’d told me exactly what to expect. She’d explained that at first, it would hurt a little bit, but still feel good. Apparently, the second time wouldn’t hurt at all. And the third time would be amazing.Have you ever masturbated?she’d asked.Have you ever had an orgasm?Amid much blushing, I admitted that yes, I had. I’d first explored at the age of thirteen, following her suggestion.
“Oh, I’m so glad you listened to me,” she’d cheered. “Doesn’t it feel good?”
I’d smiled shyly. “It does but…”
“But what?”
“But I always feel weird when I do it… kinda guilty, like I shouldn’t be doing that.”
She’d shaken her head furiously. “There’s nothing wrong with doing it, Abby. Boys do it all the time. You know what my mom says?”
I’d sat up straighter. “What does she say?” I was eager to know what the great Adele had to say about masturbating.
“She says it’s good for girls our age to do it because it puts us in charge of our own pleasure. We don’t need to rely on boys to make us feel good. If we don’t really like a boy, if we don’t think he’s nice enough, or if we think he’s just using us, or having sex with anyone with a vagina, we can say ‘No, thanks,’ and run off and go masturbate in the shower.”
I’d laughed out loud. She was so damn hilarious sometimes. “You make an excellent point.”
“You remember that, okay?”
I was still laughing. “Okay, I will. Next time I’m making out with a boy, I’ll be like, ‘Uh wait… you’re a loser. I’m going to go home to masturbate instead.’”
She’d shrugged. “Might as well… if the guy’s a loser.”
“True.”
“Have you ever even kissed a boy?” She’d asked, not in a mocking tone, just in the way a girl might ask her best friend out of curiosity.
I’d blushed, thinking about Gavin. That kiss was the most amazing moment in my life, and I wished I could share it with her. Turns out, we both had our secrets. “Nope… not yet.”
