"What? You? Miss Cold Fish, Super-Student? I don't believe it!" Lauren bellowed into the phone, with such a loud voice Linda had to pull the receiver away from her ear.
"Geez, Laure, are you trying to tell all of Chicago, or what?"
"This demands a party! The first week after we get back, I'm going to throw a 'Linda Cherry-pop party!'"
"Don't you dare!" Horrified, Linda envisioned banners hanging down from the ceiling in Lauren's apartment that read "RIP - Linda's virginity: July 19, 1979."
"Why not? It'd be fun!"
"Why not? I'll tell you why not! Would you want it broadcasted to the whole world, when you lost your virginity?"
Lauren laughed. "I was fifteen. It would have freaked out my parents."
"Yeah! So just do me a favor and don't blab it to the world, okay? And no party."
"Well we're going to have a party that first weekend no matter what! It's only three weeks away."
"Well then no signs and no banners and no balloons."
"Okay. Gawd, you're no fun." She paused for a moment. "Tell me all about it. Did it hurt?"
"Uh, yeah!"
"You bled, didn't you?"
"Of course."
"How many times?"
"Lauren! Geez! Just once." Linda fondly recalled how Seth reacted to her bleeding.
For the rest of that night and on into Sunday afternoon, when he left, he treated her like a delicate porcelain doll. Early that Sunday morning, he put on his shorts and shirt and said something about stopping by the motel office for a cup of coffee. Minutes passed and Linda wondered where he had gone. He returned with a big smile and a full breakfast in bed for her, packed in cardboard and Styrofoam containers. She wondered how he'd managed to carry it all on his motorcycle.
"Didja suck him off, too?" Lauren went on.
"Wow! You are rude! You should be one of those Hollywood Gossip columnists."
"Well, didja?"
"I kissed him there, yeah. Not that it's any of your business!"
Linda felt strange that for the first time in her college career, she would stay put while most everyone else she knew would partake of the annual ritual of caravanning back for the fall semester. The end of summer session 2 and the Dream lab's August break meant that she had two full weeks to kill before the fall semester started. She knew exactly what to do.