Shane blinked. “Sorry,” she said, so low that Alex could barely hear. “I’m glad you confided in me and I wouldn’t want to discourage you from doing it again.” Alex smiled despite herself and walked out the door, yet didn’t immediately go down the stairs. She sat on the top step, her hands folded in her lap, and she thought.

            No. You can’t. Shane is a player. She doesn’t give a fuck about you. Be her friend, she has a good heart. She won’t let anything bad happen to you. She said she likes you. I bet she likes a lot of people. That doesn’t matter. You can trust her. She wants you to trust her. That’s good. She also wants you to fuck her. She can’t really help herself, can she? I can’t believe she’d try to pressure you like that. Maybe she’s just like that. We don’t know her. She seems nice. People aren’t always what they seem. You like her. So what? I like a lot of people. Not how you like her, though. I don’t love her. Yet. I will never love someone like Shane. I don’t think that’s up to you. Forget about her. You don’t have to rush: love will come eventually. But when? I want love now. I want to have sex. You have had sex.

            Alex opened her eyes as a tear slipped off her chin. Her stomach sunk and she felt as if she were going to throw up. That was not sex.  

            It began to sprinkle lightly as Alex walked the eight or so blocks to The Planet. Being a virgin was her 2^nd deepest secret. No one but her and one other knew her 1^st. That secret was to be locked in a chest and buried deep under ground —underneath the ocean—, the only key destroyed permanently.

            Twenty or so minutes passed before Alex arrived at the coffee house. As before, Dana, Bette, the one called Tina and the one called Alice were all sitting at the table. However, there was a newcomer as well, and Carmen, Kit, and Helena were gone.

            Dana threw her arms around Alex, earning a small peck on the neck. She led the guitarist to their table, where everyone greeted her. “Hey,” Alex said in response, plastering up a fake smile. Behind her eyes, her mind was still very confused about Shane. Shane was nice enough to let you stay with her, she made you feel so comfortable as to cut loose one of your major secrets, yet she tried to pressure you into having sex, and then earnestly apologized, because she realized the atrocity of the pressuring after your divulging of your secret .