"Doesn't your father have any easy books?" Doug asked despairingly. "Something for beginners?"

"He might at the hospital. I don't know." Books, she thought contemptuously. How much do you learn from books? Damned little!

"There's only one other way," Doug said, eyeing her tentatively. Will she or won't she? he kept asking himself.

"What?" she asked innocently. Does he mean what I think he does? She didn't know him well enough to guess.

"Try it," he said firmly. He was shaking inside, waiting for her explosion. Suppose she laughed at him?

Angie stared boldly back into his eyes. "How much do you know about it?"

He might as well take the chance. "Nothing. How much do you?"

"Nothing." I might as well admit it, she thought.

"Well?" he said matter-of-factly, "are you game?"

Her eyes recognized the challenge in his. "If you are." Can I go through with it? She wasn't sure.

"Let's go back to your room."

They carefully arranged the office as they had found it and went out the door, setting the handle, so it would lock behind them.

Back in her bedroom, Angie opened a dresser drawer. "I'll put a nightie on."

"You don't need one. It's better naked, they say."

"I'd rather." She dropped her eyes and rushed past him to the bathroom and closed the door.

Doug felt curiously abandoned. He undressed slowly, piece by piece, and waited, sitting on the bed. Time passed and he shivered. Was it anticipation or was it cold? His mind was racing. Was he really going to find out what sex was like? He hadn't thought his chance would come so soon. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand. 8:30. Angie had better start moving, he couldn't stay much longer. And he was getting cold.

An idea came to him. He went over to the dresser, rummaged through a drawer, picked out a frilly short nightgown and put it on. He knocked on the bathroom. "Angie? Angie?"