It is estimated that 8 in 10 people will get HPV in their lives. With that in mind, let me tell you a little story.
A little while back, I had been seeing a guy who seemed really into me. We talked a lot, we'd been on a couple of dates, I'd spent the night at his. All lovely stuff. But on the occasion he was dropping me back, he was asking me about my plans for September. I told him I was going to be applying for university because I was resitting. Then he started being a bit off with me, but I thought nothing of it.
Over the next couple of weeks, his messaging started being less frequent, and he kept leaving me on read. I probably should have taken a hint, but instead, I decided to try and keep the communication open and healthy and asked him if everything was alright, and that if there was something up, he could talk to me about it. He gave me some bullshit about the budget, with subtle undertones of "you're too young for me" (although that wasn't the same attitude he carried when we were in his bed). The one thing that really struck me was that he called me naive. I was confused, and asked him what he meant, to which he politely informed me that he was just having me on for a shag, and that we should move on and put this down as a "learning experience for the both of us". I was gutted, because I felt stupid, but after some lengthy talks with my friends, I moved on and that was that.
OR SO I THOUGHT! A couple of weeks later he messaged me asking if I really had taken an STD test and that it had come back all clear. On the one hand, I wanted to turn around and beef him for giving me chlamydia (which I did not have). On the other hand, I was upset by him speaking to me and didn't want the conversation to carry on any longer than it needed to. So I confirmed that it had come back all clear, and asked him why he wanted to know. He had HPV in the form of genital warts, and it was my fault. Poor little 18-year-old Hannah did not know what to do, and having someone shout at her was not helping. He told me that he had seen other people whilst we'd been seeing each other, but that it was definitely from me.
The next day, my mum took me to the sexual health clinic. I have never had a more anxious time sat in that waiting room. The doctor called me, and I explained the situation. She asked me if I was presenting any symptoms. I said no. She asked me if we had been using condoms. I said yes. She asked me if I had the vaccine. I said yes. She asked me if she wanted me to take a look. I said definitely. She got me into the chair, gave me a proper check over. She confirmed I was presenting no symptoms, and thus there's no way he could have gotten it from me. As you've probably guessed, the next text I sent him was anything far from polite.
My advice: pick the right way to send that text.