Girl Least Likely to Marry. Amy Andrews

      ‘Oh, no,’ Cassie said, unfazed by the conversation. When they’d all lived together Cassie had been privy to many girly chats about all kinds of sex-related issues. She’d learned a great deal of stuff in that house that a bunch of lectures and books had never taught her. ‘I’ve never had an orgasm.’

      Had Cassie been one to find humour in awkward situations she would have found the total disbelief on her friends’ faces completely hilarious. They’d all stopped eating and were staring at her.

      ‘What…never?’ Marnie asked after a stunned silence.

      Cassie shook her head. ‘No.’

      ‘Not even…by yourself?’ Reese asked.

      ‘Or with a vibrator?’ added Gina, last to recover.

      Cassie looked from one to the other. ‘I’ve never masturbated and I don’t own, nor have I ever, a vibrator.’

      More silence followed, finally broken by Gina’s, ‘Well, that’s just unnatural. Going without sex is one thing, but there is no excuse for not indulging in a little self-love, Cassiopeia. It’s perfectly healthy. Normal, actually. Didn’t I teach you anything?’

      Cassie put down her spoon. ‘No, it’s fine. Some people don’t need sex.’ She shrugged. ‘I’m one of them.’

      ‘It’s not fine,’ Reese interjected. ‘I don’t know who this Len is that you’ve been having sex with…very, very infrequently…but he’s definitely doing it all wrong.’

      ‘No, it’s not his fault.’

      ‘Oh, I think it is,’ Marnie said.

      ‘No, really.’ Cassie looked at her friends’ concerned faces. ‘The medication I take to sleep…one of its side-effects is libido suppression and difficulty achieving orgasm.’

      Gina shuddered. ‘I think I’d rather stay awake for the rest of my life.’ She looked at Cassie. ‘Are you sure you need it?’

      Cassie nodded. ‘Without it my brain doesn’t switch off and I can’t sleep. And that’s extremely detrimental to my health. I start to get a little OCD without sleep. And one stay in the psych ward as a teenager was more than enough.’ Cassie vividly remembered the chaos her mind had descended into—how she’d quickly spiralled out of control. ‘Trust me, that’s an experience I never want to repeat.’