I walked into the showers, not excited to have to use them again. The first time was the worst so far, as all the shower stalls were full, and I had to wait, in a towel, for one to free up. It was weird being around so many named women. Some of the girls compared it to after-gym showers they had in high school, but I had never done any sports that required me to shower at school.

I slipped into one of the stalls, checking the floor to make sure it was clean before entering. There only seemed to be one girl in here. I had gotten up early to shower in peace, so maybe she had the same idea as me. Soft moans emanated from her side of the room over the water noise. She was no doubt doing something over there, but I did my best to ignore it as I started my own shower.

Sure, I was a virgin, but that didn’t stop me from being open about sex with Alice. Well, specifically masturbation. Though, she is the one who bought me the rabbit sex toy in the first place. She told me if I wasn’t going to have sex, I might as well get some pleasure on my own. Though I was open about it with Alice, that didn’t mean I had much to talk about. I had only masturbated a handful of times with no special ending. Sure, parts of it felt good, but never enough to get me off.

I had grown up with conservative parents who neither wanted to have the sex talk with me, so I learned from friends or bullies instead. I was the laughingstock of my middle school for weeks when one of the guys asked me if I had a bush in my front yard, and I replied that I only had one in my backyard, thinking he was asking about actual bushes. I learned quickly after that I knew nearly nothing about sex, and Alice took up the responsibility of bringing me to her house and showing me the depths of the internet.

I finished my shower up and wrapped myself in a towel before heading out, nearly running into an already-naked Alice. My eyes widened as I stopped. I had often seen her naked, but it was still surprising to see her naked now.

“Oh hey, Mali.” She smiled at me, her hand proudly on her hip.

“Hi.” I held the towel tightly to my chest.

“Excited to go downtown today?” She spoke casually as if she wasn’t naked in a public room.

“Yeah, yeah.” I nodded nervously, not wanting her to stand out here any longer.

“I’ll meet you back in our room after my shower.”

I nodded again, ducking out of the conversation and quickly walking away.

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I sighed deeply as I took a seat, happy to finally be off my feet. Rachael had taken us on a walking tour through lower downtown, showing us many of her favorite places. My favorite was the Union Station, as I had previously seen it in Wasteland 3, so it was cool seeing it in real life now. Though to be fair, the real thing was much cooler than the in game version. Sure there weren’t any bandits or talking cars in real life, but Union Station is gorgeous. More than I ever expected. I had been thinking it would just be some train station, but it was much more than that with shops and restaurants and even a hotel in the vast station.

After a couple of hours of walking around, we were finally let go to find some food and meet back up in an hour and a half to get a ride home. Alice, Chani, and a few other girls Alice had made friends with, had come along with me to find somewhere to eat.

“Find anything that sounds good?” Chani leaned over in the booth to ask me.

“Yeah. I think I’ll get one of the pastas. Obviously, without the meat.” I pointed to the pasta section of the laminated menu.

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“Me too.” She smiled over at me. “How’d you like the tour?”

“I thought it was pretty cool.” I shrugged.

“My feet hurt now.” I looked over to see Alice pout.

“Shouldn’t have worn heels then, Alice.” I laughed, shaking my head

“Girly wore heels?!” Chani asked in astonishment.

“She always does!” I exclaimed.

“Pretty bonkers.“ Chani laughed.

“But at least I look good.” Alice shrugged, a proud smile on her face.

“You always do.” One of the girls agreed. “I wish I had the ability to get up and put on makeup every day, but most days, all I do is put on yoga pants and a cami.”

“I don’t get how you two goths dress up every day.” Alice’s other friend added.

“Gotta keep up the image.” I laughed quietly, looking over at Chani, who nodded in agreement.

“You two are so cute though.” The first girl smiled. “I love your style.”

“Thanks.”

“Stop sucking their dicks, Millie.” Alice laughed, nudging her.

“I’m being honest!”

We ate and chatted for a while. It was nice to see Alice had made some new friends too, though it never was hard for her. After paying, we got up and headed to the spot we were supposed to be meeting up to get rides back to campus. Chani and I talked as we walked.

“Since you lived near here, how often did you go downtown? It’s pretty cool here.” I looked over at her.

“Not all that often, admittedly.” She shrugged. “The only times I ever really went down here was with a friend and their mom. His mom did belly dancing, and they’d go to this café on the outskirts of downtown, and I’d go with them to help take tickets.”

“Sounds like fun.” I smiled.

“I enjoyed it.” She shrugged.

“What happened to your friend? Are you still friends?”

“Yeah. He moved out of state for college to Iowa, so we don’t talk as much as we used to, but I’m sure you’d like him if you met him. He’s cool.”

“Maybe we will at some point.”

“Maybe.” Chani smiled back at me.

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I ran my brush through my hair before beginning to braid it.

“Here.” Alice stood up from her bed and walked over to sit on mine behind me. “Let me do it for you.”

“Sure.” I shifted to face my back towards her better. Alice gently took my hair in her hand and began braiding, causing me to shiver. “Hey, Alice…do you think we could have dinner together this coming week?”

“Sure, Mali!” I could hear the smile in her voice. “I’d love to. Any reason?”

“I just wanna talk about some things.” I shrugged weakly, not looking forward to the conversation.

“Done.” Alice dropped my hair onto my back. “There you go.” She placed her hand on my shoulder and ran it down my arm before standing up and walking back over to her bed. “Ready to get some sleep?”

“Yep.” I nodded weakly.

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