aid. "Your mother and I drove here and convinced your advisor otherwise. You are on probation, but you will be able to work your way back up. We'll discuss it as soon as this thoughtless, careless, waste of space leaves."
"Father! You can't talk to Owen that way," I protested.
"No, it’s okay, Quinn. I understand. Your father needs someone to blame and it should be me," Owen said. "Better me than Sienna or you or anyone else. Listen to them, don't lose what you have here before you know what you want."
His words hurt, but I still followed him to the door and grabbed his hand. He squeezed mine before pulling free. "See you around."
"I'm sorry, Owen. This is horrible," I said. I stood frozen as he winked at me and left the room. Then my anger boiled to the surface. "How dare you blame Owen. You know he was never anything but wonderful to Sienna and to me."
"There is no you and Owen, Quinn," my mother said. "That is a ridiculous and terrible thought. You need to get yourself together."
"And that is why we waited to talk to you," my father said. "Because you are now on probation, and because we pay a large part of your tuition, you will be coming home every weekend so we can ensure you are studying."
"I'm not a child," I said.
"Then stop acting that way and get serious about your career," my father said.
They left before I could even begin to explain the ideas I had for my own life or my own career. Under the harsh fluorescent lights of my dorm room, it seemed like I only had one choice, and it had been made for me.
#
"The problem is that I really did love nursing when I started," I said. "It’s just that it was always overshadowed by Sienna, and then it didn't seem like my choice. And, well, the rest kind of unraveled by itself."
Darla sat on my bed and nodded. "You're good at nursing. I know you'd make a spectacular nurse, but who says that's a good reason for staying in a profession? It’s better to be having these thoughts now than three, four years out of school. Rent, car payments, bills, it could get real ugly, then trying to drop a good nursing paycheck and reach for your dreams."
"What dreams? What if I'm just escaping and the whole gamer world is the easiest path?"
"Easy? I die like 15 times every time I try to play. If you've survived this long, won a tournament, then maybe you should keep going," Darla said. "What I can't believe is that you agreed to go home weekends."
"Well, they never said I'd be under house arrest. They just want to see that I'm keeping up with my studying," I said.
"So, you're really going home to be closer to Owen. Now that, I get."
"Yeah, I'll let you know if it works," I said.
I managed to stay hopeful the entire drive, but as soon as I pulled into Summerlin, I started to worry. Not once had my parents asked if nursing was something I actually wanted to pursue. That was not even an issue to them. I knew as soon as I set foot in their house, I was in danger of becoming the unseen daughter again.
My worry multiplied when I saw a strange car in the driveway. My first night home and my parents had houseguests. So, instead of finishing all my studying that night, proofing it in the morning, and being free to see Owen, I would be stuck playing the dutiful daughter for their friends.
"Hello?" I called in the foyer.
"There you are, baby. Took you long enough."
I reeled back against the door and wondered what nightmare I had walked into. Trent strolled down the hallway with both hands out.
He pried my fingers from the door handle and kissed my cheek. "Your father invited me. Your advisor told him we were dating and he thought it would be a nice surprise before you studied all weekend."
"But that's not your car in the driveway," I said.
Trent pulled me along to the front parlor. "No, that's Nicky's car. I promised him a night in Vegas if he came to family dinner."
Nicky sat across from my father, who was bravely ignoring his see-through mesh shirt. "Trent brought a friend," was all my father said.
"No, no, no, not a friend. Nicky's more of a boy toy," Trent said. "We surprised your father. He was hoping I would come and keep your mind off a certain someone. Turns out I'm not the only one that disapproves of Owen Redd."
"The gamer?" Nicky asked. "Oooh, I do like that magazine cover shot of him."
Trent slapped Nicky's leg. "He's the one I caught with his tongue down my girlfriend's throat."