“Gross,” I said with a laugh. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Good,” she said before wishing me well on my hockey adventure and saying goodbye.
I hung up the phone and let it drop to the floor. This day needed to end so I could start fresh tomorrow. Sadly, it was just after lunchtime, and I had many hours to go before I could tuck myself into bed and try to forget all of this.
I lay on the couch wallowing in my misery until Alyssa texted and asked if I wanted to meet her and Jia for dinner after their last class. I figured a night out with the girls was better than continuing to think about my hockey sentence and my lack of sexual writing skills.
I pulled myself up off the couch and changed to meet them. I took a detour to Ackerson’s for an iced vanilla latte on the way. The scent ofcoffee made me think of Kennedy, so I called my stepmom on the walk back to campus.
“Hey, kid,” she answered on the second ring.
“Who is it, Mom?” Isaac yelled in the background.
I laughed. “Hey, Kennedy.”
She sighed. “Give me one second. Boys, be quiet and eat. No, you cannot talk to her.”
“Tell them I miss them,” I said, smiling at the thought of the twins descending on Kennedy’s café until she was done for the day. I felt a pang of homesickness, knowing that I wasn’t there with them. I really missed my family when I was away. Thanksgiving break couldn’t come soon enough. The boys seemed to age years, rather than months, in between each visit.
“We all miss you too. What’s up?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged, as the tall buildings of campus came back into view. “I went to Ackerson’s and thought of you when I smelled the coffee. Made me a little homesick.”
“I’m sorry, Soph. We can’t wait until Thanksgiving either. How was your day?”
“Terrible,” I groaned, speeding through a recap of the newspaper assignment. “And then, as if that’s not bad enough, Maggie says my sex scenes suck.”
Kennedy chuckled. “I’m sure she didn’t saysuck. Maggie is direct but diplomatic.”
“Well, she said they fizzle when they should sizzle, so I’m pretty sure that means they suck.” I sat down on a bench outside of the dining hall. “Can I ask you a question?”
“You know you can ask me anything,” Kennedy said, the sounds of the espresso machine spurting in the background.
“God, I can’t believe I’m starting this conversation…” I sighed and tipped my head back. “How did you and Mom write good sex scenes in Dad’s books?”
Kennedy laughed loudly. “Oh shit, Soph.” She gasped for air. “I’m not laughing at you, I swear.”
“Mhm,” I said, imagining her wiping tears from her eyes given how humorous she seemed to find this situation.
“I’m laughing because you are not even remotely going to like my answer.”
“Ugh,” I groaned. “It really is all true, isn’t it? Of course it is. All the plot points are based on real events, why wouldn’t the sex be completely accurate too?”
“Okay, well it’s not word-for-word accurate,” she clarified. “But we were both inspired by some real-life experiences—and sensations.”
I fake gagged into the phone. “Okay, thanks. Yep, this has been horrible.”
“For you, I’m sure. But it certainly was effective inspiration. I think Maggie even said your mom’s scenes with Dave were uncomfortable to read, but in a good way.”
“Okay, stop,” I demanded before sighing. “Kennedy, I haven’t had experiences worth pulling from for inspiration.”
Well, that’s not really true anymore, is it? I certainly have one I could start pulling from.
Kennedy’s voice lowered as if she wanted her next words to be too soft for the boys to hear. “Sophia, you’re in college surrounded by options. You just told me you’re going to be following the hockey team everywhere for the next few months. Go get experiences to use for inspiration.”
“Are you telling me to go have meaningless sex?” I slurped the last half-inch of my iced latte.
“I’m saying you have a year of college left and no one I know has ever regretted having a friends-with-benefits situation in college. Just be smart about it so I don’t have to confess to your mom and dad that I gave you this advice when you end up pregnant at twenty-two like those two idiots.”
