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“It’s okay. I’m pretty sure there are days he feels the same way about you.”
She crossed her eyes and made a face.
Bumping the door closed, I slid against the pillows to sit at the head of the bed. “Okay, tell me all about him.”
Surprise stamped her features, and she gawked at me. “What?”
“You heard me, tell me all about him.”
Confusion filled her eyes, and she frowned. “What do you want to know?”
“Well, what do you like about him? What does he do? How does he talk to you? What are you hoping for if you go out with him…those kinds of things.”
They were the kind of things I used to talk to the guys about back when they were first dating. Some of the girls, too. Though arguably, those were the same girls pumping me for info on how to date my guys.
Not that I ever shared that much.
“Um…wow. I thought you were going to try and give me the sex talk or tell me all the reasons this is a bad idea.”
“Do you need the sex talk?”
“No!”
I didn’t laugh, but it was a close thing.
“Okay. Do you know all the reasons it’s a bad idea?”
“He’s older than me, we go to different schools, he might have expectations because high school boys like it when you put out. But I’ve only been kissed a couple of times, not sure about the other stuff. I know it can be hard to tell them no, or at least, that’s what Laurie said. She cashed in her V-card at camp over the summer.”
“Wait, she didn’t want to, but she did?” That bothered the hell out of me.
“She said she got kind of scared, but he got her through it and it wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t so great either. That’s not really a ringing endorsement, you know.”
“No,” I said, slowly. “It’s not.”
Trina deflated in front of me. “I just…he likes me, and I like him. I like hanging out with him. He asked. Coop was supposed to talk to Mom, but Mom said she’d think about it, but he called me an hour ago and said that after Coop threatened him that maybe it wasn’t a good idea.”
“Okay, well the guy gets points for actually calling and not blowing you off, but… I’m taking away at least one of them for using your brother as excuse.”
Her whole expression screwed up in a frown. “Why? Coop and Jake can be scary when they chase guys off. You forget, I’ve seen them do it when it came to you.”
“Because, you’re a package deal.”
Trina blinked. “What?”
“You have a big brother,” I reminded her. “His job, at least the way he sees it, is to protect you. Big brothers threaten guys who want to date their sisters. It’s a guy thing. If that guy can’t handle it…” I spread my hands.
“So, you think if some guy had stood up to them and asked you out anyway, you might be dating him instead of Coop?”
“We’ll never know.” Considering my first date was with someone who hadn’t been “in the know” it was very likely. “I know…what it is to want someone to like you for you. To have them want you and want to do things for you. I can blame the guys for a lot of things in warning people off and making me this… isolated and untouchable person. Trust me. I do. We’ve had our moments. But at the same time? No one else was willing to stand up to that heat, which means I wasn’t worth it to them.”
I’d never really voiced it aloud that way before, but it was true. I went from being furious to yelling at them, to finally admitting what I wanted, and the one-eighty we all took had been heady and intoxicating.
But the truth was, I adored those four, even if I’d never really admitted it to myself before.
“You want to be wanted, and that’s cool. But want to be wanted for the right reasons. Sex isn’t status. It should be…fun and intoxicating and make you feel more connected. It should really feel good. It doesn’t matter if his dick is in you or not or you’ve been making out for hours, no still means no.”
Trina paled. “Frankie…”
