There are lots of things you could say about this story. You could comment on the fact that its author is technically a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_consent_in_North_America#California

“>minor. You could also point out the last line – the smartly penned assertion that her virginity has ‘got lost in the mail’, but mostly what I love about this story is the way that even though I don’t live in California and even though I am no longer seventeen, this young woman has allowed me to get right underneath the skin of her life. Intentionally or not, Aimee builds intrigue and suspense right from the first word she writes. It’s never clear which way this story will go. It still isn’t.

Reading her words puts me straight into the shoes of a seventeen-year old world. I can hear the slam of shuttered porch doors on warm dusty streets and I can feel the late night walks around quiet neighbourhoods and the first kiss from someone you love. Aimee has shown us an episode of her life but one way or another, the story will continue to be told whether we have a subscription or not.

Aimee. Born 1991. Virginity loss TBC.

‘I’m only seventeen years old but I grew up fast. I was invited to take courses at Stanford University in California when I was in 4th grade. I graduated high school at the age of sixteen and I am now a full time student while I save up for University.

I met my boyfriend at my job just a month and a half after my sixteenth birthday. He was actually one of the assistant managers and he had just been transferred to our location. I was instantly attracted to him but never acted on it because, well, he was technically my boss and older than me. We worked together for four months before he was promoted to general manager and yet another location.

I was hanging out with my best friend and we decided to invite him. We were all hanging out at her house and he said he wanted to get something out of his car to show us, (it was his old school ID and it didn’t look anything like him). He asked if I wanted to help him and I said sure. When we were at his car he said, ‘Aimee, I really want to tell you something, but you can’t tell Mary-Beth.’ Mary-Beth being my best friend. I of course said I wouldn’t tell her and then he said he was head over heels for her.

Of course I was hurt, but what was I to expect? Mary-Beth was nineteen, almost twenty, much closer to his age than me. I said I wouldn’t tell her and I agreed to help him. If I couldn’t be with him, I wanted to at least be his friend. We became really close. We talked everyday on the phone and hung out at least every other day.

Then while we were walking at about eleven o’clock at night, (he worked late and not in town so we would hang out once he got off), we started talking and he was telling me how I was his best friend and he could talk to me about anything and he was really comfortable around me.

At this point I liked him a lot, I had gotten to know him and he was so sweet and amazing. I’m not to let my feelings be known to someone because I fear rejection among other things. I didn’t want to ruin our friendship by telling him how I felt. But before I could tell my mouth no, I heard these words pop out of me, ‘What if I were older?’ I just stopped walking and froze. I couldn’t believe what I had just said!

Alex stopped walking also and looked at me. All he said was, ‘What did you say?’ I couldn’t pretend like I didn’t say it, so I just said, ‘What if I were older? What if I were eighteen?’ He didn’t say anything for a moment and I felt myself freaking out. He walked closer to me since we were standing a good ten feet away from each other. He looked into my eyes and said, ‘You would be Mary-Beth’.

He leaned down and tilted my chin up with his index finger and kissed me. It was only my second kiss ever. It was the most amazing moment. We had only been friends for three weeks and all of a sudden we were kissing. We talked for at least two hours about the situation and had come up with the only logical solution. We would remain friends until my eighteenth birthday then we would date. We weren’t sure if we could resist the temptation of each other’s bodies so we had to have boundaries. Since I was a minor and he was not, he could get in a lot of trouble.

But even being just friends, it didn’t quite work out. We were basically dating, and eventually we just said we were. He then asked me if I would be his girlfriend. I of course said yes. I had never had a boyfriend before. Unless you count the whole ‘boyfriend/girlfriend’ thing in 5th grade where you sit together at lunch.

It was amazing. He was so sweet and wonderful, and nice. He would do little things that would make me smile. He would open the car door for me, he would walk closest to the cars when we were walking, he would randomly surprise me with a rose.

He said ‘I love you’ first, and about a week later I said it to him. I had never said it before and well, I didn’t really know how to. Since I only had had one other kiss before him I obviously hadn’t done any other type of sexual interaction with another person. But he was really sweet about all of it and I found myself exploring his body and allowing him to explore mine.

We didn’t take the physical stuff very slow. Well, all the stuff leading up to actual sexual intercourse. Within a week I was comfortable enough to have my top off, but it took about three weeks until I was comfortable enough to even have him touch below the belt, but it took me a few days more to let him look. It all was fun and new experiences for me.

After dating for two months, I had decided I was ready to lose my virginity to him. I told him and he asked me all sorts of questions so we could decide if I was emotionally ready or if my hormones were just telling me to do it. After figuring out why I wanted to and things like that we both agreed that it was something I was ready to do.

But once we go to the actual act, I got extremely nervous and tightened up. Needless to say, your body won’t let anything in when your muscles have closed the opening! He was really sweet about it though, telling me it was okay and that he will wait until we are ninety if that’s what I need. We just layed in bed naked and held each other.

I lived with my mother, and only three months after we began dating, Alex moved in. We tried to have sex every once in awhile but it always hurt too bad. It’s now five months after he moved in and six months after our initial try, and we still have yet to have sex. So even though I’m still a virgin, I find myself not feeling like one some of the time because of my relationship and what we have done. But I definitely see myself losing my virginity to Alex. He is the man I hope to marry one day and the only man I wish to sleep with.

Hopefully soon will we be able to do the deed, I can’t wait to share the experience with him. Even though he is not a virgin, and hasn’t been for many years, he has remained supportive and does not pressure me in any way. My ‘virginity’ may still be intact but my heart has been given away, and the gift of my virginity might have just temporarily been lost in the mail

Sincerely,
Aimee,
California, USA’