She left her dorm, and felt an autumn breeze. She held her books to her chest and sipped her coffee. Her phone was in her pocket, a solid reminder of the conversation she'd had with Sam. 

As she walked down the concrete path, she thought. Sam had been so vulnerable last night - he'd really poured out his heart. And she'd woken up feeling like she was really falling for him - she might even be falling in love. What if this was turning into a serious relationship, a long-term thing.... God, what if they even discussed marriage one day? And she'd told that big lie. 

But what had she lied about? What was virginity, really? What did it mean to be a "virgin"? If a guy had put his finger in you but not his dick, were you a virgin? If a woman was homosexual, and had been quite active, sexually, with other women, but had never had intercourse with a man, was she a virgin? 

Alyssa thought back to the beginning of last year. She'd moved into her dorm, and everyone there was so excited, like, "We're adults now, we're away from home, this is so cool." And they wanted to get to know each other. And the big questions were:

What's your name? 

Where are you from? 

What's your major? 

Which party do you vote for?

What's your gender/sexual identity? 

Are you a virgin? 

And if you were a virgin, it meant you were completely naive, complete innocent, didn't know a thing about sex. But if you weren't, you were completely worldly, and knew everything about sex. As if doing it was the only way to learn. As if virgins never looked at those photos of erections on Wikipedia. Or explored their own bodies. Or listened to their friends talk. 

And why was there a word for "virgin" anyway? Was there a word for someone who'd never drunk alcohol? A word for someone who'd never traveled to another country? A word for someone who'd never driven a car? 

And should she try to explain all that to Sam? Or just admit that she was a dirty liar? 

As she neared the building, she was lost in her thoughts, when someone grabbed her from behind. She stumbled a little, and her coffee spilled, but at least it spilled forward, onto the ground. And Jasmine appeared at her side. "Hey," she said, and Alyssa said, "Will you stop grabbing me like that? I'm serious."