I am eighteen years old and on my way to a major university. I received a scholarship and a full ride, as long as I could keep my grades up. That should be pretty easy, being as I graduated high school with a 4.2 grade point average. My brother said that was me being an overachiever, but I was on my way to college and he worked two jobs at fast food places. In my opinion I was doing better then him. There was nothing that I had not accomplished in high school, that was not what I had wanted to accomplish ... well except one thing.
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My day had been that of a busy one. My entire family seemed to be here for my graduation. I was the first one in this family in a long time to graduate and that was a big deal. To some of the people in my family, I was loved and put up high because of what I had achieved. To others, I was what they never could be and they did not seem to like me very much because of it.
Because everyone and their mother was at our house, rooms were crammed and people were being forced to sleep in uncomfortable places. All the kids under the age of twenty were forced to sleep in the living room. There were fifteen of us. Three took up couches, one got to sleep in a big oversized chair and the rest of us were curled up with blankets and sleeping bags on the floor. It was like the camping trip from hell in my livingroom.
Even though I was the one that had graduated, I was not one of the lucky ones to get to sleep on something besides the floor. I was pushed off to a corner, close to the kitchen and that was to be my spot for the weekend. I already knew that this weekend was going to suck, and I could not wait for my family to return back to where they belonged.
I tried to argue sleeping on the floor, but no one seemed to care much, so I curled up in my corner and tried my hardest to just get through this. It was only for a couple days and then I would get my bedroom back, just a couple of days. Closing my eyes I tried to think of ways to fall asleep and forget where I was, but nothing was working.
I heard the clock ding again, letting me know that it was now two in the morning. I could hear breathing and snoring and random talking all around me. Whoever was talking in their sleep had some deep seeded issues that I did not care to know about. All of this however, was keeping me wide awake and putting me in a shitty mood.
Standing up and grabbing my blankets and pillow, I made my way through the kitchen and out the back door. It was chilly outside but it was quiet and that was what I wanted. I was going to lay my stuff out on the grass and try to get some sleep out here. That was when my eyes looked up at the big tree house in our back yard. I had not been up there in a good five or six years, who know if it was even in good condition to be in, but something drew me to it.
I climbed up with my things and made myself a bed on the cold wooden floor. It was far from comfortable, but it was better then being trapped in that living room. The only thing that was bothering me now at this point was the cold that was pressed against my skin. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine that I was on a beach somewhere in the middle of nowhere, soaking in the sun.
“Abby,” A voice pulled me out of my fantasy and back to the cold wooden floor of my old treehouse. I was angry at first, until I saw Henry, my older brother. “Abby, what are you doing up here?”
“I’m,” I began to explain myself, but then changed my thoughts just a bit. “What am I doing here? I could ask you the same question, this is my treehouse after all.”
“Sorry,” he said with a sarcastic tone to his voice as he crawled all the way into the treehouse and sat down next to me. “I did not know it was suddenly just your treehouse. From what I can remember, dad built it for both of us.”
I rolled my eyes at him but did not answer. He was right, but when he moved out a year ago, after he graduated high school, he gave up his rights to the treehouse. Until I move out myself, I plan to keep on thinking that.
“Anyways,” he said with a smile, brushing his shoulder up against mine. “I saw you sneak out of the livingroom so I figured that I would follow and see what was up.”
“It’s way to crowded down there,” I said leaning back against the wall of the tree house. “I just could not fall asleep down there. I figured at least up here it was quiet. I failed however to take into consideration how cold it would be up here.” I shrugged my shoulders toward him, “who would have thought it would be this cold in June?”
“Awe,” Henry smiled at me as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him. “Someone can’t take the cold huh?”
I glared over at him and playfully pulled myself away, but his arm stayed firmly wrapped around me. I would have completely pulled away from him, but I had to admit, he was warming me up just a bit and it was nice.
“So,” he said trying to carry the conversation on, “you excited to be leaving for school in September?”
“Kinda,” I said with a slight smile. “I am going to miss all of my friends and my usual hangouts and I hate being the new kid, but beyond that, I am excited.”
“That is good,” he said with a reassuring tone. “I know you don’t realize it now, but once you get there you will meet new friends and find new hangouts and life will be just like it is here, except you will be on your own and the parents won’t be breathing down your neck all the time.”
“Mom and dad are not that bad,” I said with a small laugh, they were pretty lenient for parents. “They just care about us and want us to be successful and accomplish the things we want to accomplish.”
“Well did you,” he asked me, looking me over with curious eyes.
“Did I what?” I asked him with a confused tone.
“Did you accomplish all that you wanted to accomplish?” He asked me, turning his body towards mine, our knees brushing up against each other. I was not sure how to take the butterfly feeling in my stomach, so I decided to just push it to the side.
“Yeah,” I said thinking about my life up to this very moment. I had accomplished a lot of things in my life, things that I am proud of. There was only one thing that I had not accomplished but that was not something I was going to talk to my brother about. “For the most part, I would say that I have.”
“For the most part,” he asked raising his eyebrow at me. I could feel my cheeks heating up as his eyes looked at me with such curiosity.
“Yeah,” I said turning my eyes away from Henry, wishing that I could just escape and get away. I was nervous about having this conversation with him if it came about. I have never talked about it with anyone. “That is what I said.”
“That means there is something you did not get to do that you wanted to do,” he said leaning back and giving me this look that told me I had his full attention. “So shoot, what have you not gotten to do that you wanted to do?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said looking away from him again and out over the back lawn. I did not want to have this conversation with him. I could picture him laughing at me or making funny jokes towards me and I did not want that. He was good at picking on me for the things that he has got to do that I have not done.
“Oh come on,” he said giving me a playful nudge, I had a feeling that he was clueless as to what I was going to say. He gave me this look as if I was going to say, I wanted to be a cheerleader, but never got the chance to be one. I was thinking that was the answer I should give him.
“I am still,” I started, trying to get it out of my mouth. “I have never ...” I froze, this was the hardest thing to say out loud.
“Oh come on Abby,” he said with a laugh and lightly punching me on the should. “Just spit it out already.”
“I am still a virgin,” I said quickly. I covered my mouth when I realized I had said it so loud and my face felt like it was on fire. I had never been so embarrassed in my entire life. I wanted to curl up in a ball and not look at my brother for a week or two.
“Thats it?” He asked me in a serious tone. Almost as if I said I never got to sneak out. Something that was small and minor when to me it was a big deal.
“Yeah,” I said finally looking back at him. “I just thought I would have lost it by now. All my friends lost theirs a long time ago, I kind of felt like the freak among them. I get to be the virgin college girl. How fun is that?”
Henry moved back over to me and placed his arm around my shoulder again. I turned to face him but tried to avoid eye contact. He was obviously not okay with that. He pushed my chin up with his hand so that we were looking directly at each other. I felt the butterflies in my stomach rise up once again.
“There is nothing wrong with being a virgin Abby.” he said to me in a soft and comforting tone.