Penny dealt in romantic absolutes: there were no half measures. She was always deeply in love and planning the rest of her life with whomever she was with, spinning off a fantasy outcome—wedding, babies, a rooted existence on some cul-de-sac somewhere, a kind of future I couldn’t even wrap my head around. It wasn’t that I didn’t ever want these things, but they existed in a far-off universe beyond the glory of gold medals and World Cup globes.

“Whatever,” Penny said. “Don’t have a heart attack. Is he the one you want right now? Do you love him?”

I knew I did. After all, I’d told him so. But saying it out loud to another person was different. I nodded.

“Well, there you go,” she said. “I don’t think you’ll have regrets.”

“But how . . .” I began. Penny’s brow furrowed. “That is, how do I . . . do it?”

She smiled at me sympathetically.

“Luke’s been with other girls.” Five, I thought, as the image of the miniharem came back into my mind. “And I’m afraid that he’s going to expect me to . . . and I won’t know what to do. Like, are there techniques or . . . ?”

With this, Penny lost her composure and giggled.

“Ugh, forget I asked!” I pulled a pillow over my head to hide my furiously blushing face.

“No, no, no,” Penny said. “Come on, I’m sorry.” She pulled the pillow away from me and I narrowed my eyes at her. “It’s sweet. I didn’t mean to tease you. It’s just that I’ve never seen you like this! My little sister is intimidated by something! Finally! Let me revel in the fact that you need my advice for just a second, won’t you?”

“Revel away,” I said.

“Okay look, Katie, it’s not like a super-G. You don’t need to, like, plot your turns or whatever. Just take it slow and do what feels good and try to tell Luke how you’re feeling, let him in. Don’t make that face at me, I know being vulnerable is not your forte. It’s a different kind of brave. You’ll get the hang of it.”

“But what if I’m terrible?”

“First of all, there are only two ways for a girl to be terrible at sex: one is to lie there like a dead fish, the other is to do something truly weird that ends up hurting his dick. So, you know, don’t do either of those things and you’ll be fine. Are you on the pill?”

“I’m not stupid,” I said.

“Just checking. Anyway, the first time with someone new, especially the first first time, is a little awkward. Think about your first time on skis.”

“I don’t remember my first time on skis,” I said, thinking that my dad had told me that even the first time, I was pretty good.