Her Teen Dream (16 page)

Did I just break up with my boyfriend without
even realizing it?

Or was this simply a fork in the road that
most teenage couples went through when they couldn’t agree on
certain critical issues?

She wondered if Lesley had remembered to take
her own advice with Marcus and not go all the way with him. One
could only hope. But what if Lesley had too much to drink and
things got out of hand? Should she have gone to check on her friend
before leaving?

Lesley can take care of herself,
Karin
decided. That was usually the case anyway. She knew her limits and
would be careful.

Right now, Karin preferred to focus on her
own boy troubles and what it might mean down the line.

When she entered the house, any thoughts of
quietly slipping to her room vanished as Karin’s mother practically
met her at the door.

“You’re home early.” Josephine looked at her
with one brow cocked.

“I wasn’t feeling well. I think it was
something I ate,” Karin added quickly.

“Oh, honey. I’m sorry,” her mother said. “Do
you want me to get you—?”

“I think I’ll just go to bed,” Karin
interpolated, hoping she would leave it at that.

Of course, that was never the case.

“How did you get home?” Josephine asked.

Since it was obvious that it wasn’t by a car
that her mother would have heard drive up, Karin chose not to lie.
“I walked.”

“Walked?” Her mother’s eyebrows touched in
disbelief. “What on earth for?”

“It wasn’t really that far, Momma, and it was
my choice. I thought the cool air would help. But it didn’t.”

Josephine studied her and seemed to refrain
from a lecture about the dangers of walking alone at night or
further probing into the circumstances surrounding her earlier than
expected arrival home.

“Well, I’m sure a good night’s sleep will do
the trick,” her mother said.

“Yeah, I think so, too.” Karin gave her a
quick kiss on the cheek. She hoped her mother didn’t smell the beer
on her breath. If she had, there was no indication of such.

Karin retreated to her room. She lay on the
bed without removing her clothes and thought about Reese. Was he
thinking about her, too? Her biggest fear was that they would be
unable to resolve their differences concerning sex. Would one or
the other have to bend in order to keep the relationship going? Or
was it already over after one big disagreement?

No matter how she looked at it, Karin knew
there was nothing simple about dating a boy and falling in love.
And though it had been done millions of times over the
centuries—make that billions—it was only her romance that had her
tied up in knots and second-guessing her every move and counter
move.

She hoped that by tomorrow there would be
some clarity and things between her and Reese could get back on the
right track, assuming he felt the same way she did.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The following day, Karin was up bright and
early. Her lightheadedness had gone away and she was ready to face
her world again and hope for the best. She went for a run, deciding
not to bang on Lesley’s door and drag her out after what may have
been a long night, or a short one, depending on how you looked at
it.

Karin wondered what Reese was doing this
morning. Had he stayed at the party till it ended? Would he text
her this morning to try and make things right between them?

By late afternoon, Reese still had not texted
or phoned. Karin really wanted to text him and maybe even apologize
for her hasty retreat, but she didn’t want to seem too desperate to
work things out. Even if she was desperate—just a little—in wanting
some communication between them.

She did text Lesley a couple of times, but
there was no response. Karin felt a little frustrated, but knew
there would be plenty of time later to catch up on everything.

Karin had to put her own life and times on
hold as she and her father took her mother out to dinner. It was
her thirty-seventh birthday and Karin’s idea that they do something
different than normal, which was usually a store bought birthday
cake, joint gift, and going through old photo albums as if to
reclaim lost memories.

“Do you feel any older, Momma?” Karin asked,
knowing that she never seemed to from year to year. Or at least not
since she reached her teens.

Josephine pondered the question and offered a
weak smile. “Let’s put it this way, I stopped looking at my
birthday as an aging day after twenty-nine. Much too depressing.
Now I see it as simply a celebration of family and togetherness.”
She lifted her goblet of wine and drank.

“Amen to that,” Karin’s father said, raising
his glass in toast. “But, just for the record, you don’t look a day
over twenty-nine to me and you
never
will!”

“You’d better say that, honey!” Josephine
gave him a playful look.

“Would I lie?” Greer grinned crookedly.

“Through your teeth,” she laughed, “but I’m
glad to hear it anyway.”

Karin admired her parents expressing
playfulness and love that she didn’t see often enough in their busy
day-to-day lives. She wondered if she would end up in a
relationship where time seemed to stand still in their commitment
through the years. Could the boy of her dreams be the man of her
dreams?

“You’re not eating,” her mother noted.

Karin snapped out of her reverie and scooped
up some wild rice. “That’s because I was starting to lose my
appetite with you two carrying on like that,” she teased, knowing
it was more than that.

“Like what?” her father asked, pretending to
be clueless.

“Like two practically ageless lovebirds.”

He laughed. “Hey, don’t knock it till you’re
walking in our geriatric shoes one day, sweetheart.”

Karin giggled. “I’ll try not to.”

“And when you’re the mother of an almost
grown daughter, I’m sure you’ll be able to better appreciate trying
to hold onto your youth before it slips away for good.”

Karin could very well imagine having a
daughter someday. She even wondered what it would be like to be in
her thirties and beyond and want to turn back the hands of time
rather than move them ahead. But, for now, she was still sixteen
and just wanted to think about the present and getting the most out
of life, love, and friendships.

Greer wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin
and looked at Karin. She read his eyes and knew that it was time.
On cue, they began to sing Happy Birthday to her mother.

Josephine looked embarrassed as they went
through the first verse, skipping the how old are you part. Other
patrons looked on with amusement and some even joined in.
Afterwards, Greer gave his wife a kiss on the mouth and Karin
kissed her cheek.

“Maybe it’s not so bad growing older after
all,” her mother hinted with a smile, hugging them both.

Karin agreed. Even if she liked still being
young, there were too many things she wanted to do in life—like go
to college and travel to Africa and the Caribbean—to want to stay
sixteen forever. Not to mention grow in a loving relationship that
could only happen over time.

Her daydream ended when Karin’s cell phone
chime indicated she had a text message. She took the phone out of
her bag and saw that it was from Reese.

“Can we talk?” he texted.

Normally she would have jumped at the chance
to text or talk to Reese, but wasn’t sure this was a good time.

“Don’t let us stop you,” her mother said, as
if reading her mind, seemingly only slightly annoyed.

“I’ll keep it brief,” Karin promised, not
wanting to ruin their special family time event.

She sent Reese a text, saying: “Hi.”

A moment later the phone rang.

“Hey,” Reese said. “Thanks for responding
quickly.” He sounded tense and out of breath.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, trying to
ignore her parents, who seemed to be hanging on her every word.

“No. I think I’m in big trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”

Reese paused. “I’ve been accused of sexually
assaulting someone, but I have no idea who it is. The police
haven’t told me anything other than they’re about to arrest me.
Karin, I
really
need your Dad’s help. Please—”

Karin was nearly speechless as she tried to
process this. Who would accuse Reese of such a thing? “I’ll tell
him,” she said while wanting to know much more about what was going
on.

“Thanks,” Reese said. “I have to go.”

“Wait. Explain to me how—”

The line went dead.

Karin stared at her parents blankly, all
types of thoughts—none of them good—rolling through her mind.

“Karin...” her mother said with concern.

“What is it, honey?” asked her father.

When she recovered enough from the shock to
speak, Karin stammered, “Reese was arrested.”

“What—?” Greer’s eyes locked on hers. “Is
this a joke?”

Karin asked herself the same thing. But there
was no humor in Reese’s tone, only apprehension.

“He said someone accused him of a sexual
assault.” The words were painful for her to speak. “He asked for
your help, Daddy. And now I’m asking for it—”

She looked from one parent to the next and
Karin got a sinking feeling that this was about to get a lot worse
before it got better.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

After dropping her mother off at home, Karin
accompanied her father to the police station where Reese had been
taken. She insisted on coming, against her parents’ wishes. Reese
was still her boyfriend and she wanted to stand by him. In spite of
their differences on the subject of sex, she refused to believe
that he would sexually assault anyone. Why would someone accuse him
of such a horrible thing?

Her father echoed her thoughts. “There’s no
reason to over speculate on this until we get the facts. Maybe it
was just a misunderstanding or something. I’m sure we’ll get to the
bottom of it.”

Not soon enough, as far as she was
concerned.

At the station, Karin stayed close to her
father as he showed his credentials and seemed to get instant
respect from everyone they came into contact with.

Then a tall man with dreadlocks met them
halfway. Bulging eyes gazed at Karin, before turning to her
father.

“You must be Greer Blanch?” He spoke with a
gravelly voice that made it clear the question was rhetorical. He
looked at Karin again. “And you’re the young lady Reese has been
talking about. Karin, right?”

She nodded nervously. “Yes.”

“Are you Reese’s father?” Greer asked him,
standing man to man.

“Yeah. Albert McKenzie.” He stuck out his
hand and they shook. “Sorry we had to meet for the first time under
these circumstances.”

“So am I,” Greer said.

“They haven’t told me anything, man,” Albert
complained.

“I’ll see if I can find out exactly what’s
going on,” Karin’s father said.

That was also something Karin wanted to know
more than anything, as butterflies swirled around in her stomach at
the prospect of Reese being charged with a sexual assault.

* * *

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, honey,”
Karin’s father began, “but the person accusing Reese of sexual
assault is Lesley.”

“What—? You can’t be serious!” Karin’s gaze
locked on her father’s impassive face, disbelief and shock shooting
through her like a bolt of lightning.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to believe it either,”
he muttered.

The thought had never occurred to Karin that
her best friend would be the one to file a criminal complaint
against her boyfriend. But then, why would it?

“Who’s Lesley?” Reese’s father asked.

Greer considered the question. “Lesley
Rochester,” he said. “She’s, uh, a neighbor of ours.”

Albert McKenzie’s brow furrowed. “Well, your
neighbor is lying about my boy. Reese would never do such a
thing!”

“I’m sure you believe that, and I want to
believe it, too,” Karin’s father stressed. “But until we get all
the facts and hear Reese’s side of the story, we’ll just have to
wait.”

Karin’s head was in a fog of disbelief as she
tried to make sense of the accusation. When would this sexual
assault have occurred, if it did at all? At Jayne’s party? The last
Karin knew Lesley had been hot and heavy with Marcus. Had something
happened afterward between Lesley and Reese?

Was that why she hadn’t seen or heard from
Lesley all day? Karin wondered. Because of what had happened and
the awkward position it put Lesley in.

Then there was Reese, who had also been
strangely silent since they parted last night before his call to
say he was about to be arrested. Did he really have no knowledge
beforehand about the accusation as he indicated over the phone?

Could Reese have
actually
raped
Lesley? Karin asked herself with dread. Or was he being accused of
another form of sexual misconduct, which was no less disgusting and
unforgivable?

Karin couldn’t even begin to consider the
implications for the three of them whether this was true or not,
but knew she would have to face the two people she cared for and
try to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

Reese was released without being formally
charged, pending further investigation. He was warned by detectives
in no uncertain terms to stay away from Lesley, until the issuance
of a temporary restraining order.

Outside the station, Karin was given a few
minutes alone with Reese while their fathers talked. She barely
knew where to begin, but decided a good starting point was where
they last saw each other.

“What happened between you and Lesley last
night?” Karin asked pointblank, figuring that it had to have
occurred at the party.

Reese, looking flustered and bewildered,
responded flatly, “Absolutely nothing. All I did was give her a
ride home and that was it.”