Her Teen Dream (11 page)

“There will be other times,” she told him,
wishing they could stay a bit longer.

“Yeah, you can count on that.”

They began the drive to her house and Karin
held Reese’s free hand.

“I thought I saw you talking to Coach Cleaver
at the dance.” Reese turned to her.

“Yeah. He wants me to try out for the girls’
track team.”

“Really?”

“It surprised me, too,” she admitted. Until
she thought about Marilyn Chamberlain and her big mouth.

“Are you gonna do it?”

Karin shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Well, I think it would be cool if my girl
became a track star at Elmwood High.”

She chuckled. “Well, I’m not sure where the
star
part would come in. Making the team would be a major
challenge in and of itself. I wouldn’t want to look ahead any more
than that.”

“Then don’t. I just want you to know I’ll
support whatever you decide,” Reese said. “It won’t affect us
any.”

“Thanks for saying that,” Karin told him,
comforted by the thought. She could not imagine putting track ahead
of him, no matter what. Even if she had to come in second to his
basketball. But he had been involved in that before she entered the
picture and it was obviously a major part of his life right
now.

* * *

When Karin entered the house at nearly
midnight, she hoped that her parents were already in bed. But that
was quickly dashed when she turned on the foyer light and saw her
mother lying on the couch.

Her mother’s eyes opened and she sat up.
“You’re back.”

“Safe and sound,” Karin said. She was tired
and wanted to take a quick shower and go to bed. She had a feeling
her mother had a different agenda.

“How was the dance?”

“It was great!”

“I’m glad to hear that, honey.”

“Well...now that I’m back, you can go to
bed.”

“I want to talk to you, Karin,” Josephine
said with a catch to her voice. “Come and sit next to me.” She
patted the seat cushion for effect and then cut on the end table
lamp.

Karin felt her stomach churning. She sensed
another lecture about Reese was coming. She made her legs move
towards the couch, before plopping down. She waited for the
inevitable.

“Did Reese bring you home?” her mother
asked.

“Yeah,” she said, knowing it did no good to
lie. Especially since Lesley’s car was already in her driveway when
they arrived.

Josephine looked at her with an unreadable
expression. “You really like this boy, don’t you?”

Karin wasn’t sure what to say, fearing that
the wrong thing could only end up getting her into trouble. She
decided to go with the truth. “Yes, I really like him, Momma. I
know you think Reese is too—”

Her mother interpolated with, “Never mind
what I think. I don’t want you to keep secrets from me, Karin. It’s
not healthy for either of us. If you’re dating this young man, I’d
rather hear it from you than someone else.”

Karin’s pulse quickened. Her mother had put
her on the spot and there seemed no way out other than to come
clean and hope for the best.

She looked her mother in the eye. “We are
seeing each other,” she admitted nervously. “I was afraid to tell
you, because I—”

“Thought I’d have a fit about your doing
something you weren’t supposed to do,” Josephine finished.

Karin gulped. “Yeah, something like that. But
I do like him,” she said apologetically. “Reese really cares about
me, Momma, and he treats me nice.”

“Boys are always nice to girls when they’re
trying to get what they want,” her mother said.

“He’s not like that!” Karin insisted, though
she knew he was more experienced than she was. “He respects
me.”

“I really hope he does. You’re too young to
do anything you shouldn’t be doing, Karin.”

“I’m not—we’re not doing anything we
shouldn’t be,” she said.

Her mother sat back, studying her as if an
object. “I’m not going to lecture you again on the consequences of
bad choices, because I think you already know what they are. I hope
that Reese does, too. Although I’m disappointed that you went
against my wishes, your father and I have talked about it and we
won’t try to prevent you from dating Reese, especially since it
doesn’t seem to be working very well, short of locking you up in
your room.”

“Thank you, Momma.” Karin was overjoyed and
relieved at the same time.

Josephine put a stern look on her face. “What
we do want is to meet this young man, so we don’t feel you’re
running around behind our backs.”

“Reese wants to meet you and Daddy, too,”
Karin stressed. She wanted them to meet as well, even if she was a
bit nervous at the prospect.

“Good,” her mother said. “I was thinking we
could have him over for dinner sometime next week.”

“I’m sure that will work, as long as it
doesn’t interfere with his basketball practice.”

“Okay, then it’s settled.” Her mother stood
up. “Now I think it’s time we both called it a night.”

Knowing she was seeing a different and more
pliable side of her mother than she had in a long time, Karin stood
and hugged her. “I’m sorry, Momma, for messing up.”

“I just want what’s right for you, Karin,”
her mother said. “Even if you can’t always see that.”

“I know.” Karin was happy to have parents who
cared, knowing that the alternative was unacceptable. Still, she
had to take some steps on her own. And Karin truly believed that at
this time in her life Reese McKenzie was just right for her.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“So your Mom’s really okay with you dating
Reese?” Lesley asked while they ran in the park.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Karin was still trying to
recover from the shock of last night. “I think she feels it’s
better if I’m up front about it than sneaking around dating
someone.”

“Yeah, my mother feels pretty much the same
way. She thinks Marcus is a cutie, if not as great as she seems to
believe Edgar is. Of course, Marcus is only seventeen—at least for
four more months. Maybe she’d be giving me a hard time, too, if
he’d already crossed the threshold into adulthood.”

Karin sucked in a deep breath. “Truthfully, I
suspect my Momma would be uncomfortable with any boy I liked,
thinking no one was good enough for me. For the longest time, I was
beginning to wonder if I was good enough for any boy.”

“Same here,” Lesley said. “Guess we both got
lucky at the same time.”

“Yeah, but I’d like to think that some decent
guys finally woke up and noticed what they were missing.”

Lesley chuckled. “That sounds better.”

They ran to the end of the park and turned
around.

“So are things getting pretty serious with
you and Marcus?” Karin asked.

“Not will you marry me type seriousness. But
he seems to like me and I like him.”

“Reese and I are the same. We’re taking it
slow—or I am, anyway—just trying to feel things out.”

“You mean regarding sex?” Lesley looked at
her.

Karin nodded. “Yeah. I mean, it’s not like
he’s tried anything, but it’s what people do who like each other.
Right?” Karin thought about Cheryl and Reese having sex and
immediately erased the vision from her mind. She didn’t care what
Reese had done with Cheryl or other girls he dated before her. She
just wanted him to accept her for who she was.

“Some people do it even though they hate each
other,” Lesley said knowingly. “Or otherwise out of some sense of
duty. That sucks, as far as I’m concerned.”

Karin eyed her sideways. “What about you and
Marcus?”

“What about us?”

“Has he asked you to do anything?” Karin was
curious.

Lesley sneered. “You mean like go all the
way?”

“Or even three-quarters of the way.”

“He’s wanted to,” Lesley admitted. “But I
told him no.”

“And he was okay with it?” Karin asked,
wide-eyed.

Lesley hesitated. “Is any guy ever okay with
it? Most guys want everything they can get as soon as they can get
it. Some girls do, too. I’d rather wait till I’m sure it’s
right.”

“Me, too,” Karin said, happy to know they
were on the same page in this important area.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to—at least
with Marcus,” Lesley added. “But, then again, I want a lot of
things. I just won’t compromise my values to get them before their
time.”

“I hear you, girl.” Karin took a breath. “If
they want us badly enough, they won’t try to force the action.”

Lesley grinned. “Who would’ve thought a month
ago that we’d even be having this conversation?”

“Guess we sold ourselves short in joining the
real world of dating, boyfriends, sex, and abstinence,” laughed
Karin.

“I guess.”

Karin decided it was time to speed up their
run, knowing Lesley wouldn’t want to be left behind.

“I may try out for the track team,” she told
her.

Lesley batted her curly lashes. “Since
when?”

“Since Coach Cleaver personally invited me
to.”

“Well, you go girl, if that’s what you really
want.”

“That’s the point, I’m not sure I really do
want to give up more of my freedom. Not to mention time away from
my best gal pal and boyfriend.”

“Then tell Coach Cleaver you’re not
interested,” Lesley uttered bluntly.

“But I am interested...I think,” Karin said,
frustrated about the decision as they made their way through the
park.

By the time they got home, she had managed to
put those thoughts aside in favor of spending time with Reese this
afternoon.

* * *

Karin went to Edgar’s bookstore with Lesley.
She planned to spend a couple of hours there before Reese picked
her up. The Book Basement was on the ground floor of a shopping
center, on the corner right next to a podiatrist’s office. Aside
from Edgar and Lesley, the only other employee was a woman in her
sixties named Gladys. According to Lesley, she was widowed and
working because of her love for books.

“Let me help,” Karin told Lesley as she began
lifting books from a stack on the floor to put on shelves.

“You don’t have to.”

“I know, but I want to,” Karin insisted, not
wanting to see her best friend slaving alone. “Remember, I’m used
to doing this at the school library. So I’m pretty seasoned in the
art of book shelving.”

“Well be my guest then,” Lesley said.

Karin grabbed a stack and started to slide
them onto the appropriate shelves.

“I must admit that it’s nice to have someone
here to talk to my own age.” Lesley frowned and lowered her voice.
“Not to say that Gladys isn’t nice...and Edgar, too. But it’s kind
of weird that he’s my boss and trying to be my friend at the same
time, just because he’s dating my Mom.”

“I guess that could be a problem,” Karin
acknowledged. “If you’re not comfortable working with Edgar, maybe
you should quit and tell your Mom it’s just too awkward.”

“I thought about it, but she’d just think I
was being lazy and didn’t want to carry my share of the load.”

“So we could both talk to her and try to
figure out something else you could do.”

“Thanks, but I’ll be okay.” Lesley smiled. “I
think my main issue here is that most of the people who come in are
like from a totally different
bor-ing
generation. Except
Marcus, that is.”

Karin felt for her. “I’ll try to come by as
much as I can, Lesley,” she promised. “That way, you’ll have me and
Marcus to keep you from drifting too much away from your own
generation.”

“Well, it’s not really that bad, I guess,”
Lesley seemed to flip flop again. “I get to read some books that I
would never have read otherwise.”

Karin forced a smile. She hoped that Shelly’s
financial picture improved soon so Lesley wouldn’t be forced to
continue to work at Edgar’s bookstore against her wishes.

Edgar walked over to the aisle they were
standing in. “Are you girls all right?”

“Yeah,” they muttered in unison.

“Good. Lesley, when you get those finished
you can work the counter while Gladys takes her break.”

“No problem.”

He stood there looking at them for a moment
longer as if he had something else to say, but could not remember
or chose not to, before leaving.

The girls giggled.

“Yes, sir!” Karin whispered humorously, as if
he were taking his job as boss way too seriously. Or maybe that was
more for her benefit.

“He’s not the ideal person I’d want to hang
around, but he’s not exactly a slave driver either,” Lesley spoke
in his defense. “I guess as long as Edgar makes my Mom happy, I can
live with him.”

“You can?” Karin pretended to be in utter
shock, though admittedly the thought of such was unsettling to
her.

“Not literally, silly!” Lesley laughed and
the two began playfully pushing each other back and forth. “I meant
work for him!”

“That’s better,” Karin chuckled.

“Speaking of which, we’d better finish these
books before Gladys freaks out over there while waiting to take her
break.”

“Say no more,” Karin said, and got back to
work.

When Reese came to pick her up, Karin was
happy to see him, but sad to leave Lesley behind. The good news was
that Reese relayed a message from Marcus that he would see Lesley
tonight.

“I’m glad your parents want to meet me,”
Reese said in the car. Karin had phoned him this morning with the
news.

“Yeah, so am I,” she admitted, hoping her
father wouldn’t intimidate him too much. Or, for that matter, her
mother.

“They’ll see that I’m just a young man who
happens to be crazy about their daughter.”

Karin flushed. “Then that makes us both
crazy, since I happen to feel the same way about you.”

Reese grinned and Karin did the same, feeling
that giddiness again. He gave her a quick peck on the mouth and she
licked her lips afterwards, enjoying his taste that she was fast
becoming used to.