Free Mine: A Love Story by Scott Prussing Page B

breasts. Big pink letters on the shirt proclaim I’ve been naughty. Probably not the shy type, I decide. 
    “So, what gives?” Marissa asks after we all finish saying hello. “You came rushing in here like you’d just won backstage passes to a Taylor Swift concert or something.”
    I sit down on my bed and draw my knees up against my chest. I don’t really want to talk about my date in front of two girls I just met.
    “Oh, nothing really. It can wait.”
    “C’mon, Heather,” Marissa says. “Beth and Katie are cool. Give it up.”
    Now what do I do? I can feel my mouth going dry. I am so not good at this social stuff. I’m in college now, I remind myself. Time to grow up. Or try to, at least. I take a deep breath and decide to go for it.
    “I wanted to tell you about my date with Chris,” I say.
    “Sweet!” Marissa says. “Let it rip.”
    “First date?” Katie asks.
    “Yeah,” I say. I decide not to add it was my first date in a very long time.
    “Great,” Beth says. “Tell us all about it.” She grins. “And make sure you don’t leave out any of the juicy details.”
    Oh god, now what? They’re probably expecting something all hot and heavy, and all I’ve got is a g-rated story. I’m going to sound like a high school girl, I know it. A very young and naive high school girl.
    Marissa must know how I’m feeling, because she jumps in to rescue me.
    “Down, girls,” she says. “Heather’s a bit shy. Don’t expect anything too hot and heavy here.” She turns to me. “Why don’t you break the ice by telling Katie and Beth how you and Chris met. They’ll get a kick out of that.”
    So that’s just what I do. I tell them how Marissa shoved me at Chris and about the red, blue, green, black thing. By the time I finish, we’re all laughing and I’m feeling much better.
    “That’s hilarious,” Beth says. “Really hilarious.”
    “Hilarious—and it worked,” Katie says, chuckling. “That makes it even cooler.”
    “Did you wear your new outfit last night?” Marissa asks me.
    “Yeah, I did.”
    “What was the outfit?” Katie asks.
    “Boots, black yoga pants and a grey silk shirt,” Marissa explains.
    “Nice,” Beth says. “With those long legs, you must have looked hot. Wait until he sees you in a pair of Daisy Dukes.”
    I don’t bother to tell Beth I don’t own anything even close to Daisy Dukes.
    “She does look hot, believe me,” Marissa says. She turns to me. “Did Chris say anything about how you looked?”
    “He said I looked amazing,” I say. “I almost didn’t wear it, but I couldn’t find anything else I liked. We need to make another trip to The Buff.”
    “I love that place,” Katie says. “They have so much cool stuff.”
    “Hey, is this guy on Facebook?” Beth asks. “I want to see what he looks like.”
    I can’t believe I haven’t thought of that. I’m such a dork. I just don’t use Facebook very much, so it never crossed my mind to check out Chris’s page. I grab my laptop and sit back down on my bed. The girls crowd around me.
    “Fifteen friends?” Beth asks as my profile page loads onto the screen. “What are you, some kind of monk? I’ve got over seven hundred.”
    “I told you she was shy,” Marissa says. “She only had fourteen till she added me.”
    “Add me and Beth,” Katie says. “We’ll get your total up there in no time.”
    “You’ve got a friend notification,” Beth says. “Maybe it’s Chris. Click it.”
    I click the icon, and sure enough, up pops a friend request from Chris. A warm feeling spreads through me.
    “Should I accept?” I ask innocently.
    Marissa shoves me playfully on the shoulder. “Ha, ha,” she says. “Very funny.”
    I laugh and click “accept.”
    “Sixteen friends now,” Marissa says, smiling. “The sky’s the limit.”
    “Okay, now go to his profile,” Beth says. “Let us check him out.”
    I click on his name and his page appears.
    “He’s cute,” Katie says. “Really