A Is for Abstinence (25 page)

I laughed and turned her toward the man standing in front of us. “Val, I’d like you to meet—”

“Congressman Richards!” she gasped. Her face flushed as she gingerly shook his hand. “Wow! I’m sorry—I’m just so surprised. It’s so good to meet you.”

The congressman chuckled. “I didn’t expect to be recognized at an event like this.”

“No, it’s an honor. I’ve followed your career since you were elected Mayor of Huntington Beach.”

The congressman’s eyebrows shot way up. “You couldn’t have been more than ten.”

Val blushed again. “I was nine. My dad did a lot of volunteer work on your election campaign. He took me to one of the debates and let me hand out buttons. I’ve been hooked on politics ever since. I just received my degree in political science at Stanford, and I wrote a paper on your congressional platform for my final in one of my poly-psy classes.”

I finally couldn’t hold back my laughter anymore. It was just so strange seeing Val like this. When I gained the attention of both Val and Congressman Richards, I shook my head and sighed. “I have international superstar status and she goes fangirly over you.”

Val blushed again. Congressman Richards and I both laughed as we shook hands. “Congressman, this is my brainiac, future-first-female-president girlfriend, Valerie Jensen. I was trying really hard to impress her tonight, and the Hollywood A-list doesn’t seem to do that, so I owe you a big thank-you for coming.”

“It was my pleasure, and it was really kind of you to invite Monica as well.”

He pulled his daughter in front of him, his smile suddenly transforming him from politician to proud father.

“Thanks for coming tonight, Monica,” I said. The girl bit back a squeal when I said her name and trembled as she shook my hand. “You’re doing me a huge favor. I have a friend here tonight who was worried that there wouldn’t be anyone his age to talk to.”

I pointed toward Val’s brother. He wasn’t hard to spot, towering over most of the people in the room. I gave Monica a second to check him out, then nudged her lightly with my elbow. “Good-looking guy, isn’t he?” She blushed and didn’t say anything, but her eyes drifted back to him again. “He’s nice. Kid of shy, though.” I looked at Monica again and added, “Like you, I suspect.”

She bit her lip and nodded. I let go of Val and took Monica’s hand. “Come on, I’ll introduce you while we let the grown-ups talk boring politics.”

Val was still talking to Congressman Richards when I returned minus one shy teenage girl. “Don’t worry, Congressman. I promise I left her in good hands. He’s Val’s brother. He’ll look after her.”

We all turned back to look at the kids. There had been a whole group of girls surrounding Brody, but when I’d mentioned Monica was shy and a little nervous to be there, he’d pulled out a chair for her and given her his full attention. He was introducing her to several girls she clearly recognized.

“Exactly how many famous teenage girls did you invite tonight?” Val asked.

The suspicion in her voice made me laugh. “A few,” I admitted.

“And how many teenage boys are here—famous or otherwise?”

I laughed again. “One.”

Val rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face was grateful. “You worked a miracle on him. Valerie’s called me in tears several times this week. She says he’s like a whole new kid.”

I shrugged. “He just needed a little attention. You’re a hard woman to compete with, Val.”

“It’s more than that,” Val said. “You’re really good with him. You should think about mentoring. You’d be great for the Big Brother program. Or, you know, we could even start our own program if you wanted.”

She was getting that scary gleam in her eyes, so I stomped out that conversation before it really got started. “Oh, no. No way. No more starting programs for you.”

“But that’s one you and I could do together.”

That was an interesting thought, and not the most horrible one I’d ever heard. “Maybe I’ll think about it,” I said, “in a few years. Right now you have enough on your plate with your L.A. F is for Families office.”

Congressman Richards perked up. “Are you doing that?” he asked Val, surprised.

“I’m trying,” she said. “Still waiting on grant approval and a few permits. You know how it is.”

Congressman Richards laughed. “Yes, I do. Why don’t you send me the proposal? I’ll see what I can do to help move things along faster.”

Val was overwhelmed. “I—I—that would incredible,” she muttered, shocked. “Thank you.”

“I would be happy to help. I’ve actually heard a lot about your V is for Virgin efforts from my daughter this week. She’s been nonstop chattering about Kyle since he invited us to come tonight. She showed me the recent article about you doing the abstinence challenge together. I’m the father of a teenage girl, Miss Jensen. There’s not a woman on the planet I’d be happier to support than you. In fact, you should call my office and set up a meeting with me sometime. We’re going to be interviewing soon to fill a few open positions on my reelection campaign staff. We could sure use someone like you.”

Val gasped again. I had to slip my arm around her waist because I was afraid her knees were going to give out. “That’s very kind of you,” she said once she could speak. “It would be a dream to work with you, but I start grad school in a couple of weeks.”

If it was possible, the congressman’s opinion of Val went up even higher. “That’s unfortunate for me. Still, you should keep my card and give me a buzz after you finish.”

Val accepted the business card he handed her and then I made a polite escape, explaining to the congressman that he’d sent my girlfriend into shock and she needed to sit down before she passed out. It wasn’t much of a lie. She didn’t even notice it when I dragged her to a table and sat her down.

“Did that really just happen?”

I chuckled and was then attacked by my very giddy girlfriend. Her arms came around my neck and her lips found mine. I was more than happy to let her kiss me over and over again as long as she needed to.

“I can’t believe you did that for me,” she said as she squeezed the breath out of me.

When she pulled back, her eyes were glossy with a sheen layer of tears. The expression on her face did me in completely. Hundreds of women have gazed at me with stars in their eyes, but this was the first time Val had ever given me that look. There was something different about it coming from Val, though. Her infatuation wasn’t hollow. There was real emotion in her face. Emotion that meant something. Emotion that had me swallowing back a dry lump in my throat.

“Val,” I whispered, bringing my mouth back to hers for a soft kiss. “Let’s get out of here. Let’s go somewhere, just you and me.” She laughed as if she thought I’d made a funny joke. “I’m serious.”

“Kyle, we can’t leave.”

“Sure, we can. It’s just a party.”

“It’s
your
party.”

She was right, but I couldn’t help wondering if she was making excuses. My good mood deflated and I slumped back in my chair. I was so tired of this. It wasn’t even about the sex. It was as if she didn’t want to be alone with me at all. Like she had some kind of personal rule against it. We’d been dating for six weeks now and the only time it was ever just the two of us, we were out on a date and it was always someplace nice and public. She’d only even been to my house twice, and Shane and Cara had been there with us both times. It was never just Val and me.

I’d known this relationship wasn’t going to be easy, but I was starting to get bitter. I’d expected more somehow. I didn’t want to screw this up. Val was the most amazing, perfect woman. She was everything I wanted. I was falling for her, but something wasn’t working and I couldn’t figure out what it was. If we didn’t fix it soon, we weren’t going to last.

Val noticed my disappointment. Her worried brow and apologetic smile confirmed to me that her not wanting to leave had nothing to do with offending anyone at this party. I couldn’t take it anymore. “What’s going on, Val?”

She seemed surprised by the question. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what’s going on with us? Are you in this relationship because you want to be, or because you don’t know how to get rid of me?”

Startled, Val leaned over and pulled my hand into hers again. She watched me for a minute, searching my eyes with a concerned frown on her face. “Do you really not know the answer to that?” she asked in a whisper.

I was embarrassed that I didn’t. We were to the point where I should have had no doubt. I hated that I needed her to confirm it. I looked down at my lap and shrugged. “I did kind of bully you into it.”

All summer I’d felt that this relationship was off balance. I felt as if I cared more about her than she did me. I definitely needed her more than she needed me. No one who knew us would argue that. At first I’d just been thrilled that she was with me at all. Now that my heart was invested, that wasn’t good enough. I needed more from her. I needed her to be invested with me, and I wasn’t sure she was.

“Kyle.” Her hand on my face forced me to meet her eyes. “You of all people should know that I don’t do things I don’t want to.” She smiled a rare, cocky smirk. “I could have told you no. It
is
possible to resist the great Kyle Hamilton, no matter how much you think it isn’t.”

I wasn’t in the mood to laugh, but my lips curved up at the ends. Val’s eyes brightened at my smile. “I’m here in L.A. because I want to be,” she said. “I’m with you because I want to be. I couldn’t ask for a better boyfriend than you.”

It was the answer I wanted to hear, but it didn’t get rid of the bad feeling in my gut. Words didn’t mean much without actions backing them up.

“Okay?” she asked when I didn’t say anything.

I wasn’t sure we were really okay, but I nodded anyway. She didn’t buy it. Sometimes I hated that she was so smart.

She sighed. “Right now is not a good time for this kind of conversation, but it’s clear we need to talk. We’re going to your parents’ barbecue tomorrow, but we don’t have anything planned tomorrow evening. Can you wait until then?”

She waited for me to answer, but I didn’t know what to say. The phrase “we need to talk” was never good. I couldn’t help wondering if we were about to come to another tragic end like we had four years ago. I didn’t want that, but sometimes it felt inevitable. It had always felt a little hopeless between us.

“Kyle, whatever is bothering you, I want to fix it. I don’t like seeing you upset.”

At least she wasn’t planning to dump me. That didn’t mean it wasn’t going to happen, but it helped to know that wasn’t her intention. I took a deep breath and tried to pull myself together. I kissed the backs of her fingers and forced a convincing smile. “Okay,” I said. “Just you and me tomorrow after the barbecue.”

Val roved her eyes over me again from head to toe, as if making sure I wasn’t going to break. When I passed her inspection, she smiled and said, “Just you and me. I promise.”

My parents had their
“little summer barbecue” catered. It was so typical of them. They’d expressed an interest in meeting Val’s parents so I’d suggested a barbecue on the beach, and they ended up hosting an event at their yacht club. Aside from the fact that there was sand and water—meaning I could wear swim shorts and flip-flops—it was a swankier event than the album release party the night before.

The guest list wasn’t short, either. They’d invited everyone they knew. They’d never thrown a party for Adrianna and me, not even when we got engaged, but I guess dating a nonprofit organization-starting do-gooder Stanford graduate with political aspirations was something they could finally be proud of.

Snobs.

But, they were Mom and Dad, and even though they drove me crazy they weren’t the worst parents in the world. I loved them, so I let them have their fancy get-together and grit my teeth through all the painful introductions as they showed my girlfriend off to virtually all of the Who’s Who in Orange County.

“Oh, Valerie darling, come here! You have to meet the mayor.”

Yes, my mother refused to call Val anything but Valerie.

Val gave my mom a bright smile and turned her attention to the short, fat bald guy in khaki pants and a polo shirt next to her. “Mayor Lambert, of course,” Val greeted cheerfully. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”