The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth - Alexandra Robbins [64]
At Madison’s, Whitney was getting drunk when Luke, already intoxicated, stumbled into the house. Whitney and Luke grew increasingly cuddly, putting their arms around each other, caressing each other’s legs as they chatted. Whitney knew that Luke got horny when drunk. He was the only person to whom she wanted to lose her virginity. Her wheels turned. “Come with me to get something from my car,” she told him.
She took his hand and walked him outside. She leaned against the side of her car. The chilly October air made her shiver through her filmy shirt. Luke took off his zip-up and put it around her. He zipped her in slowly, and when he got to the top, their eyes met. Her heart pounded. He hugged her to him tightly. She stopped shivering.
He whispered in her ear. “What do you want right now?”
“I’m not sure,” she whispered back.
“I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”
“Me either, but I totally think it’s going to happen.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
Neither of them moved for at least five minutes, seemingly wrestling over what they were going to do. Please let us hook up tonight, she thought as they hugged. Please, please.
Then he said, “We need to swear that nothing will be weird with us and that it won’t change our friendship.”
Whitney reached her hand above her head, pinky extended. He did the same. “I promise,” Whitney said.
Luke broke the embrace, looked into her eyes, and kissed her. It was better than she could have imagined. If she hadn’t been leaning on the car, she was sure she would have fainted from happiness. Her fingers curled around the back of his neck. He ran a hand through her hair. It wasn’t cold at all anymore.
They heard voices and sprang apart. Two drunk guys from the party were rounding the corner. “Oh, hey, Whitney! People are looking for you,” one of them slurred as they walked by.
As soon as the guys left, Luke and Whitney resumed making out. His hands moved down her stomach and began unbuttoning her jeans. She had no doubts that she wanted this to happen. She couldn’t stop smiling. Her hands slid down his body. They went into her car.
When they were through, Whitney reveled in her afterglow, ecstatic that she had lost her virginity to someone she loved. As they dressed, they decided they weren’t going to tell anyone what they had done. When they walked back into the house, however, the partygoers stopped what they were doing and eyed her “crazy sex hair,” disheveled clothes, and flushed cheeks. Whitney knew they knew. She slithered through the crowd to get her coat. Giselle came dashing over.
Whitney later found out that the two guys had told Giselle that Whitney was throwing up by her car because that was what their intoxicated minds assumed. Giselle had gone outside looking for her, peered into the car, caromed back into the house, and screamed to the entire party, “WHITNEY AND LUKE ARE HAVING SEX!”
“Whitney, oh my God, are you okay?” Giselle said, large, drunken tears streaming down her face.
“Uh, yeah?” Whitney said, perplexed. “Why are you crying?”
“Because you just had sex.”
“But, like, you just had sex five minutes ago.”
“But you expect me to have sex,” Giselle said.
The next day, Whitney and Luke discussed their relationship. They decided to hook up only with each other, but without the boyfriend-girlfriend label. Whitney accepted these terms because she was overjoyed that their relationship had moved beyond platonic friendship.
IRENE, A SHORT, LOUD junior, had been trying to manipulate her way into the popular group ever since she had moved into town a few years before. This year, as a cheerleader, she managed to get onto Giselle’s good side. She regularly invited the populars to her large house and offered to steal liquor from her mother.
Irene’s status changed at a party at Giselle’s, where she hooked up