Read Second String (In Too Deep #3) for Free Online

sex," she continued. She looked at me and lifted one finger into the air. "There was a time when I did have sex, but now I don't. I've only been with one guy."
    It could have been the way she said it, but the thought of there having only been one guy to have the honor made me feel more unsettled than if there'd been a few unmemorable ones.

 
    Chapter 5
    Emily
     
     
    I knew Ethan needed to get on the road for San Diego, but I couldn't resist checking out his car. Okay, so it wasn't the car. Maybe I was a little tempted by the idea of being alone with him for a few more minutes before he left.
    "So, I'm totally cool with having to earn the right to put the moves on you, but I'm warning you… I'm gonna be extremely busy for the next eight months." Ethan almost seemed regretful. I must have given him a defensive look, thinking he was already trying to blow me off, because he continued, "The trials start at the end of June, and hopefully, I'll have the Olympics after that. If I want a shot at making the team, I have no choice but to work my ass off between now and then."
    "No, I don't want you to feel like you have to come up here all the time or anything. I've never been to San Diego. Maybe I'll drive down there sometime. We can try to see each other when it works out, and both be okay when it doesn't."
    "Oh, so we're all casual now?" he asked, mocking me.
    "From what I hear, you're the king of casual, so I thought that'd suit you just fine," I said.
    "I am the king of casual," he said, "but I'm accustomed to the girl being a little heartbroken about it."
    "Don't worry about my heart. It's already taken." I didn't say it out loud. I thought it, and I almost said it, but I didn't, I kept it secret. Thinking about my heart and the person who I'd given it to years ago made me absentmindedly wonder if Ethan might be right about Jeremy having a small willy.
    "No heartbreak for you, I guess," Ethan said. He was talking about my smile. I'd been smiling at the thought of Jeremy's little male parts, and Ethan had taken it as a reinforcement of just how casual I was.
    I decided to let him think I was bulletproof.  "No. I'm like you. I don't have enough time to be heartbroken. I have no idea how I'm going to fit Gretchen's project in between the Lakers and the dance studio." Mentioning Gretchen's project made me want to vent about something that had been bothering me since Joel asked me to help out at the art center. "To be honest, I'm nervous and might even be having second thoughts about agreeing to work with them at the center."
    "Why?" Ethan asked. He seemed genuinely concerned.
    "Well, one of the main reasons I wanted to move to L.A… aside from wanting to work for the Lakers, was to try to put myself through college. I feel like my parents might even be willing to help financially once I get to a place where I can approach them with a plan."
    "What do you want to study?" he asked. He knew I was a dancer, but he had no idea that dance was my life.
    "Dance," I said. "Right now, I'm teaching little kids a bunch of routines that someone else made up. I'm fine with that level of responsibility, but the job they're talking about giving me at Gretchen's place is more than I'm worthy of, I'm afraid."
    "Aw, come on. Don't say that," he said. "You'll do great. They wouldn't have asked you if you weren't capable of it."
    "That's just the thing. They have no idea what I'm capable of. They just asked me because I'm a dancer, and maybe they thought it'd be awkward if they didn't ask me. How am I supposed to know what to teach these kids if I haven't gone to college?"
    "How long have you been dancing?" he asked.
    "Twelve years," I answered, after a slight hesitation.
    "Doesn't that count for something?"
    I sighed. "I guess it does. I'm just going to feel like a big poser if I try to head up a dance program. I'm nineteen with no immediate college plans. I just don't see how anyone would take me seriously."
    "I think people aren't usually as