“You might have something else going for you,” I said.
“Oh?”
“Well, Chloe has this friend, Tara. There’s a good chance she might be interested in going out with you. If that’s something you’re still interested in doing. Chloe said she’ll pass your number along.”
Todd grinned and slapped my shoulder. “Good lookin’ out!” he said. “I’d be more than happy to. She was the one with Chloe that night they first came in, right?”
“Good memory.”
“Yeah, that would be great. Let me just win this race now, so I can regale her with tales of my athletic prowess.”
We unloaded the bikes and Todd changed into his kit. There was about 10 minutes until they called the start for our race, so I rode around the field, warming up. I saw Parker, who was also on his bike, but he was pedaling along slowly, looking like he should really be at home in bed, not at a bike race about to compete.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chloe
It was exciting, staying here with Graham, yet there was a part of me that felt the whole thing was unreal. I was living with the guy I was having sex with. I didn’t know what was going to happen at the end of the summer; if my parents refused to pay my tuition, I wouldn’t be able to return to school. At least not this semester, and though I didn’t want to admit it, I didn’t know how I’d go about raising the funds in order to go back.
“I’m really not sure what I’m going to do if summer ends and my parents still haven’t talked to me,” I told Graham. We were having another lazy morning in bed, which had quickly become one of my favorite things.
“You’ve still got some time before you have to really worry about that,” he said.
“I know. And chances are, we’ll probably get all this resolved by then, anyway. But what if we don’t?”
“You can always stay here. Come work for me—you can be the counter girl.” He grinned. “I know that’s not your lifelong ambition, of course.”
“I’m starting to wonder what my lifelong ambition is. Maybe it is working the counter at a tattoo shop. My parents would be mortified.”
“That could be your tactic, then. You could threaten them with that if they didn’t pay for your tuition.”
I knew, though, that there were plenty of students who didn’t have help from their parents the way I did, either because their parents didn’t want to or they just didn’t have the money. It would be pathetic if I didn’t finish my final year of school just because my parents weren’t going to foot the bill.
“I’ll figure something out,” I said. “Right now I just need to focus on my sculpture.”
“Yeah, that art opening is coming up, isn’t it?” He rolled onto his back and stretched. “Holy hell, I could stay here in this bed all day with you. If I don’t get up now, I’m afraid that I might.”
I traced my fingers across the tight muscles of his abdomen. “I certainly wouldn’t mind that. But I should probably get up, too.”
We both reluctantly got up. While he made coffee, I scrambled a few eggs and put some bread in the toaster. When it was ready, we sat at the table and ate, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was actually living like an adult. It felt different than how I did when I was at my apartment; I almost felt more at home here, even though this wasn’t really my home either. It was hard to explain, other than it seemed like being with Graham, and being here, was the right thing to do.
After we finished eating, he got ready to leave for work. “I’ll see you later on,” he said, giving me a kiss. He pulled back and looked into my eyes, a smile spreading across his face. “I can’t believe how domestic this all is. But I like it.”
I kissed him again, longer this time. “I like it, too.”
After he left, I got my stuff together and went down to the art center. Now more than ever, the idea I had seemed to be pertinent, and I worked for several hours straight without taking a break. Would my parents even bother coming to the opening? At this point, and if things didn’t change, it seemed unlikely.
I decided to take a break and go out and get some lunch, since I hadn’t brought any food with me. I went back to Lorraine’s, because, despite what my mother thought, the food there was quite good, and I liked the atmosphere.
It was crowded when I got there, so instead of waiting for a table, I went over to the bar and sat down. I flipped through the menu and then looked at the big chalkboard on the far wall, stating the specials. It was Monday, and the Monday lunch special was a quiche Lorraine, which sounded good, so I ordered that, along with an orange juice and a coffee.
I’d just taken my first bite of quiche when I heard someone say my name. I turned and saw a woman I didn’t recognize at first. She was wearing a tight black tank top and cut-offs, just like I was.
“Chloe!” she said, sliding onto the empty stool next to me. She looked at my outfit. “Hey, we’re twins!”
It was Graham’s mother. For one panicked second, I couldn’t remember her name, but then it came to me. “Hi, Janice,” I said.
“Are you here with my son?” She swiveled around on the stool, craning her neck, surveying the whole restaurant. “I don’t see him.”