Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127712 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
But for whatever reason the science bug bit me hard. And here I am.
Here you are, Nova. A woman who just walked out of the woods with a stranger after tugging on his dick until he came in your hand.
Yep.
I can’t deny that.
But I’m also… smiling about the whole thing.
I mean, what the fuck, right?
Because I did this sort of thing as a tenth-grader in Mollymount High. I worked my way through the football team, and when I was done with them, I hit up a few baseball players.
And it was always just a handjob.
Which is the weird part.
Just a handjob.
I was not interested in fucking any of them. I just got off on the tease.
I was a virgin until I was nearly eighteen. And then I only did it to get it over with before college. Travis was my best friend and drove a red pick-up truck. So the night I lost my virginity I was working at the Dairy Queen. That was the summer before college and he would roll into the drive-thru every evening at ten, just before we closed. He ordered a banana split. I would save him a banana every single night because he’d pull into the parking lot with his ice cream and at ten-oh-five I’d get in the cab and we’d share it. Two spoons.
I never gave him a handjob. We were just friends. All growing up, actually. So this wasn’t romantic, it was just… us.
I was leaving for college the next morning and we stayed in the Dairy Queen parking lot for so long, the whole town went to sleep around us. We were just talking, and listening to music, and having a good time.
And then he kissed me. And it was… I dunno. I don’t know how to describe it. Earth-shattering. Life-altering. Not in a I-will-give-up-everything-and-marry-you kind of way. But it was close.
That kiss was… wow. It was beautiful.
And then the next thing I knew I was sitting in his lap, my skirt was hiked up my thighs, and my panties were on the seat next to us. We did it right there—in his truck, in the DQ parking lot—and we didn’t give a single shit if anyone saw us.
He didn’t come say goodbye to me before I left the next day, but I didn’t take it personally. I would’ve cried, if he had.
I cried a little anyway. My mom had died the year before and I was gonna miss my dad something horrible, but he cashed in his government pension to send me to school so I could be a scientist and I wasn’t gonna let him down.
Looking back, I think he knew he wasn’t gonna live long enough to enjoy that pension. But I didn’t realize it at the time. I didn’t grow up the way these people at this place did. I didn’t have all the things they had and I was called the trailer-park slut in high school by pretty much everyone, but I had good family who loved me. And I had Travis.
So as far as I was concerned, my childhood was a trailer-park fairytale.
I realize I have stopped walking in the middle of the Square. Or Diamond, as it may be. And it is considerably busier even though no more than twenty minutes have passed since I walked through here last. There is another cart, this one selling muffins, or something similar. It’s parked next to the coffee cart and the crowd around it is thick and excited. People are talking jovially and with animated hand gestures and happy expressions.
“Ryan!” someone says off to my left. “Hey!”
I turn to find a tall, slim, dark-haired girl with big brown eyes walking towards me. She’s wearing a smile, a pair of denim shorty-shorts, and a mustard-colored tank top with a daisy pattern. Her legs are so long I can’t stop looking at them. She is the definition of willowy and she must surely be a ballerina and not a science nerd.
“Hi,” she says, her face as bright as the flowers on her tank top. She offers me her hand, which I shake. “I’m Stalls. So nice to finally meet you.” Then she looks over her shoulder and calls, “People! Come meet Ryan!”
A good one-fifth of the large group peels off and starts my way. I’m not anti-social or anything, but I’m not social, either. So this sudden crowd throws me for a moment. I’m overwhelmed. And I get it. Mercer told me that everyone knows me and it’s my job to meet them today. But the way they all call me Ryan… it’s a bit weird.
“Hi, Ryan!”
“Great to meet you, Ryan!”
“What kind of coffee do you like? Or do you like tea? Let me get you one.”
“Want my croissant, Ryan?”
“Ryan, we’re having a party tonight. You’re coming, right? It’s for you, so you kinda have to.”