"Oh, that son of a BITCH!" Gwen said, wine glass in one hand, wine bottle in the other. She was angry, honestly probably angrier than I was. I was still mostly hurt.
"What did Jason say? Like, word for word?"
"He said he had been unhappy for a long time and that he decided the best way to go about it was to take matters into his own hands," I said meekly, having replayed the sentence over and over in my head a million times since it happened.
"So he decided to CHEAT on you!?"
"I...guess?"
"Nikki, look at me. You know I love you, right?"
"Yes, of course."
"You need to be angrier about this piece of shit who needs to die." Gwen was, as always, at a hundred percent. She poured me a glass of wine way, WAY too full, her hands shaking in sympathetic rage.
"I don't know, I guess I could have done more on my end of things. Put more work in..."
"No, no, no. Stop it right there. This is NOT your fault."
"No, I know but... Maybe if I had been...you know, BETTER, he wouldn't have had to find someone else."
"Better at what?"
Jason had been my first boyfriend. We met in high school ten years ago in chemistry class. We had been each other's first...well, everything. We learned how to be adults together, in everything that encompassed. I had always thought that because we only ever had each other, we were made perfect for one another.
"...Sex and stuff, I guess," I eventually admitted. I didn't talk about our sex life at ALL. Jason said it was like airing our dirty laundry out for everyone. Said it wasn't ladylike or dignified. He was big on how we looked to other people.
"Oh, girl, I'm sure you were great to him."
"I mean, I tried? Sex is just always so...fast and uncomfortable, so I didn't want to do it that often, but I still tried every couple days." I felt guilty for having said as much as I did. Even though we weren't together anymore, I still didn't want to make him upset. "I just don't get the big deal!" I took another long sip from the glass. I wasn't a big drinker. Jason refused to have me drink when we went out, mostly so I could be the designated driver, and he said women who drink in public are seen as loose.
Gwen put her glass down and looked at me for a long time.
"Hon, it's not...it's not supposed to be uncomfortable."
"Well, I mean sure, some other couples maybe, but that's how it was," I said.
"For...ten years?"
"I know, I wanted to get better but I just couldn't. It was over so quickly! He seemed happy, but I guess he wasn't."
Gwen was flummoxed. She had a look on her face that I had only seen once before, after a lecture on quantum mechanics that she accidentally attended, pure and utter confusion. Gwen spoke slowly.
"Nik... How many... Okay, let me... Hmm..."
"What?"
"I just... I want to ask you something, but I know this kinda stuff makes you uncomfy, so I don't want to...hmm. Just...finish that glass for me."
She refilled my glass, killing the rest of the bottle. I did as I was told, the first glass or so helping me relax and loosen up a little, so I began to drink more.
"Nikki, how many orgasms have you had?"
Not that relaxed! I choked on the wine and flinched at the question.
"G-Gwen, you can't just--" cough "--say things like that," I sputtered.
"Ah, shit. Sorry, I tried to come at it delicately and well..."
"Sorry," I said. "I just... I still don't want to...you know?"
"I know, I know, too far. I'm sorry."
A couple of seconds of silence went by as I took another long drink.
"And you don't have to make fun of me, okay? Like, I know I don't know much about...this kind of thing, but even I know that doesn't exist."
Gwen looked at me again, confused.
"What doesn't exist, hon?"
"You know..." I said, trying to say it without actually saying it.
"Know what?"
"The...female orgasm," I whispered quickly.
There was a silence. A long, lingering, almost sickly silence. I began to feel uncomfortable. Anxious. Like I'd just said a swear word in church.
"...Pardon?" Gwen finally said.
"It's a myth. We all know it's a myth. Jason said it was made up by movies or something, so like, you don't have to make fun of me like that," I snapped.
"Nikki...the female orgasm isn't a myth... It's like...a thing. Like...a REAL thing."
"Gwen, please, I--"
"I'm not joking. I'm not playing a trick or a prank or anything. It's...it's real."
Her voice was serious, like she was discussing high-powered business deals or disclosing medical information.
"How do you even know?" I said, my voice trailing off at the end. I shouldn't be talking about this. This is too far. But... I wanted to know. I needed to know.