Page 19

Back in Highschool: Madison

“Hey, Earth to Madison?”

Coming to the Echeveria mansion is always a whole other experience.

I’m permanently rendered tiny and insignificant by the elegant decors and the sumptuous upholstery, the lavish handcrafted wallpapers and the gold-embroidered curtains.

Every inch of this place screams of good taste and ridiculous luxury—the kind of stuff I could never afford, not even if I become the world’s leading anthropologist. We don’t study humanity to become financially rich, anyway.

“Yeah, sorry,” I tell Rhue after virtually blacking out on him for a good minute.

This is our umpteenth session together. I’ve lost track, but that’s mostly because I’m no longer myself when I’m with him.

Rhue brings out a new and surprisingly vibrant side of me, this cool and bold Madison who always has a smart comeback for the youngest heartthrob of Rochester.

However, there are moments when I’m listening to him talk about a particular subject, and I find myself spacing out, entranced by his sharp eloquence and the discrete dimple that forms whenever he smiles.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“Nothing,” I reply, offering an apologetic nod. “It’s my head that’s a mess. I mean, I have a lot on my mind these days, and it’s not getting any easier, either.”

We’ve been working on ancient histories of the Middle East this week, but he knows that’s not what I’m talking about. “Ah. You haven’t decided what college to apply to, huh?” Rhue chuckles. “Welcome to my world, then.”

“I thought you were hellbent on Harvard?”

He shakes his head. “I’ve given it some thought, and honestly, I don’t know. If I strictly follow the hockey criteria, I might miss out on some academic perks.”

“I think I may have rubbed off on you a little,” I reply with a giggle.

I’m the one who insisted that he shouldn’t let the quality of a college’s hockey team be the only defining factor behind his choice.

I am impressed that he decided to listen to me.

Rhue is not the kind of man to easily go along with advice from other people.

He’s the poster child of skepticism, actually.

He takes everything with a grain of salt, unless there’s a scientific community consensus to help guide him in the right direction.

And to think his mother is political royalty, while his father is a self-made billionaire who likes pulling arms in Congress.

Rhue is the apple that fell about two continents away from the tree.

Nevertheless, his last name still keeps me on edge.

It’s hard to ignore it. It’s hard not to think of Julian Echeveria and his aggressive politics when I look at his son.

“Nah, but seriously, what’s going on?” he asks again, unwilling to ignore my blanking out moment. My cheeks burn with shame. I’ve been nothing but cool beans around this guy, but now he’s starting to see the chinks in my armor. “You seem worried. Is it really just this college stuff?”

I nod once, though I’m lying. “I can’t take another gap year and at this rate I’m afraid I’ll never make up my mind.”

“You’ve got time until April, though.”

“What if I fail to make my choice before then?”

Rhue shrugs. “Then you take another gap year.”

“You forgot the part where I told you I can’t do that.”

He laughs. “No, think about it. Let’s be completely honest about the idea of a superior education, to begin with. You said it yourself once that we’re nowhere near mature enough in our late teens and early twenties to fully appreciate and digest a proper college education.”

“Ah, I see you’re a quick study. Using my own words against me, huh?”

“You weren’t lying, were you?” He shoots the words back with a sly grin.

No wonder all the girls love him unconditionally.

One smile and poof. He’s got you. Hook, line, and sinker.

I shake my head in response. “So, then, what’s the harm in practicing what you preach?

You also said college should only be open to people over 25, and that we should spend the period between high school and college working different service industry or any other kind of jobs that only require a high school degree. ”

“To gain life experience, yes,” I reply, conceding to my own point. “Because going to college now would mean at least 70% of an education wasted. We’re way too hormonal and emotionally green to fully comprehend the choice of a career now. Yeah.”

“Given the lengthened lifespan that we’ve been able to enjoy since the early 20 th century, at least,” Rhue adds.

“And I agree. Personally, I’d take a job at a bar or somewhere if I didn’t have hockey.

Were it not for my athletic endeavors, I’d probably follow your lead and take at least one gap year. ”

“Yeah, the whole practice what you preach thing is not the reason I imagine myself getting kicked out and completely banned from your house,” I say, trying not to laugh. “Your parents would kill me if you don’t go to school next fall.”

He stills, a shadow fluttering across his face. His eyebrows pull into a slight frown as he carefully considers my expression. “You don’t want these sessions to end, huh?”

“You’re one of my more lucrative gigs,” I reply, though my skin feels like it’s on fire.

I’m getting too much of his attention now and I don’t know how to cope.

He usually saves that smoldering glare for Sarah and the likes.

I feel uneasy. Like I’m an imposter of sorts. “I’d be an idiot to want this to end.”

Rhue leans closer, though there is still the massive ebony desk keeping us apart. My throat is parched, suddenly ablaze by that darkening look in his eyes. “Is that all I am to you, Madison? A job that pays well?”

“Maybe,” I reply, trying to minimize the seriousness of this moment between us.

Half the seniors at his school would kill their own siblings to date Rhue Echeveria. Then again, half the seniors at his school are just a brush over eighteen and too dumb for their own good.

Slowly, Rhue gets up from his father’s seat.

Something is coming. I know what it is, and it’s headed my way.

He’s got that look in his eyes; the hunger I see in myself whenever I think of him.

He moves slowly, like a panther prowling, following his prey.

My heart shrinks and struggles. It’s the size of a pea, now, my chest tightening and throbbing with every rapid beat. Dum. Dum. Dum.

“You’ll have to forgive me, Madison, but I find it hard to believe that the only reason we’re meeting here twice a week is solely for the purpose of my academic development,” he says, now moving around the desk in a bid to get closer to me.

Every cubic inch of space that vanishes between us adds a drop of sweat to my temple.

I’ve been fantasizing about those lips for weeks, now. “There has to be more to us than that.”

He’s too close. Towering before me, while I shrink in the armchair, my fingertips slick with sweat against the leather upholstery.

I try to think of a way to get myself away and in a better, more neutral position, but my own brain conspires against me.

I am muted and paralyzed as he leans in and tucks a lock of hair behind my ear.

The touch alone is electrifying, making me quiver in response.

Rhue smiles. He knows exactly what he’s doing.

. I should cut this off before we get too far, but the fire burning densely inside me demands that I allow it to consume me. For that, however, I would need Rhue for kindling. He wouldn’t say no, judging by that hungry look in his eyes.

“What’s the matter, Madison?” he asks, his lips now barely an inch from mine. I was a fool to rely on the desk. It does nothing when Rhue is determined to get what he wants. “Cat got your tongue?”

There are so many ways in which this could go wrong.

Rhue is about to kiss me. I can see the lust twinkling in his darkened gaze.

Lips slowly parting. The tip of a pink tongue that I would like nothing more than to feel on my skin.

My loins tremble with delight at the thought of the many ways in which this could go wrong.

Only a breath is left between us, and I’m holding mine, fingers digging desperately into the armrests.

Then his last name pops into my head. All the deliciously wrong ways in which our bodies and souls might intertwine pale away into vapid nothingness as I realize the implication of any kind of physical relationship between Rhue and me.

“This is a bad idea,” I hear myself whisper.

“It doesn’t feel that way to me,” Rhue breathes, and I feel the heat caressing my lips.

When he kisses me, my entire world spins upside down. But who knew upside down could feel so right?