One Saturday morning, I was sound asleep and snuggled warm in my bed. I was awakened to someone jumping on my bed. I opened my eyes ready to slap whoever was there, when I realized it was dad.
“Wake up sleepy-head! We're going out today. You're finally going to learn how to drive.”
I looked at the clock and immediately grumbled, “I could also learn how to drive at 2 in the afternoon, you do realize?”
“Quit your bitchin' and get in the shower! I'm finishing breakfast now. Come on it's been a long time since the two of us spent the day together, it'll be fun!”
Yeah, great.
I forced myself up and got ready.
Dad h
The next months went by like a blur. I didn’t go to prom. First of all there was no one to go with, and secondly, I didn’t want to be the only sixteen year old at the senior prom.I threw myself into my work, Professor Evans was already on me like glue. He could not have been more excited. He introduced me to several other math professors who were just throwing work at me to see if I could do it. I loved the challenges.Professor Evans agreed to be my sponsor, we had filed paperwork to have me emancipated but I still needed to be under some level of supervision. I would be staying on campus, but I would not have a roommate. I was to meet with my sponsor several times a week for check-ins. Really, I’d probably see him every day anyhow.Dad also got me set up with my own checking account
Dad and I decided there was no way he would be driving me across the country to California. So if I was flying, I would have to be travelling light and just get a lot of things once I got there. Dad flew out with me, but only had a carry-on for himself, leaving me to be able to put two suitcases under his ticket. I tried like hell to pare down, but I still had so much I wanted to bring.I had hoped to share my excitement for leaving with mom, but she was MIA, yet again. Erik was now stationed in southern Georgia and rather busy so our main communication was by email. He was so happy I was getting out of white suburbia and forging my own path in life. Constantly hearing him tell me how proud he was, just gave me the confidence I needed and wasn’t getting from mom.We landed in San Francisco and it was nothing like I had ever seen. The people se
That first semester just blew by and even though it was a tough decision, I decided to stay in California for Christmas break. I spent Christmas and New Years with the Evans' of course, they hosted small parties at their beautiful home for both holidays.Honestly, I wanted the quiet time to just reflect. I spent so much time thinking, 'how did I get here?' I told Erik all the time how lucky I felt, but he would assure me that I deserved it because of my hard work and talent.I did bust my ass, having a 4.0 GPA meant everything to me. I did have some unwanted attention from a few boys, but I shrugged them off. I didn’t have time for that nonsense. There were always parties going on, but I found it easy to stay away from that life.I had a mini fridge, microwave and small toaster oven in my roo
With as much as I had to drink you would think I would have passed right out. But I took a shower and found myself lying in bed, staring out the window. It was taking every ounce of restraint not to call Fletcher's number and beg him to come back.I don't know what it was about him, but he just seemed so familiar and if I'm being honest, I just wanted to smell him again. Should have kept his damn hoodie, I laughed to myself.I don't know why but I immediately thought how funny it would be to take him home. Tall, dark and handsome, what would dad and Erik think of him? And then I thought, shit ... how would I explain how we met?Yeah ... I won't be bringing him up to the family anytime soon. I woke up at about 8:45, but felt like I hadn't even slept. My mind was racing and all I could think about wa
So the racial makeup of Stanford wasn't exactly heavy with black students. I want to say it's mostly white with the next largest percentage being Asian and then maybe Latino. I didn't really see a whole lot of black kids, but apparently Fletch knew quite a few.We took a cab to a house party. My guard was immediately up, remembering to be cautious about my drinks. I felt like I could trust Fletch, but again, I really didn't know him.Hell, I didn’t even know his last name. We got out of the cab and he took my hand in his. It was pretty much twice the size of mine, but it was so warm. He led me into the house, saying hi to several people on the way to find the bar."What’ll you have sweetie?"That southern accent...damn hot.
Over the next two weeks I saw as much as much of Fletch as I possibly could. He was proving to be quite a distraction though, even Chris noticed that I seemed to be daydreaming.We had just finished a long distance learning class with Noora, my pal from Qatar. She had made some progress on a problem and everyone was pretty excited."Penny for your thoughts," Chris said looking at me."Is it a boy?"I scoffed, "you know I'm not going to tell you anything because you're going to run right back and tell my dad!""Come on! Give me a little more confidence than that. You can tell me! I mean you’ve been here what nearly a year now, it was bound to happen."
When I saw Fletch later that night, I told him about my conversation with Chris.He laughed and said, "why are you so nervous about me meeting them?"I said "I don't know it's not like they're my real parents ... but in a way they are. I mean I had a boyfriend in high school but everyone already knew him and nobody poked around and asked questions really."He came from behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, and nuzzled his face in my neck, making me melt."Well really, meeting Chris and Mary is going to be a walk in the park compared to my real family. So yeah, I guess I don't know why I'm nervous about it."He laughed and said, "well I'm going to put off having you meet my family foreve
"I still feel like we should have brought something," I said as we pulled up to Chris's house.“Well you wanted to bring wine but neither of us can buy it so…” he said stating the obvious.“I know but it just seems like if you go to someone's house for dinner you're supposed to bring something.”I gaped at the house, well it was a mansion really. We got out of the cab and walked toward the door and it immediately flew open.Mary stood in the doorway just beaming, “we're so happy you could make it!“As if I had much of a choice, I thought to myself.She practically jumped on Fletch, giving him a hug. He