Not a whole lot changed over the next ten years. Johnny and I were pretty much inseparable- that is, when he wasn’t in school. I was home schooled, but would often ride my bike down to the school on his lunch hour to see him. We would break up sometimes, but we’d always get back together and pretend that we’d never gotten into a fight. Considering we were never broke up for more than a day it didn’t really seem to matter.

We terrorized his brother and his friends endlessly. A couple of them stuck in my mind- Jimmy and Zacky. Jimmy cause he was crazy and Zacky cause he was an adorable dork who played guitar. I would never admit to Johnny that I thought he was cute though. Johnny hated him.

I am currently fifteen, Johnny’s sixteen and he keeps talking about sex. I had to admit I was curious, but my Mom was adamant that sex was for when you were married. I was currently sitting on the couch with Johnny asking him why he wanted to have sex so much.

“My brother talks about it all the time, it sounds like fun.” He explained.

“This from the guy who said blowing up my cat sounded like fun,” I pointed out. “My mom says sex is for married people.”

“We’re practically married!” Johnny laughed, “We’ve been together for a decade. That’s like, forever.”

I thought it was too, but I wasn’t gonna tell him that. “My mom would KILL us. Remember, we can’t even kiss or hold hands in front of her! SHE doesn’t consider us married!”

“Well then, we won’t tell her.” He grinned at me, tugging me into his arms. “But I love you and I want it to be with you. I haven’t done it with anyone else yet, even though I want to do it!”

“With other people?” I asked eyes wide and he shook his head.

“NO!” He shouted, “I want to do it with you! But I’ve wanted it for a while, and for obvious reasons like your mother doing it with you was completely out of the question. But, I LOVE you… It should be you.”

I didn’t know about this whole love thing, but again, I wasn’t gonna tell HIM that, it would hurt his feelings. Besides, I wanted to know why my mom insisted this was so wrong without that damned piece of paper and a ring. And I figured it was probably smarter to do it with the boy I’ve known forever than trying to find a new one.

“Sure why not?” I shrugged and he smiled.

“You won’t regret this, I swear!” He vowed and I snorted as he asked, “Do you know what day it is today?”

Today was the tenth anniversary of the day he’d first asked me to be his girlfriend, when I was five. I nodded, rolling my eyes. The whole ‘anniversary’ thing had never really been my thing, but it had meant everything to Johnny and he’s never once forgotten, even though I had and today was no exception.

He pulled a flower out from behind his back, same as he did every year. The SAME type of flower he’d picked for me when he was six. I took it and laid it on the table like I did every year.

“Are we gonna do this or what?” I asked.

“Now?” He replied and I nodded.

“Sure, why not?”

“Oh well, alright.” He swallowed and I kissed him softly.

That decision made it took about five minutes to get to the point we were ready to undress, two minutes to get out of our clothes, and another two for him to figure out the condom.

“Here, let me,” I suggested, reaching out and he slapped my hand away in frustration.

“I can figure it out thanks,” He snapped and I rolled my eyes and sighed, slowly losing arousal.

Finally though, he’d gotten it figured out and lay back down on top of me. I was suddenly a little bit nervous as I felt his dick find it’s place between my legs. What if it was really bad? What if I didn’t like it? What if….?

I felt a poking sensation and realized he was currently making a home for himself somewhere he’d never been before, inside of my body. I let my eyes drift shut and tried to just let myself feel what was happening. I was vaguely aware of him moving, and could feel it, but it didn’t feel all that spectacular.

At the end of the whole little event, I realized that the act itself- such as it was- had taken only as long as the foreplay. Nine minutes. Nine minutes of him pumping away with a look of rapture on his face, while I wondered ‘is this all it is?’ Sex, the big taboo. Well, if this was all it was I didn’t understand what the big deal was. Nor did I see what I was supposed to be getting out of it.

As Johnny rolled off of me he sighed, “Wow, that was amazing! Wasn’t that amazing?”

“Sure,” I agreed and he was so lost in the afterglow of whatever apparently amazing experience he’d just had that my sarcasm was completely lost on him.

Yeah, it was amazing alright. Amazingly un-spectacular.

The next year went by and our sex life didn’t get any better. I kept hoping I was missing something, that time would give me the key to whatever it was I couldn’t seem to find.

At sixteen, after a year of un-spectacular experiences I began to wonder if there was something wrong with me, and started reading books to find out exactly what it was I wasn’t getting right, after all, Johnny always seemed so happy afterwards so it had to be me right?

Reading these books taught me how to fake it, and Johnny was happier still. Which annoyed me to no end as I read more and more, trying to figure out how to make it better for me.

I was actually in the park one day, reading one of said books- stolen of course, why would I pay for a book like that if I didn’t have to?- when I ran into him.

The guy that would change pretty much everything for me.