Chapter 1

It's amazing the assumptions people will make about you on the flimsiest of assumptions. For example, about a year ago, I was back in Mississippi, shopping at a chain department store, when this guy stops me and says, "Hey, you're Lacey Chabert, aren't you?"

I gave him a smile and a "Yes, I am," and was planning on just continuing to shop when he then went on to say, "You know, that blouse you're wearing would look really good on my floor."

At first I thought the guy was trying to be funny, giving me a cheesy pickup line like that, but he was dead serious! Needless to say, I just walked off and laughed, but you'd be amazed at the number of guys who think you'll sleep with them if they give you an opening to. I think it's the fact I'm an actress with boobs that guys make this assumption about me. Seriously. There was a time when the line between actress and prostitute was so thin it was almost non-existent. So I run into guys all the time who think, if they can just find the right line, I'll leap into bed with them. It's not like I have a reputation for doing that or anything. Not like some of my fellow actresses who I won't mention.

It wasn't always like that for me, of course. When I was playing Claudia Salinger on "Party of Five," I was definitely the off-limits virgin on the set. Part of it was because I was playing goody-goody Claudia. Part of it was that I pretty much stopped growing when I was fourteen, and there was no development in the chest area until I was seventeen. And then there was the fact that my parents had moved with me to California when I got the part on "Party of Five". So between me being a carpenter's dream (flat as a board), omnipresent chaperones and a reputation for terminal virginity, I didn't even get kissed until I was eighteen, much less experience any other type of physical intimacy.

Of course, as you can probably tell by my most recent pictures, between my seventeenth and eighteenth birthday, when my boobs came in, they came in with a vengeance! I went from measuring my bra size with a saucer to measuring it with a cup. When my breasts stopped growing, I was wearing a 36C bra.

Still, the fact that I hadn't really gone on a date until I turned eighteen didn't really give me a lot of confidence. The few guys I did go out with were drooling so much over my newly acquired "assets," I doubt if any of them were aware of the color of my eyes. So their chances of experiencing my "assets" were nonexistent. And, of course, I still had my chaperones. So I ended up celebrating my birthday with not even having been felt up above my clothes. Losing my virginity wasn't even on the horizon.

And then I began filming "Mean Girls."

In a lot of ways, "Mean Girls" was a sort of inside joke, in that Lindsay Lohan was portrayed as the "nice girl." I mean, she wasn't the person she turned into recently, the one whose antics prevented her from getting any kind of work outside of a reality TV show, maybe. But it didn't take a brain surgeon to see where Lindsay and her career were heading.

But this story isn't about Lindsay's self-destructive personality; it's about my first time, so we'll get back to my story.

I had just turned twenty, and I thought there would be no end to my perpetual virginity. Now, I can hear you thinking, Riiiiggggght, Lacey, you're this twenty year old cute young thing, with a body that had definitely arrived, and a name that could be entered into the annals of Hollywood Hotties. Hey, I'm not saying I couldn't have lost my virginity just by grabbing any straight guy on the set and dragging him back to my trailer. But most of those guys would be having sex with this image of Lacey Chabert in their head, not with me. And they'd probably be calling the paparazzi as soon as it was over.

Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't one of these actresses who were going around, proclaiming their virginity which they were going to defend until their wedding night. But I did want my first time to mean something. Not necessarily true, undying love. But I did want something there.

So, let's get back to the story. I'm twenty years old, starting birth control (my mother's insistence, who did want me to save myself, but also didn't want me to have an unwanted pregnancy) and just starting work on the set of "Mean Girls." Outside of Lindsay, who was somewhat self-absorbed, the rest of the cast and crew were really great to work with. It was going to be hard work, but still enjoyable. And, of course, I didn't expect to find the one I wanted my first time to be with.

Then I got to know Jonathan Bennett.

Jonathan played Lindsay's love interest in the movie and if you remember him from the movie, you could understand why that wasn't a stretch in any way, shape or form. He's about a foot taller than me, very nice body, not overly muscular, but still very well defined, gentle eyes, and dark hair that just invites you to run your fingers through it. Plus, he was just as easy to get along with as his character in the movie was.

Jonathan was one of those rare cute guys in Hollywood who didn't expect any girl that he wanted to just fall in his bed. Not that he was a saint who had committed himself to his one true love since they were in middle school or anything like that. But he had a reputation of being faithful to whatever relationship he was in at the time.

When we had first started working on the movie, Jonathan was just coming out of a relationship. Nothing bad, mind you, but she (I'll forgo mentioning her name) and Jonathan had just realized they made better friends than a couple. I think Lindsay hoped to start something off-camera as well as on-camera with Jonathan, but Jonathan just wasn't in to her.

Now like I said, I thought Jonathan was hot, but it wasn't like our eyes met across the room and we knew we were meant for each other. But we did get along. Rachel McAdams, who played the head "mean girl", rated her own trailer. Not that she lorded it over us or anything. Quite the contrary. Rachel was one of the nicest people that you'd ever meet. In fact, after a day of shooting, it wasn't unusual for me, Rachel, Jonathan, and a few others to head over to Rachel's trailer and hang out for an hour, and then decide where to go out from there. (As you can imagine, we never saw Lindsay at one of these gatherings).

Well, one Friday night, after a particularly grueling day, we all went out clubbing, and I had had a little bit too much to drink. (Since I don't drink that much at all, I'm something of a lightweight, both literally and figuratively). Well, I was in no shape to drive myself home, so Jonathan volunteered to do so. I was leaning against him as he helped me to my apartment, and when I got to the door, I turned to stretch up and give him a kiss on the cheek. Jonathan chose that moment to turn and say something to me, and I ended up giving him that kiss on the lips. Well, what was meant to be a peck lasted more than just a second, and sparks definitely flew. When we ended the kiss, we were both a little flushed and embarrassed, and Jonathan hurriedly said good night. When I closed the door to my apartment, I leaned against it, catching my breath. That was the first kiss I had ever had that left my body feeling more than a little tingly. Needless to say, I had a little trouble getting to sleep that night.

The next Monday was a little weird for me and Jonathan, and we kept on looking at each other and then quickly turning our heads when the other one was looking. When the day was done and Rachel invited our usual group back to her trailer, I begged off, saying I had an appointment with my trainer.

By Friday, though, things had gone back to being mostly normal with me and Jonathan, though I will admit that more than once I found myself thinking of Jonathan at what some might consider inappropriate times, such as when I was taking my morning shower. Still, when it came time for everyone to go hang out at Rachel' trailer before heading out for the weekend, I showed up, as did Jonathan. There was still a hint of awkwardness between us, but not enough that anyone but me and Jonathan would notice it.

As fate would have it, Jonathan's car was in the shop, and he wasn't expecting it out until Monday. So I know what you're thinking; how is it that an actor in a movie with some recognizable names (Lindsay Lohan and Tina Fey, who weren't top tier at the time, but were on their way up) can't afford a rental car? Jonathan had put his car in the garage yesterday, had one of the studio guys pick him today, and was expecting it to be finished and delivered to the set this afternoon. Well, the garage people left a message that it wasn't going to be ready 'til Monday, so Jonathan was going to grab a ride from one of us and get one of his buds to take him to rental car place tomorrow. In the meantime, one of us was going to need to give Jonathan a ride home for the afternoon. Before I could anything, Rachel volunteered me.

"You owe him for getting you home safely from next week, anyway," she gave as way of explanation.

Our usual gang was going to a small bar called the "Side Alley", which had become sort of the unofficial hangout of the younger second tier actors and actresses working on the movie. Jonathan and I made small talk on the way over there, and it was comfortable enough that I came to the conclusion that I had probably put more emphasis on our accidental kiss than Jonathan had.