Page 28 of Guess Again
“But what?”
“But the whole thing was my mom’s idea. I mean, I swear I think she wants this more than I do. And she wants it, not for me, but so that she can, I don’t know, brag to her friends about what a successful daughter she has.”
“You don’t want it?”
“I want to be a doctor. I want to go to medical school. I just want to do it the normal way. I want to have a normal college experience, not this limited, hyper-focused thing my mother signed me up for. I’ll be the only person at school in this accelerated program. Does that sound like a recipe for fun? Does that sound like the best way to make new friends?”
“Have you talked to your parents about taking the more traditional route? Just doing your normal four years of undergrad and then applying to medical school?”
Callie laughed. “My mother would need to be rational for me to have that conversation with her. She is not.”
“How about your dad?”
“He just does what my mom says. They’re divorced. He pays the bills but that’s about it. I see him twice a month. But he’s deep into politics and he’s made it very clear that I am a direct reflection on him, and that any trouble I get into in high school would ruin his political career. I’m not a troublemaker, lucky for him. But he also wants me to shine so that he looks good. He’s the up-and-coming political powerhouse with the all-American daughter who’s on her way to saving the world as a doctor. No one is excited forme, only for what my potential success can do forthem.”
Blake leaned closer to her. Callie could smell his aftershave. The butterflies fluttered inside of her.
“This is a big deal, Callie. It’s a huge opportunity, but you have to make sure it’s right for you.”
She turned toward him, and it was as if the car had shrunk in half. They were face-to-face, looking at each other in a way they had never done before. The glow of the moon illuminated half his face, and he seemed at once more mature than any of the boys in her grade, yet not much older than she was.
Without thinking more about it, she leaned closer to him. After a moment of hesitation, he cut the distance and their lips came together. They kissed softly at first, and then more aggressively before Blake pulled away.
“Whoa,” he said, sitting back in the driver’s seat. “Hold on.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Uh, well, let’s see. You’re one of my soon-to-be students, so there’s that. You’re also one of my players and I’m your coach, and I’m pretty sure you’re underage.”
“I’ll be eighteen in a few weeks. And you literally just graduated college. You’re, like, twenty-two.”
Blake shook his head, still catching his breath. “Twenty-one. I’ll be twenty-two in September.”
“So,” Callie went on, “we’re not even four years apart. If you were twenty-five and I was twenty-one, would this be a big deal?”
“I’m not twenty-five, and you’re definitely not twenty-one. And the law is the law.”
“I don’t care about the law,” Callie said, unbuckling her seatbelt so that she could cross over the middle console.
She kissed him again and felt him resist for a moment. But she was persistent and before long she felt his hands grab her thighs and slide up her jean shorts as he pulled her across the console and onto his lap.
Callie rode in the passenger seat. It was close to 10:00 p.m. and she had snuck out to be with Blake again. They had been spending more and more time together lately, and Blake had warned that they needed to be careful.
“How about after I turn eighteen,” Callie said. “Are we still going to sneak around then?”
“Yes,” Blake said. “Maybe after you’re in college and no longer one of my student athletes we can be less careful.”
“I’ll be a legal adult in August.”
“In the eyes of the law, yes. But it’s still a bad look. And the school for sure can’t know anything about this.”
Blake pulled into the gas station and parked far from the pumps, outside of the range of the security cameras.
“If we’re still together when I’m, like, twenty? Are we still going to sneak around?”
“Not like this. But we’d have to sit down and talk to your parents at that point.”
“Ha!” Callie said. “You think I’d ever ask my parents for permission to see you?”
