It has to be special-2


    He nodded again.


    "You gotta be kidding me," I pped a hand to my chest, "I''m horny. This is not fair! I''m the female in this situation. If I''m okay with it, he should be too!"


    Seth smiled widely and brought his hands forward to cup my face. He dropped his forehead to mine and ced a quick kiss against my nose before brushing away bits of my hair. "See, you''re not normal. I love that!"


    I rolled my eyes. "So what does Ethan want?"


    "He wants you toe to his football practice."


    "I would rather die!"


    "Aw, don''t be that way. What if I promise to push Ethan a little further tonight?"


    "Tell him to shove his ''losing-my-girl-virginity-needs-to-be-special'' idea up his ass!"


    Seth''s mouth twitched. "Think about what you just said."


    Oh no. He got me.


    I mped my teeth down over my bottom lip and folded my arms across my chest. "It''s


    not funny."


    Ten minutester, I was sprawled on the bleachers watching Ethan''s practice andughing so hard I couldn''t breathe. When practice finished and Ethan trotted over I tried to give him the stink face, but it became harder the closer he got. It wasn''t the way he held his helmet or that his hair clung to his forehead or even that he tore off his sweat-soaked jersey either... well maybe it was that.


    He stopped in front of me, shifting from foot to foot and holding his helmet with two hands. He cleared his throat. "Hey," he said, biting his lip.


    I lifted my chin and looked past him. I wasn''t going to say the awkward ''hey'' back. He could just stuff it.


    It has to be special-2


    "Cassie," he drawled my name out. "Please, don''t be mad at me."


    "We''re doing this tonight. At your ce, obviously..." I trailed off.


    Ethan had the luxury of having parents with money, unlike myself. I didn''t have parents at all. His apartment -where I spent most of my time anyway- was one of the high-end ones close to the University. I lived on the extra cheap side of town, where one bed, a microwave with a short, cold showers, and cockroach infestations were normal.


    "I bought condoms, and um-" I paused to tuck my hair behind my ears, "I''ve been on birth control for a while so..."


    It''s happening again. I''m thinking about Frankie and Ed. Thinking about where I livedpared to Ethan''s ce made me remember stuff I didn''t want to remember. I''d gotten a pretty raw deal in the parent department so I was used to those types of living situations, but still. My biological parents were killed in a car crash when I was a baby. I was lucky enough to get adopted by a caring couple soon after, hence why I was able to grow up with Ethan and have a normal childhood.


    "Ooh, I hope you got cherry-vored!" Seth said, wiggling his eyebrows.


    "Cassie? Are you okay?" Ethan asked, touching my shoulder to get my attention. I smiled and nodded. He didn''t need to know that my train of thought had gone from one serious thing to another.


    Francine-Frankie as she used to be called by her best friend, Ethan''s mom-and Ed, my adopted parents, unfortunately, drew an unlucky fate card for themselves as well. Frankie got diagnosed with Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer. As a social worker, she''d always been a fighter so it was no surprise shested for as long as she did. When it happened, I experienced my first real heartbreak. At thirteen I''d lost the light of my life and Ed lost the love of his. Ed never really bounced back. In fact, to this day I''m certain the heartplication that took his lifebeled as inconclusive-two yearster was due to a broken heart.


    If it hadn''t been for Mickey, Ethan''s father, who was a very well known and sessfulwyer at the time-he was a well-respected judge now- I would''ve been thrown back into the system. Mick had brought up the idea of adopting me, but Jeanine, Ethan''s mother, wouldn''t have it. She said the only way she wanted me to be rted to them is if I was going to be their daughter-inw. Jeanie always found ways to throw the two of us together, honestly, she was super lucky Ethan and I got along so well, I think she and


    It has to be special-2


    Frankie had nned from the beginning too. Once I even saw a wedding book with photo maniptions of Ethan, me, and what our children would look like. If I didn''t love her so much I''d think she was a bit crazy. This was probably another reason why Ethan didn''t have the heart toe out to his parents.