fusshionable | but he talks like a gentleman

It's hard, being an awkward virgin teenager in the Capitol. Mostly because nothing is ever a secret, and every other person your age is guaranteed to know you're still a virgin, up until you actually do the deed. Oftentimes, within five minutes after it actually happens.

It's even harder when you're Porrim Maryam, and awful things keep happening to you, like when you blossomed early and got your first nosejob, and suddenly you're attractive. Then people expect you to have gone all the way, and start to think that maybe something's wrong with you when you haven't.

Which is why, in a way, she’s thankful that she has a friend like Stephen. Both of them being awkward virgins means that there’s no upper hand; they’re on an equal footing and it makes things a thousand times less intimidating. Of course, they’ve both messed around, but neither of them have managed to go All The Way.

Her parents have thrown a massive party in the family manor, and with all the adults well and truly distracted (read: smashed), and a couple of carefully snatched flutes of champagne under her belt—just enough to take the edge off her nerves, but not enough to leave her impaired—Porrim decides that this is their moment. She sneaks up behind Stephen where he’s been trapped into a truly dull-sounding conversation with some Peacekeeper’s wife and daughter, and slides her hands over his eyes.

“Guess who?”