I knew that telling Simon that Stephanie and I lost our virginity to each other might cause problems, but I was willing to risk that. He was my friend, just as much as the girls were, and he deserved to know the truth about what happened.
"Listen, Simon..." I began, trying to think of how to word this delicately.
"What's up?" he asked, cocking his head at my tone.
As I opened my mouth to speak, I caught a flash of movement in the corner of my eye.
Without warning, a football hit me right in the crotch, my body crumbling to the ground as my voice went up several octaves.
"Oh my God!" I heard Stephanie shout. "Ian, are you okay?"
I wasn't able to answer her question, groaning loudly through clenched teeth as my balls ached with soul-crushing pain.
"What the hell, babe?" I heard Simon ask as he knelt down next to me.
"It was an accident! I thought he was looking towards me when I threw it! Oh, I'm so sorry, Ian! Quick, get him some ice, Simon."
"Ice? You don't ice balls, Stephanie! That only makes it worse!"
"Well what do you guys do then?"
"Wallow in agony and pray for ****."
"Well get him some water then!"
I watched Simon move towards the house, Stephanie watching him leave before turning to me and saying, "I'm... I'm really sorry. I wasn't trying to..."
"What... the fuck... were you trying to do?" I managed to say, gasping for air.
She bit her lip as she knelt down next to me, a nervous expression on her face. "I... I heard a little bit of what you guys were saying..."
"And?"
"And I couldn't let you tell him."
"So you hit me in the balls with a football?" I groaned angrily.
"I panicked," she replied, rubbing my shoulder as I continued gasping for air. "And I was aiming at your stomach...and it isn't right for you to tell him, anyway."
I sat up against the tire of my truck before I looked her dead in the eye and said, "You're right, Stephanie. You should be the one to tell him instead of dragging things out."
"That's not fair," she replied crossly.
"Well too bad," I snapped. "Guess what? You wanted me to get over you, and I'm trying. I'm trying really damn hard, so hard that I ended up becoming good friends with the guy you dumped me for, and now he's opening up to me about the two of you. How the fuck do you think I feel about that?"
She suddenly looked very upset, her eyes becoming glassy as tears began to well up in them. "I'm... I'm sorry, Ian... I didn't..."
I took a deep breath, calming myself down before continuing, "No, I'm sorry. I just got hit in the balls, so I'm a little ticked-off right now. Look, maybe it isn't my place to tell Simon about us, but he deserves to know because you're right: it's not fair. It's not fair to me, and it isn't fair to him. So please... do us both a favor and tell him."
Before she could respond, Simon came up with a bottle of water for me.
"Got your breath yet?"
"Getting there," I replied, forcing myself to stand and drink some water.
The three of us stood there for a moment in silence before Stephanie came up to me and gave me a hug.
"I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," I replied. "It'll all work out."
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