“Let’s sit,” Peter said, gesturing to the table. The kiss had hit him hard, and it was embarrassing standing in the middle of the restaurant with an erection popping out of his khaki shorts.
“No,” she said. “I can’t be inside. I need to walk off some of my anger.” Her hands fisted and she groaned. “I’m sorry. I’m being a pain. My mom just really got to me, you know.”
He swallowed and tried to tamp down the arousal and pay attention to her words. She was visibly upset about her family, and he found himself wanting to help, not that he could do much. He could barely manage his own life and was constantly acceding to the wishes of others. “Sure, let’s head down to the water. I’ll just pay.”
He tossed a few dollars on the table and grabbed her hand to guide her out. The water and harbor were visible the moment they stepped out into the June sun. Her grip on his hand relaxed with every step toward the water.
“What happened with your parents that has you so upset?” he asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it. It’s a gorgeous day, and I’m here with you. I don’t want them messing it up.”
“I’ve heard talking about things can make you feel better.”
She threw him a sidelong look. “You don’t really want to hear about my problems, do you?”
He stopped walking and turned her to face him. People brushed past them on the narrow sidewalk, but he only had eyes for her. “I do want to hear. I want to know all about you, Allison.”
She leaned up on tiptoe to kiss him briefly on the lips. He could taste the saltiness of tears mingled with her lip gloss. “You’re too good to be true. I’m going to find out you’re some kind of serial killer, aren’t I?”
He kept silent. Killer, yes. Serial, no. Though he had yet to test his killer skills. He honestly wasn’t sure if he could take another human life. Shooting targets on paper was one thing. They didn’t bleed.
Allison didn’t notice his hesitation and started walking again toward the water. They had to skirt around a few bicycle racks and a mom pushing a stroller. “My parents have high expectations for me,” she finally said.
“I know how that is,” he said.
“Yet you managed not to go to college,” she said. She’d misunderstood. His father and commanding officers had a high bar for him, and it had nothing to do with higher education. He shrugged in response to her statement. He didn’t want the focus on his life, because he had no idea what to tell her.
“Both my parents are professors at the University of Maryland.”
“That’s right near where I live,” he said, before thinking better of it.
“Oh. We must be neighbors. We live close to campus also.”
He doubted they were any kind of neighbors. He lived on a fenced-in military compound disguised as a generic government office building complex.
“Anyway, their whole lives are academia, and they can’t imagine how I’ll function without a college degree. They actually enrolled me for the fall semester. Can you believe it? They said I could minor in music.” Her voice grew higher and shriller.
“Why is that bad?”
“Peter,” she groaned. “I want to be a singer. I don’t need four more years of sitting in a classroom. I need to be in clubs and jamming with a band.”
“Like CBGB in New York,” he remembered.
“Exactly like that. But if I don’t earn enough money to get to New York before September, I’m going to have to go to college or my parents will make my life a living hell. I should move out. I would’ve already, except living rent free is helping me save my money.”
“Sounds like your parents want what’s best for you,” he said. They’d arrived at the harbor and he stared out at all the small white boats bobbing in the inky water. There was a slight breeze and the metal groaning of sailboat’s booms shifting sounded.
“Peter, don’t be a spaz. They think they know what’s best, but I know. I have to live my own life.”
“Couldn’t you go to college and try to be a singer at the same time? Why does it have to be an either-or situation?”
“You sound like my mother.” She stepped away from him, and her body language was stiff and unyielding. He stared unhappily at the back of her hot pink tank top wondering what he’d said wrong. It physically hurt to have her distant from him.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m trying to understand, but I’m new to this world.”
She spun back to face him. “You’re always making yourself sound like some kind of alien. I don’t believe in thatStar Warskind of stuff.”
“Have you seenStar Wars?” he asked eagerly, ignoring everything else she’d said. Even he had read about the blockbuster in the newspaper and was dying to see it.