Page 99 of Try Me
It was enough.
“Nowyou understand,” I said, then turned on my heel and headed back outside.
Chet was nowhere to be found. I walked the lawn, stopping briefly when someone caught my arm or asked me a question. Jesse and John were still sitting at the table where I’d left them, deep in conversation. Nate and Eric were missing, which meant that they’d either bailed early or had, more likely, snuck off somewhere on the premises and were fucking. They’d better not be in my room.
Sam was near the bar, and at first I thought he’d found a cougar, then she turned around and I recognized her as Mr. and Mrs. Fairley’s sophomore daughter, Jessica. The Fairleys ran a big church in town and were passionate advocates of abstinence. I silently wished Sam good luck with that.
I wandered inside and upstairs and found Chet standing in the middle of the hallway in front of a big arched window that looked out over the lawn. He tipped the base of his glass indicatively toward the tree line that encroached on the lawn from the left side. “That summer before freshman year of college, I used to stand out there sometimes, trying to muster up the balls to come to your window or your door. I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t see jack, of course. The blinds were always closed, but I’d see lights go on and off in your room, other places in the house. It was weirdly…compelling. Comforting, too,” he said quietly.
Chet handed his drink to me when I reached for it, and I took a swallow before handing it back and stepping behind him, resting my chin on his shoulder and turning my nose to inhale the scent of aftershave on his skin. “You come in through the front door with me from now on.” I wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled. “C’mon.”
“You going to tell me how it went with your dad?”
“In a little while.”
In my room, I shut the door behind us, and we both looked at my old bed. It seemed even tinier now. “What do you think? Want a do-over?”
Chet’s smile spread slowly. “Do I get to touch your dick this time?”
“Absolutely.” I worked open a few buttons on my shirt. “And I’ll even let you kiss me, too.”
“Now we’re talking.”
33
Chet
On our final Monday at PB&W, we had a company-wide meeting in the auditorium, during which announcements about who’d be asked to return next summer were made. Predictably, Mark made the cut, along with Liza.
The rest of us were invited to reapply next year.
As Mr. Waring pumped Mark’s hand vigorously on the podium, Mark’s smile faltered briefly before righting. No matter how many times I’d told him he deserved the win, he still struggled to reconcile it with his father’s influence.
Lena tapped me on the forearm while we all milled around with refreshments afterward. “Can I see you in my office, please?”
“Sure,” I said hesitantly and looked around for somewhere to set my cup before Mark reached out and took it. I flashed him a grateful smile. “Catch you back in the office. Try not to let Barrett suck your dick on the elevator,” I joked.
Ever since Mark’s announcement about how he liked his “beer,” Barrett’s fawning had reached unprecedented levels, which also served to bring out a fiercely possessive nature I’d tried to deny having but clearly did.
Lena closed her office door and gestured to one of the chairs in front of her desk, at which point I actually started to get a little nervous.
I sat. “Did I do something wrong?”
“You tell me. Did you?”
I racked my brain as she sat down across from me. Things had been pretty lax for the last week, the workload lighter, but had I forgotten to copy something for her? Forgotten to pull a file?
I frowned.
Then she cracked a smile. “Actually, you’ve been one of the best interns I’ve ever had. However, despite my vehement protests about the rampant nepotism in this place, old habits die hard around here. I went to bat for you and I lost, and I’m sorry for that.”
I shook my head. “It’s fine. I’m glad Mark got it. He deserves it just as much as I do.”
“You needed it more. But that’s not always the way the world works.” I made a noise of acknowledgment but didn’t know what else to say. “So while I can’t offer you anything here, I told my stepdad all about you. Showed him your essays, told him what kind of person you are, and what I think you’ll become.” Lena passed a card across the table to me. “He’s a federal judge in DC. That’s his phone number and email address. All you have to do is keep your grades up this semester, then email him after Christmas. He’ll be waiting for you.” She lifted a finger. “And just in case you’re about to say something about this being a mercy offering, it’s not. It’s recognizing someone who keeps showing up even when the cards are stacked against them.”
“Does he know about my dad? My history?”
“He knows everything.” She nodded and leaned forward. “There are plenty of people out there who know a tough break isn’t a weakness to be ashamed of, or a permanent fault, but something that forges a person stronger. You just keep doing what you’re doing right now and you’ll be fine.”