How can I help her open up?

She may be comfortable around you, but the idea of sex with you is something she is not comfortable with. As an 18 year old, you get to exercise some maturity here and just wait.

Look, you treated sex cheaply in the past. Youd had a lot of sex with a lot of skanks that you didn’t love. There is a price to pay for that. This girl is wise to protect herself from a guy who devalued sex and women in the past. She values it. And she doesn’t feel compelled to begin having sex because she’s afraid that to you it’s not special and it doesn’t mean much because that’s what you’ve shown her with your past behaviors. Taking a girl’s virginity is a gift. She wants to make absolutely sure that you value that gift.

So just sit back and chill! Make popcorn and watch movies, enjoy your youth and have fun. Enjoy your summer with her, take her to cooking classes, plays, concerts. Sure, kisses and whatnot are cool and making out, but when you’re spending time together, make whatever you’re doing the focus. Do neat and unusual things that prove you have interests other than sex. We girls love that! Put the sex on the backburner and tell her that when the time is right, it will happen but until then, you want to learn how to make Indian food at the cooking class.

She has a gift to give and she will not give it away to some dude that she isn’t sure about. You’re a lucky guy, it’s a rare thing int his world. Look at all the girls on this board talking about getting fingered and effed by some dude because they are in love with him and wanted to keep/control him. This girl has a high standard for herself. Your past can certainly be forgiven. But she’s not going to forget about it that easily. You have a bit of work to do. Maybe she wants to be a virgin until marraige. You need to respect whatever she has to say about it.

And in the future, I know you were friends before, but don’t talk about your past sexual experiences. It’s in the past. I know you young people talk about that but the older you get, you’ll find that people really don’t want to know for this very reason.