“You.” Dad wags his finger an inch away from my face. “You’re grounded young lady.” There’s an adamant tone to his voice.
“Dad!” I protest. “You can be serious! Vacation is over tomorrow!” I don’t want to spend the last day of vacation cooped up in the beach house. I face mom. “Mom, can’t you do something?”
Mom gives Dad a soft look. “Hun, if you’re going to punish her, which I completely agree with by the way, I think you should start it as soon as we get home. It’s vacation and honestly, I don’t want to spend my last night babysitting my college bound daughter.”
Dad seems to be thinking over mom’s solution. “Fine.” He points a finger at me again. “But the second we get back Robin Sue, you can kiss the rest of your summer goodbye.” Then dad stalks ahead wandering back to the house by himself while Mom, Whit and I stagger behind.
“I can’t believe him,” I say, letting out a frustrated sigh. “He’s completely overreacting.”
Mom smiles and pats my shoulder. “Give him a break, honey. His only daughter just spent the night on the beach with a guy, is going off to college in the fall, and is pretty much a grown up. I think he’s having a hard time handling it all. On top of that, you never came home last night.”
“I swear Mom; I didn’t even realize I fell asleep.” Of course I didn’t I was way too busy locking lips with Elliot Robertson. I glance between Mom and Whit. “I’m sorry I worried you guys.”
Mom wraps an arm around my shoulder and holds me close. “We forgive you, sweetheart. After all, that’s what growing up is all about. You make mistakes, reckless decisions, and have momentary lapses of judgment. But what’s important is that you learn from all that.”
“Consider this a lesson learned.”
Mom kisses the top of my head. “Good.”
At the house, dad isn’t around and mom leaves me and Whit alone to go off and find him.
In our room, I plop down on the bed and Whit sits down next to me, pulling her legs into an Indian style position. “I hope you’re prepared to give me all of the juicy deets.”
I laugh. “The deets, eh?”
“Yes,” she says, “Spill it sister.”
First I tell Whit about my talk with Sadie and how we’ve made peace. Then I tell her that maybe we should invite her to the town fair with us. Whit scowls and I explain that I made assumptions about Sadie and that she really isn’t all that bad. And Whit reluctantly agrees that we should invite her since this is technically our last day of vacation and it would be a nice thing to do. Then I tell Whit about my night with Elliot, about our deep conversation, us making out for half of the night, and finally me falling asleep in his arms.
After I finish I fall back on the bed and Whit lies down next to me. “But I thought you didn’t like Elliot like that.” Whit rolls over onto her side and faces me.
“Did I say that?” I don’t remember saying that.
“I guess I assumed that you didn’t like him like that.”
“You assumed wrong, my friend.”
“What about Drake?”
“That’s over.”
Whit shakes her head and eyes me suspiciously.
I look at her. “What?” She doesn’t say anything and I know the look on her face is her I-don’t-believe-you-look.
“You mean to tell me you’re completely over Drake. Just like that.”
“No. Not just like that.” I roll over and face her, propping my head up in my hand. “I can’t trust, Drake. And I don’t think I’ll be able to ever again. We wouldn’t last and besides even if he was lying when he told me he didn’t like me like that. He doesn’t want a relationship with anyone. He wants to be free to do what he wants.”
Whit shrugs and lies flat on her back. “If you say so.”
“Why do I feel like you mean something else when you say that?”
Whit quirks me a grin. “Maybe because I do.”
“Please enlighten me then, Whitney Ralston. What exactly do you mean? And please don’t tell me you’ve had this miraculous epiphany and now you think I should give the whole Drake thing another shot.”
Whit rolls her eyes. “God, no. That’s not what I mean at all. What I mean is that I think you think you’re over him, but you’re not. Robin, you spent years pining over this guy. And just last week you told me you thought you loved him. I think it’s going to take a lot more than just a few mind-blowing kisses with his brother to make you really forget about him.” Whit sighs, staring up at the ceiling. “I know you wouldn’t admit to this in front of your parents, but you know you can tell me the truth. Did you really sleep with Elliot?”