Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I don’t know why my dad trusted him. Ben was far from a saint. Our senior year, he dated three girls and had sex with all of them. This past summer, he and his family spent two weeks at a cabin in the Ozarks, where he met a woman ten years older than him. Ben wouldn’t give me all the details because he said he didn’t want me to judge him. But leaving me to guess only made me judge him more. Still, my parents loved him because they didn’t know he was such a sinner. He was a “ma’am” guy, so my mom adored him for respecting women with his “Yes, ma’am. No, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.”
Ben dragged me to the third row from the blackboard because he liked to record all of his classes to relisten to the lecture before bed. So I had to actually pay attention instead of scribbling poems in my notebook, which should have been fine since it was a creative writing class.
I wrote a message on my notebook and slid it toward him.
How many times have you done it?
Ben squinted at it before peaking his eyebrows at me.
The professor removed several books from her bag and glanced up to survey the rest of the students making their way to their seats.
Ben retrieved a pen from his backpack and scribbled:
Done what?
He knew darn well what.
IT!!!
Ben smirked. He loved getting me riled up.
I don’t know.
How could he not know? He was on the verge of turning nineteen, not twenty-nine. If I knew I’d had sex zero times, then he had to know if he’d had it five or ten times.
8?
Ben shook his head and bobbed a thumbs-up.
10?
Again, he signaled up.
15?
The professor cleared her throat and asked everyone to take a seat and quiet down.
I frowned at Ben, so he scribbled on my notepad again.
30+
My jaw dropped, and Ben returned a muted laugh while pressing his finger below my chin to close my mouth.
Ben needed more Jesus in his life.
CHAPTER TWO
LISA LISA & CULT JAM, “HEAD TO TOE”
Gabby
“Does your mom know you have a crush on this guy?” My roommate Olivia asked as I applied a little blush and cherry ChapStick in the full-length mirror behind our dorm room door.
I knew nothing about makeup because my parents frowned upon me wearing it, but I wanted Matt to see me as all grown up.
“Who said I have a crush on him?” I rubbed my lips together. “He’s a friend. Our families go way back. He dated my oldest sister.”
She reclined in her desk chair, hair-sprayed bangs the size of two sausages and the rest of her red permed hair pulled into a banana clip. She pushed her glasses up her nose. Olivia always wore electric blue eyeshadow and thick mascara with dark red lipstick, and she did so with confidence.
“Matt plays baseball,” she crossed her arms over her chest, “and he’s in law school. And he has good manners. He rarely missed a Sunday in church. He’s smart. His family owned most of the land in Devil’s Head. Dude … I feel like I totally know this guy because you’ve not-so-casually mentioned him a hundred times. I don’t talk about my family’s ‘friends’ or my sister’s ex-boyfriend because that would be weird. So you totally have a crush on him. Just admit it so we can really talk about him. Like do you think about kissing him? Would you have sex with him or would your sister be mad? What about a girlfriend? Does he have one? How far would you go on a first date?”
Those were good questions, but did I know her well enough to share the answers? We would be roommates until summer. Aside from her, Matt, and Ben, I didn’t have any other friends yet.
“Fine.” I zipped my makeup bag. “If you must know, Matthew Cory has not only been the muse for my poetry, I imagine he’s the one who I will be with on my wedding night. We’ll be in a white canopy bed with Roberta Flack’s ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ playing, and he’ll whisper in my ear, ‘It’s always been you, Gabriella.’ After we finish,” I cleared my throat, “doing it, we’ll spoon the entire night, and I’ll wake with perfect hair and minty breath. And if you ever tell anyone I told you that, I will have to kill you, which means I’ll also go to Hell. So please give me something to hold over your head. It’s only fair.”
Olivia cupped a hand over her mouth and snorted. “Oh my gosh, Gabby!”
Embarrassment worked its way up my neck and settled in my cheeks.
“Are you a virgin?” Her eyes bugged out.
“I’m serious, Olivia. Tell me your darkest secret.”
“Fine. Whatever.” She tapped a finger on her chin. “I have a crush on someone too.”