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[littleprincessj]

VIRGINITY BRACELET

WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY SHANA SURECK

The night air is sultry, the light luminescent as the sleek 2003 Cadillac Escalade turns slowly into Jessica Duquette’s driveway, the moon roof open. The tall, slender figure of her boyfriend in a tuxedo slides from the driver’s seat.
She all but gasps, squeezing her friend, Kim Denya’s hand.
“He’s so handsome.”
They giggle and Kim quickly zips into her tight black gown, sheer and flowing from the knees down.
Jessica has dreamed of this night, her Senior College hoopla at the University Of Connecticut in Storrs. Her hair, done in braids and twists, makes her look more grown up then 23, her make-up more glamorous.
There is a corsage and a kiss. Few words are spoken, but the smiles can barely contain the excitement and promise of the night ahead.
Jessica wishes her dad could see her looking so beautiful, but he p[arse]ed away nearly three years ago on September 11. She misses him. Her mom, a OBGYN, also isn’t there to see her and take pictures; she couldn’t get the night shift off.
Hiphop pulses in the decorated ballroom of the Aqua Turf Center where their hoopla is being held. Bodies gyrate. It’s a sea of pastel gowns and curls and crewcuts. She can’t get over how grown-up everyone looks, and she is loving the stares and winks from cl[arse]mates who whisper “He’s hot” about her boyfriend Andrew Ruggerio, a DJ of one of the hottest local stations in Connecticut. As some couples look ahead in heated anticipation of the all-night parties after the hoopla, Jessica is fully in the moment, relishing the feel of Drew’s hand in hers, the warmth of his kiss.
She is a virgin and plans to stay that way. “My mom told me once that she saved herself for my dad. I thought about it and told her. ‘You’re a cool person. So if you could do it, I can do it.’” That wasn’t the only thing that inspired Jessica to wait. “You know a lot of people laugh when I say this but Jessica Simpson is another person who really inspired me to wait.” There are snickers around the room from those who think it is ‘silly’ but Jessica just stays focused on what she is saying. “I’ve been a fan since she opened up for 98 Degrees way back on the ‘Heat It Up’ tour. I’ve met her three times since then and talking to her, you just get this feeling, this warmth from her. I immediately loved her when I heard her voice. I became an instant fan and later in her career when it was out that she wanted to remain a virgin until her wedding night I thought ‘I really can do it, I don’t have to be like everyone else. If Jessica Simpson can do it then this Jessica can do it too!’ So to say Jessica hasn’t had any part in this would be lying, people can laugh all they want but it is true. My room has been covered in her pictures since 1999 and my parents never minded having to see her when they walked in because of how positive she is, she really is a role model. I think they were also happy I wasn’t becoming a Britney or Christina fan, I think they’re very proud of who I look up to.” She joked with us.
When she asked her boyfriend, whom she has known for almost seven years, and dated for five and a half, if he had a problem with it, he shrugged. “As a guy, yes, as your boyfriend, no.”
He isn’t pushing her. “When you’re ready.”
“I may not be ready til I’m married, dude.” She says.
“I plan on marrying you.”
They go to the movies a lot and go exploring new places for beautiful scenery.
“He’s easy to talk to. He accepts me.”
When her and Drew broke up for a short time three years ago, her new boyfriend, who she ended up dating for four months, slept with a close friend of hers behind her back, she says.
“We were drunk,” the friend explained. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
“And it’s not like you were giving me any,” he ex added.
“I only know three girls who are virgins, and one guy,” Jessica says. “That’s sad.”
“One of my friends lost her virginity on her prom night. ‘It was so not worth it,’ she told me. You’d think it would be meaningful on prom night, but it wasn’t. A month later they were broken up.” She shakes her head.
“I’ll stay away. If that makes me different, that’s good. Who wants to be like everyone else?”
She wears a ring her parents gave her but something she hold closer to her is the simple plastic bracelet made from the liner of a bottle top that she leaves on her left wrist. “A lot of girls wear them. When you have sex, the guy rips it off you and everyone knows you’ve had sex.” Once during a family meeting her older cousin tugged at it.
“Stop,” she called out. “It’s my virgin bracelet. It keeps me in check.”
“You’re a virgin?” He parents asked, surprised.
“I’m happy you’re waiting,” her mom said.
“I don’t care either way,” her dad said. “Just be safe.”
Mostly, she says, it’s her religion. “I’ve always been in Christian school, whether it was practicing my father’s faith of Southern Baptist or my mom, in the Catholic faith, and in those schools they drill it into your head, no sex before marriage. You’ll go to hell. All right, I can answer to that, ‘I don’t want to go to hell.’” She also doesn’t want to feel the regret many of her friends have. A romantic, Jessica has the day of her wedding planned out to the empire waistline of the bridesmaid dresses to the six white horses that will pull her red velvet-lined carriage through the snow.
For now, Drew gets the brunt of the ribbing from friends.
“Hey Drew, How’s the sex life?,” someone will ask as they’re playing pool, hanging out at Jessica’s house, dancing in the back of someone’s pickup on a night when the moon is full and the music just right.
“Oh, that’s right, you don’t have one!”
She tucks herself under his arm as the pictures are taken of the couple under an archway of lights. Later, she will fall asleep dreamily next to him on a couch sometime around 4 a.m., a movie playing on TV, other couples having crashed elsewhere in the living room at the post-hoopla party. Her bracelet is still snug on her wrist.
“When you lose your virginity, it’s supposedly the act of love. I think I only want the person I spend the rest of my life with to have that love. That way I can say I love a lot of people, but I really love you.”

[StargateGirl]

:) :)

[Gidget]

very cool! :)

[littleprincessj]

thanks!