"Then what's the problem?"

"There isn't any problem," Drake said, traces of defensiveness lacing his words. "Look, when it comes to sex, I just haven't done it yet. You seem to have trouble getting that."

"Do I need to go through the list again?"

"So I date a lot of girls! Plenty of them are virgins too," Drake pointed out, walking away from his loft bed toward the back of the couch that Josh was still sitting on. Propping his hand, Drake swung his legs over the back and slid on to the worn out cushion.

"I'm sure they are. I just didn't expect you to be, that's all," Josh said, shaking his head. He ran a hand through his unruly curls and waited for Drake's response. The other boy gave him a look of exasperation.

"Look man, it's not that I don't want to," Drake said, emphasizing his point with his hands. He gave Josh a knowing smirk as he leaned in closer to his brother. "I definitely want to." He leaned back to give each other some space. "Someday. But now's not a good time."

"Why not?"

"Well, why was now a good time for you and…her?"

Josh pursed his lips and gave him a look. "She has a name, you know."

"Dude, I can't even think of your girlfriend without flashing back to last week," Drake admitted, a sly grin spreading his lips. "Cut me some slack."

Josh gasped with a screeching sound that made Drake wince slightly. "You stop that right now!" It took all of Drake's willpower not to continue smiling devilishly at him. Sure, he might dislike the creature, but he was still a guy after all. If he couldn't keep his own virginity a secret, Drake knew he could never tell Josh of his lingering, fleeting moments of thought about his brother's girlfriend.

Instead, Drake rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest again. "Whatever – just answer the question."

Josh took a moment to pause before he shrugged. "I don't know – it just kind of happened, you know? One thing led to another…" He could feel himself blushing; the red in his cheeks was hot and spreading toward his ears and trickling down the back of his neck.

"Well, well – who's embarrassed now?" Drake teased, poking Josh in the shoulder. Josh gave him a tiny grin and crossed his arms as he turned his head away, unsure of whether to continue the conversation or not. In a rare moment of understanding, Drake seemed to read his mind. "Yeah, so uh…I'm gonna go out for a drive for a little while. Tell mom and dad I'll be home in time for dinner okay?"

"Yeah sure, no problem bro," Josh said absentmindedly as he reached for the remote. Drake got up from the couch and crossed the room smoothly toward the door, but a thought made him stop and turn toward his brother.

"Oh by the way, tell your girlfriend to stop acting so weird around me."

Josh turned to face him, confused at what he meant. "How is Mindy acting weird around you?"

"All week at school, I barely see her, which I'm not exactly complaining about by the way," Drake started. "But when I saw her in the hallway the other day, she took one look at me and ran in the other direction. For the record, I just want to say that if you want Mindy and me to be friends then she has to try to act friendly towards me too."

"Look, Drake," Josh sighed, wondering how he should phrase his next thought. "Just stay away from her for a little while. She's kind of embarrassed because you saw her…" He dropped his voice lower. "…her, you know…"

"Naked? Nude? In the buff?"

"Her lady parts!" Josh exclaimed, wanting to bury his face in his hands to hide the constant blushing he seemed to be doing.

"Lady parts? Dude, who says that?" Drake smirked, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Why can't you just be a normal guy and say bre-"

"Lady parts!" Josh exclaimed again, louder this time. God, this whole situation was just getting too much for him to deal with. "Just keep yourself and your thoughts away from Mindy, okay?"

"Sure man, whatever." Drake rolled his eyes and had his hand on the doorknob when another thought occurred to him. He dropped his hand and walked back toward the couch so that he was standing next to where Josh was sitting. "Can I say something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"So, I'm glad you lost your virginity and all and that's a great step for you and Mindy," Drake started. "So I'm assuming that it's brought you two closer?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"And Mindy wants absolutely nothing to do with me?"

"As usual. Possibly even more so now, given the circumstances."

Drake smiled and gave Josh's shoulder a nice, playful punch. "Dude, you having sex was probably the best thing that ever happened to me!"

Josh scowled and looked at him pointedly. "Don't you need to be somewhere?"

"Later!" Drake was so excited that he nearly skipped out of the room.

--

FIN.