Vanessa had already tried sex a couple of times before with her ex…boyfriend Clark; an older
bartender she?d gotten together with briefly in the fall; when Dan (along with the rest of the
predictable male population) had been too busy mooning over Serena van der Woodsen to notice
that Vanessa had fallen in love with him。 Even if Vanessa had just done it for the first time; she
would have been matter…of…fact about it; because that was the way she was about everything。 Dan;
on the other hand; wasn?t matter…of…fact about anything; andhe was the one who?d just been
deflowered。 She couldn?t wait to hear his reaction。
?It was 。 。 。? Dan stared unblinkingly up at the gray; turned…off lightbulb dangling from the center
of the ceiling; feeling immobilized and overstimulated at the same time。 Their hips were touching
under the thin; burgundy…colored sheet; and it felt like an electric current was running between
them; pinging out of Dan?s toes; his knees; his belly button; his elbows; and the ends of his hair。
?Indescribable;? he finally answered; because there really were no words to describe how it had
felt。 Writing a poem about sex would be impossible; unless he resorted to boring; clich?d
metaphors like exploding fireworks or musical crescendos。 Even those were totally inaccurate。
They gave no sense of the actualfeeling ; or how sex was this whole discovery process during
which everything monplace became absolutely amazing。 For instance; Vanessa?s left arm: it
wasn?t a particularly spectacular arm?fleshy and pale; covered in brownish fuzz; and sprinkled
with moles。 While they?d been having sex it had no longer been the same old arm he?d known
and loved since he and Vanessa had accidentally gotten locked out of a party in tenth grade?it had
been an exquisite; precious thing that he couldn?t stop kissing; something new and exciting and
delicious。 Oh;God 。 See? Everything he could think of to describe what sex was like sounded like
a lame ad for a new cereal or something。 Even the wordsex was wrong; andmaking love sounded
like a bad soap opera。
Electricwould have been a good word to describe what sex was like; but then again; it had too
many negative connotations; like the electric chair or an electric cattle fence。Teeming was another
good word; but what did it mean exactly? Andquivering sounded too dainty and puny; like a
scared little mouse。 If he were ever going to write a poem about sex; he wanted to provoke
thoughts of sexy; muscular beasts like lions and stags; not mice。
?Earth to Dan?? Vanessa reached over and flicked her finger against his earlobe。
?Pinnacle;? Dan muttered senselessly。 ?Epiphany。?
Vanessa ducked under the sheet and blew a giant raspberry on Dan?s pale; hollow
stomach。 ?Hello? Are you in shock or something??
Dan grinned and scooted her up his chest so he could kiss her Cheshire cat mouth and dimpled
chin。 ?Let?s do it again。?
Whoo!
Vanessa giggled and rubbed her nose against his unruly brown eyebrows。 ?So I guess you