When Ryan pulled into the driveway in his black pickup truck, I walked outside. I was sure Travis was watching us, so I grabbed Ryan's hand and pulled him inside. As we were walking down the hall towards the basement stairs, I heard Travis clear his throat from the living room. I shot him a look and started down the stairs. I led Ryan to my bedroom and shut the door. He sat on my bed, and I plopped down onto my computer chair.
"What's going on?" Ryan asked me.
"I'm pissed."
He looked concerned. "Why?"
"My brother thinks that you 'took advantage' of me last night when I passed out."
His face fell. "Why would he think I did that?"
"Do you really want to know?"
He nodded slowly.
"Well, at my old school, I was kind of known for being the easy party girl." I paused. Ryan looked at me curiously. "I had parties all the time, and I was always drunk every weekend, all weekend. One time, at one of my really big, crazy parties that Travis was chaperoning, I had gotten so drunk that I couldn't even stand up. At the time, I was dating this hotshot football player, and he had taken me downstairs to 'calm down' a bit. My brother watched him carry me downstairs." This was harder than I thought; I had never told anyone before. Ryan must have seen my uneasiness and pulled me onto the bed so he could put his arm around me. "The kid I was dating, Luke, laid me down on the couch and started taking my clothes off. I couldn't even think, so I didn't do anything to stop him. He started to have sex with me, and probably thought it was fine because we'd done it before," I stopped talking for a second and noticed my voice was shaking. Ryan was still looking at me. "Then Luke left me down there by myself, naked. Travis noticed I hadn't come up with Luke, so he went down to look for me. I was passed out on the couch. He woke me up and helped me get dressed then he stayed there with me until I fell asleep again. Then he went upstairs and kicked Luke's ass." I was crying now. "That's why he thought you took advantage of me. But I said you didn't and you wouldn't. Because you're different. Right?"
Ryan didn't say anything. He just looked at me for a while, then leaned in close to my ear and whispered, "Of course I am." He wiped away my tears and kissed me.