Page 130 of Holidating
“My dad went to Duke, too,” she says eventually. “And law school at Harvard. I’m supposed to follow in his footsteps at both places.”
“Supposed to?” he asks, even though it’s none of his business. “What happens if you don’t?”
“I’ll never know,” she says quietly. “Duke is great. But it wouldhave been nice to have a choice. And don’t listen to me—I’m just panicking. I haven’t had to be the new girl for years.”
Damien, keeping his hands at ten and two and absolutely not peering into the rearview mirror again, thinks this over. “I haven’t been the new guy pretty much ever. But I can see why that’s stressful. You’re starting over.”
“Yeah.” She sighs. “I just have the first-year jitters.”
Damien silently curses Mr. Michael Overland, who couldn’t even be bothered to see his daughter off.
Nicolette must be tired of talking about herself, because she changes the subject. “You’ve always lived in Vermont?”
“Always. Along with my four siblings—three brothers and a sister.”
“Wow!” she says with genuine delight. “Where are you in the pecking order?”
“Second. There’s my older brother Matteo, my younger brother Alec, and the twins—Benny and Zara. You have siblings?”
“Well…” She clears her throat. “Not really. My father is dating a woman who has twins. They’re sixteen, and I hardly know them. My father’s girlfriend hates me, though, and I’m kind of scared that I’ll be getting two awful stepsiblings.”
“That bad, huh?” He risks a glance in the mirror only to find her looking right at him. “Maybe it’s a twins thing. Benny and Zara are a lot to take. And they fight all the time.”
“These two don’t fight. It’s weird. It’s like…they’re too pretentious to fight or do anything normal. And I say this as someone who went toboarding school. Somehow, they have zero personality. It’s like all three of them are doing a lifelong impression of Edith Wharton characters. All manners and no heart.”
Damien hasn’t read Edith Wharton but would rather not admit it. “At least they’re not at Duke. What are you going to study?”
“I’m supposed to be pre-law. So maybe history or poli-sci. But I’m going to take a lot of writing classes, too.”
“What do you want to write?”
“Books.”
“What kind of books?” he pesters. And how are they already on 89? He needs this ride to last for hours.
“YA Horror. I want to write creepy shit that keeps you up all night.”
He feels a tingle on the back of his neck. Because that’s not very far off from his own hobby—sketching a graphic novel about vampires. “Okay, let’s hear it. What book are you working on?”
There’s a brief silence. “I don’t usually tell people. In case it sounds stupid coming out of my mouth.”
“Oh, please. Some of my favorite things are stupid.”
She lets out a nervous laugh. “Fine. It takes place in an old house beside the cemetery. The heroine has just moved there with her family. And her room is haunted…”
Before he knows it, he’s putting on his blinker to exit the highway.
“God, are we there already?” she squeaks. “I’m not ready. What if my roommate is mean? What if they serve steamed cabbage at every meal? What if my dorm room is in a creepy house beside the cemetery?”
“Deep breaths, Nicky Nicole Nicolette. Deep breaths.”
He has her laughing again by the time he pulls up to the airport. This is Burlington, and the airport is tiny, so any door will do, no matter which airline she’s flying. He gets out and removes her giant bag from the back, while she hops from foot to foot nervously.
“How about we take a breath for a second,” he says, leaning against the Jeep. “You want to step inside and check the monitor? Do you know if your flight is on time? I don’t want to strand you here if there’s a problem.”
“Good idea,” she says. “One sec?”
He watches her retreat inside, briefly wondering what it must be like to have her life—flying off to live with strangers and study for four years. He doesn’t think he’s college material, but like she said earlier—it would be nice to have a choice.
