In her reverie, Karin had not noticed that Cheryl and Jeffrey Jamison were now dancing alongside them. Cheryl was hanging all over Jeffrey as though afraid he might slip away. Karin thought she looked stunning and made sure everyone knew it. Especially Reese.
“I wasn’t sure if you were coming, Reese,” Cheryl said in a syrupy voice, ignoring Karin as though she were invisible.
“Wouldn’t have missed it,” he said evenly.
“Neither would we,” Jeffrey said.
“That’s cool.” Reese held Karin a bit tighter. “It’s what the dance is all about, being with our sweethearts.”
Karin felt her heart flutter and gazed at Cheryl with a smile of delight. Cheryl sneered at her and began to move with Jeffrey away from them.
“I hope it wasn’t something you said,” Karin couldn’t resist whispering to Reese.
He chuckled. “Maybe, but that’s her problem.”
Karin could not agree more. They danced till the song ended.
Afterwards, Reese saw a group of friends huddled together like they were on a street corner. He excused himself, leaving her alone. Rather than be accused of being the clingy girlfriend that most guys disliked, Karin was willing to give Reese his space. Even at a dance where most couples stayed together throughout. Or so she wanted to believe.
Karin searched for Lesley, but couldn’t find her, so she made her way over to the refreshment table. At least holding a cup of punch would keep her from looking too stupid.
No sooner had Karin filled the cup, when Coach Cleaver walked up to her. She almost didn’t recognize him in a suit instead of his usual sweats.
“Hello, Karin,” he said in a watered down version of his normal gruff voice. He used the ladle to put some punch in a cup.
She didn’t even realize he knew her name. “Hi, Coach Cleaver.”
“Don’t tell me McKenzie’s gone and left you all alone.”
“He went to talk to his friends,” she practically apologized for him. “I told him it was okay.”
Coach Cleaver shook his head. “When will you girls realize that you give these guys an inch and they’ll take two miles? Maybe three. Anyway, you’ll learn.” He paused to sip some punch. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else, since we both seem to have a few spare moments on our hands.”
Karin raised a brow and quickly drank some punch as if it were an elixir.
“Have you ever run track?” He studied her face.
“No. Why do you ask?” She knew the answer before he responded.
“I think you should consider trying out for the girls’ team,” he said bluntly.
Karin winced. Marilyn’s going to get it when I get my hands on her! Who else would have planted such thoughts in his head?
“Uh, thanks, but I think I have too much on my plate right now.”
He frowned. “You mean like boys? Trust me; they will still be around long after your high school days are over.”
“It’s not just boys, er, a boy,” she corrected. “I’m on the drama debate team, a peer counselor, I write articles for the school newspaper...then there’s my home life and—”
Coach Cleaver cut her off when he raised his massive hand. “Okay, I get the picture, Karin. But you’re young and can have many things on your plate at once without it shattering. Marilyn Chamberlain made the team and she tells me that you’re an even better runner than she is. I’d like to see for myself. You should come in and try out. If not for yourself, do it for your school. You’re a bit behind in practice, but we can deal with that. Think about it.”
“I will,” she promised after he waited for a response.
His eyes crinkled when he smiled. “Good. Now go find that boyfriend of yours and get him to take you out on the dance floor.”
Karin watched him walk away. Running track was the last thing on her mind right now. What if she tried and failed? Could she ever face Marilyn again, knowing she was the better runner?
“Looks like you’ve been talking to Coach Cleaver,” Karin heard the voice say. She turned and saw Cheryl standing there with a crooked smile on her face. She was alone.
“Yeah, I was.”
“Does he want you to try out for the cheerleading squad?”
Karin stifled a chuckle. If only. She felt somewhat flattered that Cheryl obviously considered her in good enough shape to be on the squad. Or maybe even pretty enough to be a cheerleader.
“No, he wanted to know if I was interested in trying out for the girls’ track team.”
Cheryl batted her lashes as if the thought had never entered her mind. “You’re a runner?”
“Sometimes.” She downplayed her love for the sport.
“Well, good luck if you decide to go for it.”
“Thanks.” Karin watched her warily, as if this was the calm before the Cheryl storm. She assumed that Cheryl wouldn’t dare attack her at the dance. Would she?
“Where’s Reese?” Cheryl asked.
Karin had a feeling she already knew the answer and had come over to rub it in. She looked to her left and saw him still jawing with some others she recognized from the team.
“Oh, there he is,” Cheryl murmured, following the flight of her gaze. “Get used to it—being ignored that is. It pretty much comes with the territory with high school athletes. Especially this year’s starting point guard.”
“What about the president of the high school student council?” Karin tossed back at her.
Cheryl flinched. “Yeah him, too. Guess all guys can be jerks. Some more than others.”
Karin figured that was probably true, though her experience had been limited on the male jerk scale thus far.
“So how are things with you and Reese?” Cheryl inquired.
“Fine.” Karin didn’t know where this was going and wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“Has he asked you for anything yet?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Cheryl smiled. “You will soon enough. And when he does, if I were you, I wouldn’t keep him waiting too long. Guys like Reese don’t like to take no for an answer and can get pretty impatient after a while.”
Karin was speechless. She wasn’t sure if Cheryl was trying to warn her off Reese or push her into sex with him. She had heard that Cheryl wasn’t a virgin and was almost certain that Reese wasn’t. But he had not tried to pressure her into anything yet. In fact, it had been just the opposite. They had rarely even kissed. She had just assumed he was being a gentleman about it. Was she being naïve?
Cheryl painted a false smile on her face. “Oh, there’s Jayne. I have to go. Later.”
Karin saw Jayne and her date leaving the dance floor, where Cheryl practically corralled her friend. She went in search of Lesley, but couldn’t find her. Had she and Marcus left the dance? Just how far was Lesley prepared to go with him?
How far am I prepared to go with Reese? No answer surfaced. Only more questions.
“I was looking for you,” she heard Reese’s voice from behind her.
“Obviously not very hard,” Karin said a little coldly and batted her eyes at him.
He stiffened. “Hey, don’t be mad, baby. We were just talking about the remaining schedule and what we need to do to get the job done. I didn’t mean to neglect you.”
Karin thought about what Cheryl had said about getting used to being ignored. Could she ever get used to that—even if her boyfriend was Mr. Popular and a star basketball player at Elmwood High? She could only hope that in the future Reese would make more time for her.
“It’s all right,” she said, making her lips curve into a smile.
Reese smiled back, making her heart quiver. “Do you want to dance again?”
An Alicia Keys song was playing and Karin knew she couldn’t resist. “Sure, I’d love to,” she responded without hesitation.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
When Karin and Reese left the dance, Lesley and Marcus were already gone. That meant Karin’s ride was also gone,
leaving her to get a ride home with Reese.
“Do you want to drive around for a while?” Reese asked, starting the car.
Karin hesitated, but only because it was nearly eleven o’clock and she had a midnight curfew tonight. Were it not for trying to remain on her parents’ good side, she would have been happy to stay out with Reese for hours.
He sensed her unease. “Don’t worry, I’ll have you home on time.”
She relaxed, believing him. “Okay.”
They drove around town, listening to music and enjoying each other’s company.
“You really were something else tonight,” commented Reese. His cologne filled the car with a musky scent, which Karin found intoxicatingly delightful.
“Thank you,” she said, feeling slightly giddy.
“I’m serious. My friends were checking you out, too. I told them, ‘Don’t even think about it! She’s mine.’”
And you’re all mine.
Karin reveled in his proprietary stance. She got courageous and reached over and kissed his cheek.
“That felt nice,” he said, keeping his eyes on the road.
“It felt nice for me, too,” she admitted.
Reese pulled into the empty parking lot of a strip mall, shutting the car off. If not for the illumination of a solitary lamppost, it would have been totally dark.
“I think this would feel even nicer for both of us,” he said. Tilting his head, Reese leaned forward and lightly brushed his lips against hers.
Karin agreed that it was nicer to have their mouths touching, as it reached down to her very core. When Reese moved back in again with a little harder kiss, she reciprocated in kind, wanting this as much as he did.
Soon they were hot and heavy with their kissing. Karin loved the taste of Reese and the way he had his arms around her. She wasn’t sure when her arms magically found their way around his neck. Only that it felt totally natural.
When they finally pulled apart, Karin’s lips felt swollen with delight. She could not imagine that anyone could be a better kisser than Reese McKenzie. She wondered if Cheryl felt the same way. Then Karin reminded herself that what was past was past. She was the one in the car sitting beside Reese, not Cheryl or any other girl.
“I could kiss you till the wee hours of the morning,” Reese confessed, starting the car. “But I don’t want you to get in trouble with your parents.”
“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 Mc
Kenzie 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?”
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