Her Teen Dream (14 page)

Reese took a long gulp of the water as if he
had been in the desert for a week. He put the bottle on the granite
island and studied her. “It’s nice being here with you, without
your parents watching our every move as if neither of us could be
trusted to be alone.”

“Yeah, it is.” Karin hid her nervous
enthusiasm behind her bottled water, sipping it and feeling the
cold liquid drain down her throat. “Do you want to watch TV or
listen to some music?”

He put his arms around her waist and drew her
close to him. “Nope.”

She watched him gaze into her eyes with an
unreadable expression. “What do you want to do then?” she hesitated
to ask.

“I want to do this, right now.” He bent down
and kissed her mouth. His lips were cold, but still felt good on
hers. Maybe too good.

Karin pulled away. “Why don’t we go into the
living room and we can do that some more,” she suggested, figuring
it was more comfortable and safe.

“I’d rather we check out your room,” Reese
said.

She stiffened. “My room. Why?”

“Why not, baby? You afraid to let me see
where you sleep at night, or what?”

Now he had put her on the spot. “Of course
not,” she lied, not wanting to admit she was uncomfortable with the
notion.

“So lead the way,” he said with a smile.

Though she feared this wasn’t a good idea and
suspected what Reese’s intentions might be, Karin took him to her
room anyway. He looked around, as though entirely for effect,
before settling on their reflections through the mirror atop the
dresser.

“Nice,” he commented.

“It’s just a room, Reese,” Karin mumbled,
hoping he would be satisfied and they could go to the living
room.

“Not just a room, it’s
your
room.” He
flopped down on her bed. Reese grabbed Karin and pulled her down to
the bed. She let him without protest and they began to kiss.

“Now this isn’t committing a capital offense,
is it?” Reese asked between kisses.

“No.” Not yet anyway, Karin thought.

She was on top of him and their bodies were
so close that she could feel his heart beating fast. Or was that
hers?

After a while, Reese easily turned them
around and was half on top of Karin, his leg straddling hers.

“You’re so fine, Karin,” he murmured.

She did not respond, caught up in his
physical presence and the yearning that seemed to come with it. But
when his hand slid up her leg, while the other hand began to undo
the buttons of her blouse, warning bells rang in Karin’s head.

“Don’t,” she whispered. When he continued as
if he hadn’t heard her, she pushed his chest and raised her voice
an octave. “Stop it, Reese!”

He did, lifting up. She could not tell if it
was shock or hurt in his eyes. Maybe both.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, wide-eyed.

“I can’t do this right now, Reese. Not
here.”

“Do what?” His gaze was unblinking.

“
This
,” she stated, buttoning her
blouse. “What if my mother caught us?” She didn’t even want to
think about that, not to mention how her father would have
reacted.

“She wouldn’t catch us,” Reese said as though
a soothsayer.

“You don’t know that.”

“Why are you making such a big deal out of
this?”

“I’m not,” she said ill at ease. “I just
don’t want us to get into trouble.”

“We won’t.”

“What about what you told my parents?” Karin
asked.

Reese narrowed his eyes. “What about it?”

“Did you mean it?”

He paused. “Yeah, I did. I’m not here to hurt
or disrespect you, Karin. I thought this was something we were
gravitating toward as a couple. If I was wrong—”

“You’re not,” she tried to assure him. “It’s
just...”

While the right words got caught in Karin’s
throat, Reese asked, “Don’t you want us to be together?”

“We are together.”

“I think you know what I mean.”

Karin knew exactly what he meant. And that
was the problem.

“Yes, no, I don’t know,” she stammered, “if
I’m ready for that yet, Reese.”

“You don’t have to be scared,” he said
soothingly. “I’ve got protection, if that’s what you’re worried
about. I’m acting responsibly, just like I promised your
parents.”

The fact that he carried a condom around like
one carries money was not a great surprise to Karin. Most guys
probably did. Though, from what she’d heard, most had no desire to
use them. Karin was happy to know Reese was different in that
respect, wanting to protect her from an unwanted pregnancy or other
problems. But it did make her wonder how many times he’d had sex
and if his partners were any more ready for it than she was.

“It’s not the
only
thing that concerns
me,” Karin said truthfully.

He propped up on an elbow and met her eyes.
“Well, what else is on your mind?”

“I want it to be special when I give myself
to a boy.”

“It will be.”

“For you maybe.”

He grimaced. “What’s that supposed to
mean?”

She sucked in a deep breath. “It means that I
need more time before going down that road.”

Reese sat up, scratching his head. “We’ve
been going together for
two
months, Karin. How much more
time do you need?”

She paused. “I don’t know. I just want to
enjoy what we have without being pushed into something I may only
end up regretting.”

“You won’t regret it,” he declared. “I won’t
hurt you, I swear.”

“I know you won’t.” Not purposefully anyway,
Karin convinced herself.

“Then let’s do it,” Reese commanded.

“Why can’t we wait?” she challenged him.

He let out a long breath. “Karin, a guy can’t
wait forever you know.”

Karin sat up, batting her eyes, though she
had expected this moment to come sooner or later. She would have
preferred later.

“So what are you saying, Reese? That unless
we have sex right this minute, you’ll dump me and go back to
Cheryl? Or find somebody else who’s willing?”

Karin wasn’t sure she wanted to know the
answer, but she needed to find out where she stood with him.

“No, it’s not like that.” Reese smoothed an
eyebrow. “All I’m saying is that I just want to be with you as my
girlfriend. Being together is a natural thing when two people care
about each other. I know you want it, too.”

“Yes, I think I do,” she admitted. Or at
least she wanted to believe that. “I think about what it will be
like all the time.”

“So let’s find out.”

Karin stared at him. “Do you
love
me,
Reese?” she decided to ask pointblank.

He considered the question, taking his time
before responding. “Yeah, I do.”

“So why haven’t you ever told me?”

Reese shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess guys
just assume that girls know how they feel.”

“Well we don’t,” she stressed. “Not unless
they tell us. Or
you
tell me—”

“And what if I tell you?” he asked
straightforwardly. “Will you give it up for me then?”

Karin’s palms were sweaty. She felt his gaze
bearing down on her, waiting for the right answer.

“Yes,” she answered. “But not today.”

“Then when?”

“You never even asked if I love you,” Karin
said disappointedly.

He regarded her with interest. “Do you?”

“Yes,” she spoke from her heart.

It was something she had probably known for a
while now, but had not really come to grips with it till this very
moment. In her mind what she was feeling had to be love, for it had
also affected her body in strange, but appealing ways.

Reese smiled. He reached over and kissed her.
She kissed him back. Again things built up to a fevered pitch
before his hands were once more all over her and looking to explore
areas she considered out of bounds.

Even though she felt herself sinking under
his potent spell, Karin fought back temptation and him as she
pulled away.

“If you really love me, Reese, you’ll be
patient. Please. I just can’t do this today.”

A look of anger crossed his face, then
resignation and, finally, that dazzling smile.

“Okay, it’s cool, baby,” he assured her.

“Really?”

“Yeah. We can wait. But not forever.” He put
his hand on her check. “It’s just that you mean so much to me and
I’m going crazy thinking about us being together.”

“I know,” Karin said understandingly. “Me,
too.”

Reese smiled and stood up. “Well, I’d better
go.”

“We could just hang out for a while,” she
suggested, not wanting him to leave yet.

“I’ve got some things to do,” he said without
elaboration.

Karin accepted that he wanted to leave,
probably because she refused to go all the way with him. Though she
knew this was a good thing on her part, she wondered why it felt so
bad.

Reese gave her a lightning quick kiss on the
lips at the front door. “I’ll call you later.”

“Promise?” she asked doubtfully.

“Yeah.”

She watched as he got in his car, backed out
of the driveway, and sped off, as if he couldn’t get out of there
fast enough.

Is he still my boyfriend or did I just
blow it big time?
Karin was left to second-guess herself. She
wondered if Reese being her boyfriend had suddenly become
conditional on whether or not they slept together.

Karin didn’t even want to think about that,
though she knew it would be impossible not to. She had just told
Reese that she loved him. And he had admitted the same thing to
her. Could their love hold together under the cloud that suddenly
hung over them like a shroud? Or would it blow up in her face and
send her boyfriend into the arms of Cheryl or someone else?

CHAPTER TWENTY

“You made the right decision not to go all
the way,” Lesley told Karin. They were sitting in the mall’s food
court, sipping fruit juice.

“You think?”

“Don’t you?”

Karin shrugged. “Yes and no. Oh, I don’t
know. I mean, what if Reese grows tired of waiting and looks
elsewhere?”

Lesley sneered. “Then he probably wasn’t
worth the trouble. Being easy won’t necessarily allow you to hang
onto him.”

“It’s not like I would be jumping into bed
with him after one date,” Karin stated. “We’ve been seeing each
other for over two months.”

“Yeah, same for me and Marcus. But he knows
how I feel and he’s backed off from wanting more. Reese should do
the same if he really cares about you.”

“He loves me,” Karin insisted. She tried to
convince herself that they weren’t just empty words.
And I love
him.
She knew this in her heart of hearts.

“Then he’ll respect your wishes and not issue
ultimatums about sex,” Lesley declared. “We can’t just give them
what they want whenever they want it, especially when we’re the
ones who have to live with the consequences, like it or not.”

Karin put down her bottle of juice. “Reese
said he has protection.” Karin knew that was hardly the same thing
as abstinence insofar as
safe
sex and avoiding pregnancy and
other troubles that could arise.

Lesley rolled her eyes. “Yeah, they all say
that. But protection can go wrong and your whole life can be ruined
in the process. I say don’t do it, girlfriend, until you’re totally
cool with it.”

“Why does having a boyfriend have to be so
complicated?” Karin moaned.

“I think it’s because of that Mars and Venus
thing my Mom likes to talk about,” offered Lesley. “At least that’s
her excuse when things between her and Edgar get bumpy, as they
seem to have lately.”

“Maybe they’re not meant to be together,”
Karin suggested. She was sure this wasn’t the case with her and
Reese.

“Yeah, I’ve told Mom that, but she says
they’re just going through a phase and that males and females are
naturally at odds. Being involved with a guy only makes it more
obvious, even if it’s what we want in life.”

“Well, I just want to be happy without all
the strings that seem to be attached,” groaned Karin. “Is that
asking too much?”

“I don’t think so,” Lesley said. “But
relationships are full of strings attached, even for teenagers...or
should I say especially for teens? That’s just the way life is. Get
used to it.”

I wish I could
, Karin mused. She could
only hope that things didn’t get any more complicated between her
and Reese, threatening what seemed to be a promising
relationship.

“So do you think your Mom and Edgar are going
to get past their problems?” Karin wondered.

“Beats me.” Lesley shrugged. “One minute
they’re all lovey dovey, the next they’re hurling insults at one
another. At least if they went their separate ways, I wouldn’t have
to work at that stupid bookstore anymore. It would be way too
awkward and the pay sure isn’t making that much of a difference in
our lives.”

“I agree, you definitely would have to quit
that job and I’m sure your Mom would want you to, if things fell
apart between her and Edgar.” Karin looked at her. “Maybe you could
find something at the mall, if you needed to keep working. Or,
better yet, we could put our heads together and find some other way
to bring in extra bucks without sacrificing your weekends.”

“If only,” Lesley said hopefully. “But right
now, I don’t expect much to change in my life. Mom really wants
things to work out with Edgar, no matter how I feel, like he’s the
only man left on the planet with Dad gone.”

“Just give things time to work out one way or
the other,” Karin told her. “I know Shelly wants what’s best for
both of you.”

“Yeah, I suppose so.” Lesley drew a breath.
“In the meantime, do you think we could switch parents?” Lesley
looked serious for a moment, then broke into laughter.

Karin followed suit. “Be my guest! Just be
prepared for boredomville. As you know, my parents are much on auto
pilot most of the times like they’re sleepwalking. Except when
they’re at odds over me or something I’ve done or didn’t do.”