CHAPTER 1
The Leading Man
Lily and Jasmine had been best friends since Junior High. They never showed much interest in boys. A fact that worried the 18-year-old girl's traditional parents. Inseparable, they would do almost anything for each other. But the most compassionate act Lily performed was during their senior year in high school when she saw a cute guy she soon had a crush on in class.
Lily had discovered the most important details while watching and listening to him. He was smart, confident, compassionate, well-liked, and had just had his 18th birthday a week before his ex-girlfriend's 18th birthday.
It was the last class before lunch when she saw Jasmine waiting for her outside the classroom. After meeting up with her best friend, Jasmine spotted the handsome guy.
"Who is that?" Jasmine asked, unable to keep the sound of attraction from her voice. She could see her friend also liked him, so she did the most selfless thing possible instead of fighting for his attention.
"Oh, him? I think his name is Hank," Lily said, without showing any interest.
All through lunch Jasmine privately told her friend silly little fantasies she hoped to have realized with him. "If I were gonna kiss a boy, it would be him," she smiled dreamily at the idea. "If I was gonna give myself to someone, it is him," she followed up.
For the first time in her life, Lily found her friend insufferable. "Just go ask him out," Lily encouraged her.
"Me? No, I can't do that. I'm too shy," she said, embarrassed.
"You ask him for me," Jasmine insisted.
"Whatever gets you to stop gushing over him," Lily thought, annoyed.
"I'll wait till he is alone," Lily said as she complied.
With plenty of encouragement from her friend, Lily finally approached when he wasn't crowded by friends. "Hi. I was wondering if you weren't doing something later...," she said in a neutral voice.
"I'm free. Where would you like to go?" he responded.
"Oh, no. Not me," she corrected, even though it hurt her to do so. Without looking, she pointed over her shoulder to where her friend was sitting. "My best friend wants to ask you out."
He glanced in the direction she indicated. "Is she invisible?" he asked.
"What? No," she said, confused. "She is sitting..." She turned around and saw the chair was now empty.
Hank heard a low growl of frustration. Lily looked around the room and saw Jasmine peeking behind a wall.
"Wait here," she instructed. She stormed off and dragged her friend back to him. "Ask him, Jasmine," she demanded.
"Would you like to go out on a date with me?" Jasmine asked, bashfully.
"I don't know. I think your friend asked me out first," he replied, acting undecided.
"I DID NOT!" Lily said, irked. Jasmine gave her a side glance. "I didn't!" she protested again.
Hank decided to stop teasing them and exchanged phone numbers with Jasmine.
"Okay, I'll pick you up at 8," he told Jasmine.
"I can't wait," Jasmine said, excitedly.
Lily had to bite her tongue from saying, "I'll be waiting."
Every day, Lily had the privilege (or perhaps torture) of hearing how their relationship progressed and lived vicariously through her friend. Lily found herself dating other guys, but they all had one problem; they weren't Hank.
It was close to graduation when the girls had another late-night gossip session in Jasmine's room. Her parents were still at work, so they didn't have to worry about being overheard. During a lull in their conversation, Jasmine had to get something off her chest.
"I saw his thingy," she blurted out before she lost her nerve.
"His thingy?" Lily gave her a puzzled look.
She pointed downward at her crotch while they sat facing each other, crossed-legged on the bed.
"He just pulled it out?" Lily said, shocked.
"Maybe I misjudged this guy? Is he just a creep?" she questioned herself.
"No. No," she hurried to correct her friend.
"I asked to see it... repeatedly," she finished guiltily.
"Okay... but why?" Lily asked cautiously.
"I overheard his ex talking in the locker room to her friends the other day. She said they tried to 'go all the way,' but he was too big and hurt too much. So she just got
up and went home. She dumped him by text the next day," Jasmine explained.
"Well, now I feel bad for the guy," Lily sympathized. "She could have at least finished him off with a hand job," she added.
"But now I get the chance to be his first," Jasmine proclaimed eagerly. "But I'm not gonna wimp out like his last girlfriend," she vowed.
"I wish he would be my first," Lily confessed to herself, suppressing her jealousy. "I'll have to make do with whatever guy I'm dating before college," she concluded.
"So was it... big?" Lily asked, generally interested.
"I don't know. It's not like I've seen a man's thingy before," she said with a shrug. "It looked big. I whispered, "Wow." Then he said, 'Wait till it's hard."
"Again, with the 'thingy' word," Lily chided her. We are both 18; you can say dick, penis, cock, etc.," she badgered.
"Okay. Okay," Jasmine took it in stride.
"If you call it a thingy, he might kick you out," Lily teased. The girls laughed at the idea.
"All right. I'm gonna head home before your parents know I was here. They think we spend too much time together already. They were relieved when they found out you, at last, had a boyfriend," she pointed out.
"I think they were worried when they found me and you kissing. I told them we were practicing for when we finally kissed a boy," Jasmine recalled with mirth.
"But probably not the same boy," Jasmine joked.
"Yeah, that would be silly," Lily scoffed. But the idea secretly excited her. "Yeah, I
can't believe they fell for that," Lily said under her breath.