Dylan tried his utmost not to look embarrassed. “Sure,” he said.
“No!” Chrissy and Marie said together. Noelle busied herself getting into her sleeping bag.
Marie said: “They don’t really, do they? Nobody I know has ever been with a guy that did. Guys don’t do it until they’re married and they have to.”
That made him laugh. He wasn’t particularly experienced, but there was no way if he had the choice in the matter that he’d refuse it until marriage.
He said: “Why should we wait until marriage?”
“Because you don’t like doing it,” Marie said.
“That’s not true,’ Dylan said categorically, and then suddenly felt rather embarrassed, having opened up a little too much in front of the girl he was hoping might agree to a first date. And it wasn’t as though he was opening up about his own experience.
He caught Marie flashing a look of – what, envy? surprise? congratulations? – directed at Noelle, who rolled her eyes, but then cast a curious glance Dylan’s way.
“So why don’t guys just do it?” Marie asked.
“Half of them think they’re probably not allowed to, because girls have so many hang-ups about it.”
“There are some guys that don’t like doing it.”
“Sure, there probably are.”
“You like it?”
“Chrissy!” That was Noelle, chiding her friend, but now looking at Dylan with the kind of expression that stated clearly she wanted him to answer.
“What could be better?” he said simply.
Noelle seemed to catch her breath, but Dylan tried not to look at her, worried he’d be caught out in another half-truth. He wasn’t telling a lie that he would be very keen to try it, but hinting that he enjoyed it was getting ahead of himself – he wanted to enjoy it. The idea of going down on a girl was so sexy, it made him tremble with lust. But he’d never had first hand experience.
Chrissy gave a loud yawn that made them all laugh, and seemed to suitably distract from the awkward zone the conversation was heading toward. Telling the others that she was going to rest her eyes for a little while, she asked Dylan: “Have you got any gorgeous friends that are just like you, Dylan? Can you give them my number?”
Noelle grinned at him, seemingly with pride. It made his ears burn a little, but in a good way.
“Night!”
“Night!”
“Night, Dylan!”
“Night, Chrissy.”
He made himself comfortable, and tried his best to relax enough to allow sleep to overcome him. He could hope that when the morning came, he might get Noelle’s number, and perhaps the most unlikely of nights would lead to the most unlikely of first dates for an ordinary guy from the other end of town.
But maybe when the Apple Store opened its doors, and the line surged ahead, he’d lose track of her in the scramble – and that would be it.
*
It was a little later that he heard the whisper: “You awake?”
He hadn’t been able to get to sleep – not even slightly. He was so incredibly buzzed by his evening with Noelle – and could not get that kiss out of his head. He’d just been lying there on his back, staring up at the stars.
Now he could detect her perfume again, and then he was startled by a hand snaking over his chest.