Bernie's confession to Gary in the van

"Okay, my turn," Bernie said.

She and Gary sat side by side in the front of Stuart's Super Surf Van, looking out over the ocean, with Gary's arm round her shoulders.

"Mostly you know my story," she said. "Up to the time we met, I dated girls. I mean, I had a couple bad experiences with guys when I was just starting out. But my luck wasn't great with girls either." She took a deep breath. "The sex is good, but they keep breaking my heart." She blinked away tears behind her glasses and swallowed.

"Habiba?" Gary said.

"Yeah. And Raquel. Then seeing Habiba with Raquel." Bernie sniffled. "Yeah. Anyway. I met you a little after that. You were so sweet to me."

They sat quietly for a minute or two, just breathing and watching the ocean.

Bernie cleared her throat. "Yeah. So I'm gonna start with what my mom told me I should tell you. Then some more stuff."

"Uh-huh?" Gary said.

"I'm kind of happy, you know, you and your mom, like me and my mom," she said.

Gary bit his lip and nodded. "Uh-huh," he said.

Bernie continued, "And you know I help my mom with her Pleasure Circles. But for all the stuff you know, there's stuff I haven't told you." She laughed. "I guess some of it's okay now. Did you know I really like anal? Mom kept encouraging me to try it out, but it was really Habiba that got me going. I loved getting dirty with her. But I never told you. I was worried you would think less of me."

Gary nodded. "Nope. Guess I'm outed on that one."

"Ha ha," Bernie said. "A couple times over."

"Yeah, Sharon really loved butt stuff, well, at least her butt. And Peter, well, he begged me, and I said yes," Gary said. "I never told you, well, because I didn't want you and me to remind me of Sharon. And I was afraid of what you'd think of me and Pete." He sighed. "Yeah."

"Yeah," Bernie said. "So that's the easy stuff. I like anal. And Mom and I masturbate together. Not every day, but a lot."

"Yeah," Gary said.

"So here's the other stuff," Bernie said. She bowed her head. "I have another guy."

"What?" Gary said.

Bernie shook her head and laughed. "It's, I don't know. You know, I have a cousin Ben. He and I were both really worried and uptight about turning eighteen, and we hadn't done anything with anyone. We kind of made a crazy pact to try stuff out together. We knew we weren't going anywhere serious with it, I mean, romantic or anything. But we try new stuff out together. Sexually. He geeks out and reads all about it, and we try it." She looked at Gary. "Well, you seem to be taking this calmly."

"Yeah?" Gary said. He grinned. "Is that your worst confession, that you have a kissing cousin who's geeky about sex?"

Bernie hugged him. "I was worried it might be," she said.

"Nope," Gary said. He hugged back. "Takes the heat off me from having to be the guy to fix all your bad guy experiences."

Bernie laughed out loud. "Heat? You? You're the most laid-back guy I know."

"Fooled you," Gary said. "You just can't tell when I'm worrying."

"Aww," Bernie said.

They sat for a while side by side, holding each other.

"I guess I have more more thing," Bernie said.