The fact that I cared enough for both girls to attempt to stand up to Charles made me realize maybe I was wrong. Maybe this was my family, in a weird way—and maybe I even wanted it to be.
Charles’ gaze slid from me to Tiffany. “All right. Do you have a school picked out?”
“I think so.”
“Bring the course catalogue next time we have dinner.” He sniffed. “We’ll take a look at it together.”
In the car on the way home, Tiffany looked out the window. “If I hear about USC one more time, I’m going to lose it.”
“Things’ll calm down now. This is what they’ve been working toward for years.” I rolled down my window to let some fresh air in. I’d never get enough of that as long as I lived. “I thought you’d be happy after the way I put your dad in his place.”
“It was kind of great.” I heard the smile in her voice. She turned back to me. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m PMS’ing.”
Already, the tension in the car lifted. She sounded lighter. Tiffany just wanted to be reminded that someone cared. Someone noticed. Sometimes I forgot to show it, went days without doing anything special for her. I needed to try harder.
I hit the brakes and swerved into a left turn lane.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“Get you some ice cream.”
“Really?” She beamed. “But we had dessert at the restaurant.”
“That crème brûlée shit doesn’t cut it.” She liked mint chocolate chip when she was about to get her period, cookies ’n’ cream when she had cramps. “I’m thinking cookies ’n’ cream.”
“You’re such a good boyfriend,” she said. “I love you.”
Knowing what she needed so I could make sure she was happy and comfortable—that was a form of loving her. It shouldn’t be overlooked or undermined.
“You want to know what I whispered to Lake earlier?”
She asked it the same way a parent might offer a kid a cookie for completing a chore, which made me cautious. “All right . . .”
“She got something in the mail at the apartment today. She didn’t want Dad to know about it, so she used our address.”
“What was it?”
“An acceptance packet.”
I knew from dinner conversation that Lake had only applied to one school. The fact that I might be wrong, that there were important things I didn’t know about Lake’s life, made my throat constrict. “You mean like the USC one?”
“Yep. Only not USC. A different school.”
The lights blurred through the windshield. So Lake was taking her future into her own hands. That was good. It was what I wanted for her. But at the same time, mentally, I’d already placed her in Los Angeles. She’d be a two-hour drive away, a Trojan, and she’d remain a California girl. I didn’t have much in my life that felt pure and good, not like Lake. I didn’t want her any farther from my reach than she already was, but I’d also promised myself I’d let her soar.
“Where else did she apply?” I asked.
“Somewhere far away,” was all she said.
14
Lake
I went to the living room window to look into the front yard for the third time in an hour.
“Don’t worry,” Mom said, appearing behind me. She drew my mass of curls off my neck, settling them on my back. “He’ll be more nervous than you.”
I stared forward, wringing my hands. I wasn’t on edge about Corbin. Maybe I should’ve been. He’d taken a weekend off from studying for finals to fly home and take me to the prom. I hadn’t asked him to, but when he’d found out I wasn’t going to go, he’d insisted. I hadn’t fought him as hard as I should’ve, because spending time with Corbin was always good, and truth be told, I missed him.
But it was Manning who had my nerves buzzing. I wanted him to think I looked pretty. To wish he was by my side the way I did. To break things off with Tiffany and take me in his arms, to hell with everyone else. I’d be eighteen in just over a month. It wasn’t that I thought we’d be together right away. Tiffany would need time to forget about Manning, but she would. She always did.
“I want you to be careful tonight,” Mom said. “Corbin’s been in college almost a year now. He has more experience than the boys you know.”
I made a face. “It’s not like that, Mom.”
She cocked her head. “It isn’t?”
“He’s just a friend.”
“Does he know that?”
“Totally.” We’d kissed that one time on the couch, but he’d never brought it up or tried again. I mean, I didn’t see him a lot, just during his breaks from NYU, but we spoke on the phone all the time, and Corbin even told me about the girls he was dating. “He’s just coming because he didn’t want me to miss tonight.”