Finally, they were at, “I love him, but how can I possibly stay with him after he humiliated me like this?” which seemed like progress to Anna. Though in response Anna said that she herself wasn’t a girl who cared what people thought, since it was none of their damn business. Lolly agreed with Anna, but she knew Steven didn’t. The example she used to prove her point was admitting to Anna that their whole screw-a-versary was a sham.
“I’m still a virgin,” Lolly said in small voice. “I just let Steven tell people we’re having sex.”
Anna’s curiosity was piqued. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Lolly sniffled and said she knew it was confusing, but the only reason she agreed to call it that was because of Steven’s dumb male pride. A year ago, when it was time to celebrate the six-month anniversary of the day they first decided to be boyfriend and girlfriend and changed their status across all social media, Lolly found out that Steven didn’t want to celebrate it. This caused their first big fight. Steven said anniversaries were for married people and he refused to do something so girly.
Normally she gamely went along with whatever Steven wanted, but this time she refused. She told him it was important to her to celebrate, and he should do it to make her happy. But Steven kept saying no and eventually after going around and around and not getting anywhere, she wondered if there was something else that was going on. Maybe he was upset over something completely unrelated but it was getting all mixed up in his head.
Anna, impressed by Lolly’s astute thinking on the matter, gestured for her to continue.
“Well, turns out I was right. There was something else going on, which was that Steven finally admitted he was fine with me wanting to wait to have sex until I was ready, but he was embarrassed to let his friends find out we hadn’t done it yet.”
“Why would his friends find out?” Anna asked.
“That’s what I said!” Lolly exclaimed. “So then he said if his friends found out he bought me jewelry for our anniversary when he wasn’t even getting laid he’d get tons of shit for it.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard,” Anna said, and she meant it.
“That’s what I said! But then he said, ‘Now if we were celebrating our six-month screw-a-versary, that’s something I could get behind.’ He was joking, of course, you know in that way your brother jokes about everything. So without thinking, I asked him if I agreed to let him tell his friends we had sex on the night he asked me to be his girlfriend then could we celebrate it? And he said yes, and the rest is history.”
Anna was a little shocked over how utterly ridiculous the whole story was. “And it worked? I mean, was everything fine after that?”
“Yep. Steven had his friends thinking he was a stud. And I got taken to Per Se for our six-month screw-a-versary and the diamond studs from Tiffany’s that you picked out.”
Anna smiled at this because she had forgotten about going with Steven to pick out the earrings Lolly was pointing to in her ears. “Wow, and you really don’t care that people don’t think you’re a virgin?”
“Please, these days I’d be made fun of for wanting to wait. I mean, I know the truth, and who am I keeping my virginity for but me? I consider it one of the most mature relationship moments of my life. I found a compromise that Steven and I are happy with.” Lolly told Anna her mother always said the number-one reason she divorced Lolly’s father was because he wouldn’t compromise. So Lolly had it ingrained in her that she should steer clear of any man who couldn’t, because if that was the case, then the expectation would be that the woman always had to make all the sacrifices.
“What really makes me insane about finding out about his cheating ass today, of all days, was that my present to him, besides the stupid watch band, was I was going to give it up. For real.”
This time when Lolly started crying again, Anna totally understood.
“Oh god, Anna, I’m such a disaster.”
Anna shook her head and put her arm around Lolly’s shoulders. “You’re not a disaster. You just fell in love with one.”
Lolly nodded sadly. “It’s true. I love him. I love him so much.”
Anna nodded and told Lolly that was why she was in so much pain. So now the only question to answer was: did Lolly love Steven enough to forgive him? Because if she did love him enough, then it was time to talk to him to see if they could work past this.
“Was it my fault? For withholding sex? Is this why he cheated on me?”
“No!” Anna spoke sharply this time. It was the only time she’d raised her voice the whole evening. “Never put the blame on yourself, Lolls. You loved him and wanted to wait and that’s your choice. In fact, I admire you for it. Sometimes I think I should have waited longer myself. Alexander didn’t pressure me, but when I knew he was going away to college I felt like I needed to do it. Before he left, you know?”
“I get that. I probably would have done the same thing. But it’s all good, right? You’ve been together for so long and you love each other, so after a while it makes sense to just go for it, right? Is it as awesome as they say? My friend Miley says it’s better than a shoe sale at Bergdorf’s.”
Anna gave a short laugh and started turning off all the lamps in the bedroom. She wouldn’t have minded confiding in Lolly, but Anna never really talked to her friends about her sex life. Alexander thought that sex was something to be kept private, and she tried to respect that, even if she didn’t totally agree with him.
“Right now the only thing you need to think about is whether or not you can forgive him. Because if you can, then you two can work it out, and who knows, maybe your relationship will be better for it. Sleep on it. Right here and now. I just got the alert that we have a snow day tomorrow, so you and Steven have all day to talk … if you decide that’s what you want.”
Lolly nodded and admitted she was sleepy; she was exhausted from all the drama and could no longer think clearly.
“Plus, Steven deserves to twist in the wind for a little while longer,” Anna said with a smile.
“Hells yeah he does,” Lolly said, already slipping into the high thread count Frette Lux sheets on Anna’s parents’ California king.
Anna stayed with Lolly until she fell asleep. She didn’t have to wait long.
XIII
Leaving Lolly asleep in her parents’ bedroom, Anna walked barefoot down the dark hallway to the kitchen where she put the rest of the pie in the fridge. She heard voices coming from the living room, which she assumed was the TV, but then after listening more closely she realized Steven was talking to some guy. Anna rolled her eyes, annoyed that while she had spent the last several hours mopping up her brother’s mess, he had been hanging out and probably having a grand old time as usual.
Her phone vibrated and she looked down to see yet another text from Alexander, who had been trying to reach her for hours. If it’s not one boy, it’s another. She grimaced to herself. She walked back to her bedroom knowing she needed to call her boyfriend back before she was embroiled in her own boy trouble.
Alexander answered on the first ring, and it was obvious from his tone he was upset that it had taken so long for her to get back to him. Alexander didn’t get the nickname the Greenwich OG by being the most patient person. But he quickly softened when she recounted her evening to him, murmuring how she was too good to her feckless and reckless older brother.