“There's not."

"So what? You're just gonna stay a virgin forever?"

I shrugged.

“It's not forever. At the very least, once we all finish high school and go off to college, everything will change and the BTC as we know it will cease to exist."

"So you're gonna stay a virgin until next year?”

“Sure.” I shrugged.

“That's not such a long time, and it's a fair price to pay for the special relationships I have with each of you."

“But the idea that you're saving yourself for the club isn't fair to you. What if one of us decides to take matters into her own hands and breaks The Rule? That could ruin the BTC, and I don't want that. I think we're all better off if you find a casual hookup outside of the club, like Holly. It's not too late for you to change your mind. That girl will drop her panties and bend over for you in a heartbeat."

“Maybe someday I will, maybe even sooner than next year, whether with

Holly or someone else who catches my eye. I won't know for sure what will happen until another hot girl throws herself at me. I'm just trying to wrap my head around what happened last night. Everything spiraled out of control so fast that I couldn't handle it and I locked up."

Sam frowned and pursed her lips. "So lemme get this straight: Holly put on the full-court press, you got overwhelmed, had a panic attack over the impending loss of your virginity coupled with a fear that you were somehow ‘cheating’ on the BTC and got scared of the fallout, so you got cold feet. That about sum it up?"

“Uh, yeah, pretty much.”

“So it sounds Like we basically need a notarized affidavit from each of the girls certifying that we don't own you, you don't need our permission to sleep with Holly or any other girl, and it would not be considered cheating on us if you did.”

I snorted. "I think a notarized affidavit would be a bit much."

“What if we pinky swore? Would that help you not lock up the next time a pretty girl throws herself at you?"

I shrugged.

“I don't know. Maybe there's no way to know until something like that happens again. That said, having each of the girls tell me they wouldn't get jealous really would do wonders for putting me at ease. But it's one thing to say it and something completely different to actually not feel it.”

“Let me worry about that," Sam assured me.

“I just want to put this whole Matty-saving-himself thing behind us and get things back to normal. Don't you?"

“Absolutely.”

“Okay then." Sam nodded and checked her watch.

“Shit, we're gonna be late."

When the entire BTC got together for lunch, everyone was pretty nervous, including me. By now, everyone had heard that I'd turned down sex with Holly because I was “saving myself for the BTC" and they'd discussed amongst themselves all of the implications therein. Sam took charge, and while she didn't actually try to get notarized affidavits or anything, she did stress the importance of all of the girls understanding that I wasn't actually their boyfriend (she got head nods around) and they had no right to get jealous should I actually end up sleeping with someone (the girls had to look at each other a bit first, but eventually they all nodded) .

Then it was my turn to assure the girls that I wasn't in love with any of them. I explained that I'd simply Locked up and wasn't ready for everything Holly was offering, simple as that. The girls seemed to accept my explanation, and we all promised things could go back to normal.

They didn't.