"So tell me, how could a girl like you possibly be a virgin?"

Kimberly raised an eyebrow at Julian and folded her arms over her chest. "A girl like me?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Yeah, I've only known you a few days but I would've thought that men would have been throwing themselves at you constantly."

Kimberly laughed, leaning back in her seat. "No men, just boys."

"Just boys." Julian repeated, chuckling a little.

Kimberly bit her lip as a small smirk played at her lips. "Even if people threw themselves at me, the fact alone wouldn't be enough to make me interested."

Julian raised an eyebrow at her, his interest clearly piqued, making Kimberly laugh. "All the guys at my school are immature and childish." She said, "I don't think it would be worth it, being intimate with them...there's nothing I would gain and if that's the case then why engage with them in the first place?"

"Not even for any 'harmless fun'?"

Kimberly groaned. "You sound like Melitta now, so obsessed with my sex life." She said, burying her face in her hands causing Julian to lean forward so that he was closer to her. He removed her hands from covering her face and put a finger under her chin, tipping it up slightly so that she was looking at him.

"Not obsessed," He said, "Intrigued. You're a very captivating person Kimberly."

She ducked her head away, giggling softly. "Well don't get too excited, it's not like you were the first person to ever kiss me...or touch me for that matter..."

When she said that, something in Julian seemed to snap, and he brought his left hand to her thigh, running his fingers down it slowly, he could almost feel the goose bumps forming at the touch of his hands. "Not even the first...to taste you?" He asked. His voice was low, almost a growl and his eyes filled with curiosity and deviousness. Kimberly smiled though, grabbing his hand and pushing it off her leg slowly as she shook her head.

"Nope."

He looked from her legs to her eyes, biting his lower lip before he took a deep breath and leaned back into his seat, a newfound sense of determination evident in his demeanor.

"Oh God." Kimberly groaned. "What are you planning on doing now?"

He shook his head, not even bothering to suppress the small smirk on his lips. "Just don't get too comfortable." He said, "There are a lot more firsts than those three."

Kimberly felt the blood rushing to her cheeks, but she laughed, hoping that her laugh would help hide the nervousness building up inside of her. The comments Julian made always set her on edge, unlike any other guy she'd ever wanted before, Julian kept her on her toes and she loved it.

"Let me guess," Kimberly said, "You're planning on showing them to me?"

He laughed, "Something like that."

✎_ _ _ _ _

"Kimberly I missed my period."

It was 4am in the morning and Kimberly was more asleep than awake, but those five words from Melitta washed away any traces of sleep that Kimberly had in her system.

"What?"

"I missed my period Kimberly and I'm freaking out, I don't know what to do. Kimberly what if I'm pregnant?" Melitta's voice was rushed and quiet, Kimberly could hear the fear in her voice. Melitta's voice always became low and quiet when she was afraid, and quite frankly, Kimberly didn't know if she was in any position to help.

"Okay, okay Melitta breathe." She said in a futile effort to calm Melitta down. The opposite ended up happening and Melitta's breathing became louder and heavier, which was not a good sign in anyone, but especially bad since Melitta was asthmatic. Kimberly only needed to see her have an asthma attack once to know just how life threatening they were. "Melitta do you have your inhaler with you?" Kimberly asked.

There was a quick pause before Melitta answered. "It's in the room."

"Where are you now?"

"I locked myself in the bathroom Kimberly, he can't come in and see me like this." She said, her ragged breathing breaking up her words making it harder for Kimberly to hear what she was saying.

"Melitta, he doesn't know?"

"No, I can't tell him."

"You have to, what if he can help you Melitta? You should be honest with him."

Her breathing then became out of control and she began hyperventilating as she muttered 'no' over and over again into the phone.

"Melitta? Melitta!"

Melitta couldn't say anything between her breaths and Kimberly felt chills come over her as Melitta's breathing became worse. She had heard this sound before, she had seen in happen before, right before Melitta had had her asthma attack and she wasn't about to let it happen again.

"Melitta! You need to get your inhaler!" Kimberly pleaded, tears coming to her eyes as she imagined her best friend locked in a hot bathroom feeling scared and alone. "Melitta I'm here for you okay, you don't have to tell him right now if you don't want to, but you need your inhaler, please."

Kimberly heard banging in the background of the phone and knew it was Mr. Martinez trying to get into the bathroom. He must have heard Melitta hyperventilating and woken up.

Before Kimberly could get out another word though, she heard the receiver crash onto the ground, the loud bang hurting her ears.

"Melitta! Melitta!" She screamed, hoping to be loud enough for Melitta to hear, but she knew in the back of her mind that Melitta wouldn't be able to hear her. Not with this going on. "Melitta you have to open the door!" Kimberly screamed, knowing nobody could hear her.

Kimberly's door swung open and Julian stood in the doorway, his hair disheveled and worry written clearly on his face. "Kimberly, are you okay?" He asked, storming into the room.

There was a loud bang through the phone and then the call cut.

Kimberly held the phone to her ears, frozen in fear. Melitta was always stubborn and got into trouble quite often, but to think about her being in a life threatening situation and unable to find out what was happening was too much. The dial tone sounded a lot louder than it was, it was ringing in Kimberly's ears, it was all she could hear. Julian was saying something, but it blended into the background and she couldn't actually make out the words.

She felt his hands on her arms and snapped her head to him, the phone falling from her hands.

"Kimberly, what happened?" He demanded.

"Melitta...sh – she was having a panic attack and it triggered an asthma attack...I don't know if she's okay."

"Okay, well is there anyone there with her, does anyone know it happened?" He asked.

Kimberly nodded. "Yeah, um...Mr. Martinez is with her, but she locked herself in the bathroom...I'm not sure if he got in or not. She needs her inhaler."

"Why did she lock herself in the bathroom, did something else happen?"

Kimberly nodded slowly, still unable to process everything. "Yeah...she might be pregnant."

Julian sighed, not saying anything as his thoughts ran wild. "I am going to go onto your school website and find Mr. Martinez's number. I want to make sure he got her and gave her her inhaler, okay?"

Kimberly nodded as he got up, walking out of the room as fast as he could. She sat in the bed for a minute before she got out to go and find him. She needed to do anything she could to help. She walked down the hall to Julian's room, his door was slightly ajar so she could hear his frustrated voice from inside.

She pushed open the door and walked into his room. It was dark except from the light coming from his computer, so she couldn't really see what it looked like. She joined him at his desk and he looked up at her and gave her a small reassuring nod.

"Okay, thank you, I'll make sure to let her know." He said, before hanging up.

"So?" She asked, "What happened?"

"He got in, but by the time he came in she had passed out and so he called an ambulance. They're taking her to the hospital now, he's driving behind them, on his way."

"Oh my God, oh my God." Kimberly sunk to her knees, the tears now flowing freely from her eyes.

"Kimberly," Julian sat on the floor so that he was next to her and he held her tightly in his arms. "She'll be okay, the paramedics know what they're doing."

Kimberly's chest heaved as she cried onto his shoulder, shaking her head. "What if she doesn't make it Julian? A lot of people don't make it from things like this."

"Melitta isn't most people, and I don't know her that well, but she sounds like a fighter."

She smiled slightly and leaned up. "She is." She said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I just – I really want to see her and I can't and I can't shake this worry, no matter how tough she is."

"You want to see her?" He asked.

She nodded. "Did I stutter?" She asked, teasing him.

Julian chuckled, smiling at her. "Then let's do it."

"I can't just fly down to Miami, I don't have enough money for that and my parents would never let me." Kimberly said.

"Then let me take you." He said, "I'll fly down there with you and your parents won't ever have to know. You're eighteen remember?"

Her eyes widened as she looked at him. "Are you serious? I can't...no I can't just take your money like that. Flights are expensive."

He shook his head, looking her in the eye. "Kimberly, money is not a problem, okay? If you want to go, I'll take you."

"Oh my God, this is just so–"

"No, don't overthink it. We can leave in the morning and stay there for two nights, we'll be back by Wednesday as if we never left. And you'll get to see Melitta and be sure that everything is okay with her."

"Well...what about work?" She asked.

"What about it?"

A smile spread across Kimberly's face and she wrapped my arms around him, giving him the biggest bear hug she could muster. "Oh my God I love you."

"What?"

She recognized her mistake almost immediately. It was like a reflex for her to say that after he did something amazing for her and she realized she had two options; One, she could apologize and make it awkward, or two, the much more appealing option, she could laugh it off.

She forced a laugh and shook her head. "It's just something kids say when someone does something amazing, don't overthink it." She said.

He smiled, nodding. "Okay then, see you in the morning."

She smiled back at him. "See you in the morning."