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“Don’t use that guy’s writing as an example for anything.”
I laugh. “I won’t.”
“What else are you reading?”
I open my drawer and recite the magazine titles from my collection, and somehow, I stay on the phone with this man for five hours.
9A
LIAM
Too many nights later
Hang up the phone, Liam. Hang up the fucking phone.
“My parents still think I’m a virgin,” Genevieve says around one o’clock in the morning.
Those seven words should be enough for me to tell her we’ve talked way too long today, that we should return to three subjects ago when she was telling me about the time her ex-boyfriend pranked her with fake Taylor Swift tickets or when I was telling her how Miss Shaw keeps coming over my house to change clothes for some reason.
How the hell did we even get here?
“Hmmm.” I clear my throat, deciding to tread this topic carefully. “Why would they think you’re still a virgin?”
“Because they sent me to an abstinence camp last summer.”
“Did you learn anything?”
“Yeah, that there’s no such thing as an ‘abstinence camp.’” She laughs. “At the end, the counselors gifted every girl a pack of penis repellant panties.”
“What the hell are those?”
“Thick cotton briefs with soft spikes near the crotch just in case a guy tries to finger fuck you.”
“Do they work?”
“Want me to wear a pair to class, so you can see?”
I ignore that question. “You should write about that camp. I’m curious.”
“I will, after I finish writing about how my parents literally paid for us to be so estranged.” She pauses. “I’m sorry I keep bringing them up tonight. I’m just upset they have yet to call me back about coming home for the holidays.”
“It’s not a problem,” I say. “I understand.”
“I’m sure your parents aren’t half as bad.”
“They’re both in prison.”
“Oh…for how long?”
“Life.” I swallow. “Like I said, I understand.”
We hold the line in silence for a couple of minutes before she speaks again.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” I smile. “They’re career criminals and they’re exactly where they belong. I would tell you everything they’ve done, but we’d be on the phone for a week.”
“I wouldn’t mind that…”
