Purity felt fine. That troubled her. She sat cross legged on the couch staring at a flickering television screen while Alicia paced behind her trying to get some reception on either of their phones.
How does one know if they're infected with a sex virus?
The idea somewhat amused her.
Probably easier for men, like everything. They start sporting unexpected hardons left and right and...I dunno, sticking them in between couch cushions to get some relief. What about us gals though. I guess we'd be aroused, too.
She paused and realized for the first time that she did feel a bit more on the verge of arousal than normal. She'd never been much of one to focus on her sexuality, and the sudden need to do so had her entirely turned around.
Meanwhile, Alicia wasn't handling the lack of information well. She tossed Purity's phone onto the couch with a half sigh-half growl. "What the hell is going on? Why hasn't anyone come to check on us?"
"Sex virus," Purity answered.
"Can you take this seriously?" Alica flopped down on the far end of the couch.
Purity cocked her head to the side, a mannerism she'd picked up from Bertie. "When was the last time I wasn't taking something serious? I take everything seriously, even the silly things which are quite apparently — to everyone else at least — not meant to be taken seriously. That said, how seriously can we take this?" She eyed her cousin, noticing the slightly smaller woman's body. In a way, the fact that Alicia even had a body seemed to be a peculiar new development. "Huh," she muttered.
Alicia noticed Purity's strange gaze, even going so far as to cross her arms over her breasts. "Why're you looking at me like that?"
"I might be infected," Purity said. "Not sure how this is transmitted, but if Kat has it, then I don't know how we wouldn't have all been a little bit exposed. I think I drank more last night than I have in my entire life put together, but I don't feel even a little bit hung over. I think I did when I woke up, but now it's gone. Could be adrenaline from the whole 'stay inside because of sex virus' thing going on, but that'd wear off eventually. Been almost an hour now, and I still don't feel fatigued or ache like I should. And, I was just looking at your breasts."
Alicia turned red and huddled against the far arm of the couch. "Shit, Purity, you can't say stuff like that. And don't look at me that way, we're cousins."
"I didn't mean to," Purity said. A twinge of panic rippled through her. It had been a long time since she'd felt that old worry, and Alicia was the last person she expected to get it from. Purity rarely cared whether or not people understood her, but she did care whether Alicia and the rest of her family did. They met her halfway, knowing and aware that Purity often fumbled with proper ways of communicating. When they put up walls, like blushing and crossing their arms while chastising her, Purity began to panic. "Can I explain?"
"Yes," Alicia said, though distracted.
Purity sat up straight and rested her palms on her knees. She closed her eyes and focused as much as she could. "It's like everyone and everything is a flat, empty desert," she said. "Some things, like you or mom, are less flat, but for the purpose of this explanation, you — well, you normally — would be a little anthill on an otherwise perfectly flat plain. When the world is like that, I can pay attention to what I want to pay attention to. Nothing forces me to give it attention. Right?" She opened one eye, saw Alicia nod, and closed the eye again. "When it comes to sex or attraction, the world is the same for me. Almost everything is flat. Sometimes, though, there's a mountain. Second week at my dorm, I'm walking to the shower one morning, and this guy is standing out in the hall arguing with a door. He's in boxers and nothing else. He's embarrassed that I've seen him, but I've seen men in boxers before, so I kept on my way. As I passed by, though, the door opened. I don't know the girl's name, but I'd seen her on the floor enough to recognize her. She's pretty, but not what many would call gorgeous. Not as pretty as you, or Kat, or Joy. The girl grabbed the guy by the arm and yanked him into the room with her. She was laughing, he was smiling, and I felt like a mountain had just erupted out of the ground in front of me."
"You were attracted to them, both of them?"
Purity opened her eyes. "I don't know. I'd never seen that before. It seemed genuine. Since I knew what to look for, I started looking elsewhere for it. I saw mountains all over the place. Even in porn, though it was hard to find it exactly. Most of the stuff they advertise as amateur just means they don't have a production company and there's nothing amateur about it. Some of the time, though, you can find just two people who love each other having sex. And that's..." Purity hummed as a tiny ripple of pleasure went through her body. She knew what it meant and shifted her legs slightly, feeling the slickness between her thighs. She was, after all, talking openly with her cousin about what turned her on. That wasn't terribly weird for Purity, but until that morning she'd considered Alicia an ant-hill in the matters of sex. That no longer seemed to be the case.
"And now you're seeing me...the same way?" Alicia asked, shifting uncomfortably. "Because of the virus? Is that what you're trying to tell me."
Purity shrugged. "I guess. I'm not going to jump your clam or anything. But if I am infected, then seeing you as a sex object would be a pretty good indicator of it rewriting the way my brain works. Which, I'm not going to be all mad if that turns out to be true. I can use any help I can find. I'm sitting around watching couples silently texting while sitting together and getting wet while completely oblivious of the band nerd wanting to fuck me."
Alicia checked her phone again, and the two of them sat in silence for a while before Alicia spoke again. "Purity are you a...have you had sex?"
