CHAPTER ONE

            Ah, college, I thought as I pulled my car onto UCLA’s student parking.  I looked around at the students roaming campus and smiled at all the hot girls I saw.

            No, no!  Ashley, you are dating Jessica!, I had to tell myself.  Damn this being faithful shit.  Jessica and I had been dating for seven months now and everything was great.  Seriously.  So great that it was starting to make me sick.  I could do nothing wrong in her eyes and she was just that innocent that she never did anything wrong in anyone’s eyes.  That’s including God.  She didn’t smother me like most of the other girls, she gave me my space whenever I wanted it, which was often and let me hang with whoever I wanted, be it guy friends or girl friends.  And the sex was beyond amazing.  She did this thing with her legs and a pogo stick that I was sure was illegal in most states.  And after all of this, why did I still have to remind myself that I was dating her?  Because I was a hound, and nothing would change that. 

            I felt bad about it; knowing that it was only a matter of time before I would break Jessica’s heart and not knowing if I wanted it to be sooner, because I didn’t want to wait to hurt her, or later, because I enjoyed every moment when I was with her.  And it’s not like I kept this from her.  She knew, way before dating me, the kind of girl I was.  I mean we spent four years in high school and she was there to hear about and witness all of my conquest.  I think Jessica might have been the only girl in the entire school that I hadn’t banged once senior year rolled around and that intrigued me.  I had never tried too hard, because she was my friend, my only female friend on account that I was screwing the rest of them, so they couldn’t be friends.   But around the beginning of January, things started to change.  I found myself wanting to do more with Jessica than just bang her – not that that didn’t cross my mind; Jess was hot.

            She was about the same height as me, with fire red hair, a pair of full lips and deep dimples that only enhanced her beauty.  She was a total girly-girl; Always done up in tight clothes and heels, which was great; I enjoyed dating a girl that caused minor traffic accidents. 

            Our high school had a Winter Ball in the middle of February every year that was like the red carpet at the Oscars for us.  Everyone scrambled trying the find their dates, their outfits and rent the best car to show off which.  I, however, wasn't all that excited, having never gone and was fully intending on making that night a major movie night.

            “So, you really don’t want to go?” Jessica asked, two days before the Ball.  She was lying on my lap, watching a movie, as I stroked her hair.

            “Nah, ball’s are for losers.”

            She lightly hit my thigh, “Hey, Ms. Davies, I wanna go.”

            “Oh,” I thought for a moment, “Well ball’s are for losers and Jessica Hampton, who isn’t a loser.”        

            “Thank-you.”

            We continued to watch the movie until she sat up abruptly and turned to me.

            “Why don’t you come with me?”

            My hand filled with popcorn, midway to my mouth when I stopped short and looked at her.  “Come to what with you?”  

            Jessica’s cheeks started to turn red as she looked down and started to play with her fiddling hands.  “The ball.  We can go as friends, you know?  I really want to go but I don’t want to go alone.”

            And how could I say no to her?  She was adorable and I would be proud to walk into the Winter Ball with her on my arm.

            Fast forward to the day of the Ball, I picked her up and she looked great in the light blue with black lace dress.  And just as I had predicted, every eye was on us, all be it jealous ones, from girls that I had had sex with and guys who had all asked Jessica out but were rejected.  But neither one of us cared, it seemed like for that day, the only two people that were in the grand hall, dancing, were us.