“I’m… I’m a virgin.”
I stare at her for a second, just a second, preparing my response. I don’t move, don’t even blink, because there isn’t enough time.
There isn’t enough time before the door of the waiting room opens abruptly, and someone comes in, talking loudly as they do so.
Chapter Thirteen
Gabby
Oh.
My.
God.
I’ve never been so embarrassed in my whole life.
I can’t believe this is happening. I mean, really – I can’t believe it. This is maybe the most humiliating thing that’s ever happened to me, and I just want the ground to swallow me whole.
Behind Oz’s shoulder, I get a glimpse of them in the split second before we immediately begin to move. A tour guide, he must be, given that he’s only a little older than me and holding a clipboard as he opens the door. Behind him, following so close on his heels that they can’t help but see everything, is an older couple with a boy who definitely looks more my age.
Another prospective student, and his parents.
And then we’re moving fast, so fast I don’t think I’ve ever even moved so fast in my life. Oz leaps to his feet and straightens himself up, quickly smoothing down his jacket and clearing his throat. At the same time, I shoot upright on the bench, twisting myself around and glancing down my body to make sure that nothing is on show. My dress is rumpled but intact, and I smooth down my hair rapidly, wanting to put everything back in the right place.
“Um, hello,” the tour guide says, nervously. He’s gone bright red, and I can feel by the searing heat in my face that I have, too. “This is, um. The waiting area for the campus tours?”
He says it like it’s a question, and I know he’s wondering if we’re here for a reason or if we just stumbled in here to have sex thinking that it was abandoned. Oh, no. This is the tour. And I have to walk around with these people for the whole morning. They saw what we were doing.
Oh, my god.
“Yes,” Oz says, finding his voice before I can. “We’re here for the tour.”
“Right,” the tour guide replies, looking down at his clipboard busily. Behind him, the others are still staring at us. The boy, and a couple of other girls who I didn’t see before, are staring at us open-mouthed. The parents who were right in the doorway and the first to see are glaring at us. Like we’re the worst thing in the world. Like we’re both monsters or something. Given what I’ve read about British sensibilities and the attitude towards sex here, well… maybe I’m not far off.
Doing it in a college tour waiting room really has to rank quite high on the list of things you’re not supposed to get caught doing.
I’m making such a good impression here, already. I’m just glad it wasn’t somehow the Dean of Admissions that caught us.
“Here,” Oz says, moving to the side and helping the flustered guide out by pointing to what I guess must be my name on his list. “Gabriella.”
“Okay,” the tour guide replies nervously, ticking it off with a kind of high-pitched laugh. “Looks like you were the last ones we needed to gather, so we can start the tour right away.”
“Please do,” I mutter, still wishing for some kind of spirit to appear and carry me off into the sky so I don’t have to go through this.
Oz isn’t looking at me as the tour guide turns and leads us all out of the room again. He follows quickly, joining the crowd, leaving me to lag behind. I gather myself and get up, slipping out of the door just before it closes behind them all.
This is so horrible. I think this is the worst day of my life. What a start to my college career.
I can’t believe I messed everything up in the space of about ten seconds. One – telling Oz I was a virgin. What a stupid thing to do. Why did he need to know? I could have quite happily gone through with it without him knowing. I was enjoying myself. It was actually the best moment of my life right up until it suddenly plummeted in the wrong direction – his body over me, his mouth and hands all over me, his hardness pressing against my leg…
And then it all quickly disappeared as soon as it had started. Seconds two through six were at least as long as it took for him to stare at me blankly and in horror, realizing what I had just told him. And then there were the four seconds between the door opening, us looking up and seeing who was coming in, and absolutely failing to cover anything up at all as we sprang apart.