"Close your eyes!" I directed.

"This seems dangerous." Grant said, covering his eyes.

   "Please just stay put. I'll be right back." I knew it'd be hard for him. Grant was never still for very long. I ran into a lamp on my way to the kitchen.

"What was that?" Grant yelled from the other room.

  "Nothing, everything's fine." I said, rubbing my leg. Guess I'm still a little tipsy. I opened a wooden cabinet and pulled out Grant's gift. I'd hidden his present in one of the cabinets I knew Grant rarely opened. I hid it behind a case of water. I had gotten him a racing jacket with his name on it and pants to match. I decorated it with his sponsor's logos. It was the same color blue as his eyes, and black.

"What's going on out there?" Grant voice came from the other room.

  I carried his present out to him. "You are so impatient. Here, hold out your hands."

"I'm sorry, I can't help it." He held out his hands.

I placed his gift in his arms gently. "Okay, open."

  Grant opened his eyes and lifted his present to the light. His eyes grew wide. "Rinnie...."

"Do you like it?" I smiled.

  "Like it? Rinnie, I love it." He stood up and hugged me, lifting my feet off the ground. "Thank you!"

"Of course, happy birthday Grant!" I hugged him back.

He put me down. "Ugh, the b word."

  "Why do you hate your birthday so much?" I sat on the edge of the couch.

He stayed standing. "I don't know, it just makes me feel weird. Like, what have I done that warrants celebration?"

I rolled my eyes. "Grant, you've done a lot for a lot of people. I don't know why you never take credit for it." Grant had a habit of helping people without them knowing he was helping them. He didn't like positive recognition. I never understood it, but he had always been that way. He felt uncomfortable when anyone was nice to him.

"Hey, don't roll you're eyes at me!" He picked up a thick pillow off the couch and tossed it at me.

I glared at him. "You did not just do that!" I returned fire, using two pillows.

He chuckled. "You just want to fight with me."

"You can't help yourself; you have to fight."

"I'm still not sure who the initiator was here." He narrowed his eyes.

I sighed. "You're impossible. You make me so tired."

  He smirked. "I know." Then he tossed the pillows back onto the couch. "Tired, huh?"

"Yeah, it's been a pretty long day." I yawned.

He nodded. "Get some sleep." He motioned towards his bedroom door. He always insisted on sleeping on the couch and giving me his bed when I came over.

  "I think I'm just going to brave the cold and head home." I found my green coat and put it on.

  "Rinnie, it's freezing and it's late. Just stay here." He grabbed my coat off me.

"I didn't bring anything to stay over." I was wearing high-waisted skinny jeans, and a light pink crop top, not exactly sleeping appropriate.

Grant spoke without hesitation. "It's cool, I have a spare toothbrush, and you can borrow something of mine." I followed him into his bedroom. He dug through his drawers and pulled out a black t-shirt that had the RTM racing logo on the front of it. He handed it to me.

I looked him in the eyes. "Thank you."

"No problem." He said, walking into the bathroom. "I'm going to sit the extra toothbrush on the sink, it's purple."

  "Okay, thanks again." I held the shirt in my hands and stood outside the bathroom door.

  Grant emerged. "Stop thanking me!" He chuckled. "It's really no big deal."

  "Just accept my gratitude." I moved out of his way. "You don't have anyone coming over tonight do you? I'm not interrupting anything?" Grant brought girls over more nights than not. I didn't want to ruin anything for him.

He smirked. "Nope, I'm not really talking to anyone right now."

"Okay, good." I said without thinking. When I realized how it sounded I added. "That I'm not interrupting anything."

   He leaned against the wall on the opposite side of the bathroom. "Goodnight Rinnie."

"Goodnight Grant." I smiled at him and went into the bathroom. I changed into the t-shirt. It fell just above my knees. The fabric it was made out of was the softest I'd ever felt. It was so comfortable. I went to the sink and brushed my teeth with the purple toothbrush and released my long brown hair from its ponytail. I looked in the mirror, my green eyes with a thin pink ring around them and freckles staring back at me. I took a deep breath and entered the four yellow walls of Grant's bedroom. He didn't have any décor, just four bare walls, two tall dressers and a nightstand beside a large bed. He said he'd never really had the time to mess with it. It made me a little sad. I'll help him make it look more homey in here tomorrow. I stretched and got under the covers. I said my nightly prayer and reached to turn the lamp off. On his nightstand I saw a picture of the two of us from 7th grade. We were holding his parent's dog, Jumper. They named him Jumper because he could jump super high. He was a Pomeranian. Grant would never say it, but it had been really hard for him to leave Jumper when he moved into his own place. It was hard for him to leave his parents too. He always said he hated his parents, but he checked on them all the time secretly. I never met his parents and Grant rarely talked about them, but I know some part of him cared. Grant didn't want anyone to know how caring he actually is, but I knew. I felt myself smile, I was the only decoration he had in his room. I closed my eyes to sleep, but it was useless. I kept reliving Vanessa asking me my body count. I had never been ashamed of being a virgin. In fact, I was kind of proud. Lately though, I thought a lot about it. I always felt like I was missing out. My whole life I'd played it safe, always the good girl. I'd imagined there'd be some guy who'd come and sweep me off my feet, but my faith in that was wavering. I thought about my first time. I didn't want it to be uncomfortable and meaningless. I worried I wouldn't know what I was doing and it would make things awkward. I wanted my first experience to be with someone I knew cared about me, someone who would make it memorable. I shifted in the bed and accidentally knocked the picture off the nightstand. I sat straight up, that's it! I ran out the bedroom door and jumped on Grant who was laying on the couch.

He dropped the remote he had in his hands. "Hey Rinnie."

"I have a small favor to ask you." I smiled at him.

He squinted at me. "I thought you were sleeping."

I shook my head. "I couldn't sleep."

"Why not?" He looked at me through tired eyes. "What's up?"

"I couldn't stop thinking." I watched his face. He looked concerned.

  "Thinking about what?" He stared at me in his shirt and smirked. "That shirt's a little big on you."

I rolled my eyes. "Shush." Then shifted my entire body to face him. "I was thinking about me, how I feel like I'm missing out on things." I paused. "How I'm a virgin."

He was wide awake. "Rinnie, you're not missing out. You experience lots of things. Just today you impersonated a police officer."

I shook my head. "I've never experienced any sort of intimacy. I just sit back and watch other people fall in love." I gave him a moment to take that in before I hit him with the big shock. "I'm ready to lose my virginity."

He sat straight up. "Can't you just go on a date or something? I mean to me that seems like a more logical place to start."

"I'm not worried about having a boyfriend right now. I'm worried about not having any experience. I don't want to hop into a relationship and that be all I really know. If I do that, I'll always have doubts. Besides, if I just wait for the guy I'm going to be with for the rest of my life to do anything I'll have no clue what I'm doing. It'll be terrible for him." I grew flustered. I worried I wasn't getting my point across.

"Who cares what he thinks. I don't know if you know this or not Rinnie, but guys very much enjoy being a woman's first. I really don't think he'll have a problem." His arms flailed around as he spoke.

"I've already made up my mind. It's what I want."

He sighed, looking defeated. "Why are you telling me this?"

My drunken mind scrambled to find what to say. "Grant, are you attracted to me? Like at all?"

Grant chuckled. "What?"

  I kept a straight face. "You heard me, answer the question. I won't be offended, I promise."

"Yeah, you're a gorgeous girl." He eyed me skeptically. "Why?"

  My heart warmed at the word gorgeous. "I want you to take my virginity."