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waiting …”
    Brianne quickly checked her BlackBerry for messages, smiling to see there were at least ten missed calls. All from him.
    “What is it you want to know?”
    “Everything,” Sasha said with a laugh. “Every last little thing.”
    “Well, actually,” Brianne said, giggling along with her, “his thing isn’t all that little.”
    Sasha shrieked with delight. “You tramp. Tell me.”
    “Brianne,” her mother’s voice suddenly rang out, bursting through the closed door of her room and ricocheting off the walls. “How’s that packing coming along?”
    “Oh, for God’s sake.” Brianne’s eyes rolled across a framed poster of a semi-naked Lady Gaga on the wall behind her bed. “Almost done,” she called out, carelessly tossing a few sweatshirts into her overnight bag. “I can’t wait to move out,” she said, knowing this wasn’t really true.
    “Don’t blame you,” Sasha said. “I’ve been more or less on my own since I was fifteen. My parents said I was incorrigible, whatever that means. Sent me to live with my grandparents. In Kansas, of all fucking places. It was so awful, I can’t tell you. It was like I was in the army. I ran away at least half a dozen times. But then they threatened to put me in a group home if I didn’t ‘straighten up and fly right.’ Yes, people actually talk that way in Kansas. Anyway,” she continued, tossing her blond hair from one shoulder to the other, “I stuck it out until my eighteenth birthday, got my high school diploma, and then ran away for good. Came to New York. Made some friends. Slept on a lot of floors. Found a job, saved my money, got my own place. It’s pretty much a hole in the wall, but hey, at least I don’t have Mommy Dearest trying to tell me how to live my life.”
    “You’re so lucky.” Brianne glanced toward the door, her body bracing for the sound of her mother’s footsteps in the hall. What was with her anyway? Did she go out of her way to embarrass her in front of her friends? Although it could be worse, Brianne thought, picturing her grandmother stumbling drunkenly around her small apartment. “She’s just paranoid I won’t be ready on time and she’ll be stuck having to entertain my father.”
    “I’d be more than happy to entertain him,” Sasha volunteered with a laugh.
    “Grab a number. The line forms on the right.”
    “Maybe he just hasn’t met the right woman.”
    “Oh, he found her,” Brianne said, the sudden wistfulness in her voice catching her by surprise. “He just didn’t keep her.”
    Sasha’s large green eyes opened wide. “Are we talking about your mother now?”
    “Oh, God. Let’s not.” Brianne groaned. “I thought you wanted to hear about the other night.”
    “You thought absolutely right. So, spill. How was it? Was he any good?”
    “He was …” Brianne said, disguising an involuntary wince with a loud laugh, “… the best.”
    “Really? Because sometimes when they’re that cute, they think all they have to do is lie there and let you do all the work.”
    “Trust me. He didn’t just lie there.”
    “Okay, so, details, details. How big was it? Did he know how to use it? How long could he go? Did he go down on you first?”
    Oh, God, Brianne thought. She hadn’t expected this kind of grilling. How much did she trust Sasha? How much could she tell her? She looked toward the door, suddenly hoping for the sound of her mother’s voice. Nothing. Naturally, she thought. Always lurking, but never there when you actually needed her. Which wasn’t really the truth, she thought in the next breath, irritated nonetheless.
    “So, did you give him a blow job?” Sasha prodded.
    Brianne felt a sudden surge of pride. “He said it was the best one he’d ever had.”
    Sasha shook her head dismissively. “They all say that.”
    Do they? Brianne wondered, wishing she had Sasha’s experience.
    “What else did he say? Did he tell you he loved you?”
    “No.” The truth was that after