Page 31 of Just Me

“Mad? Hell no! To see my parents get it back as good as they give it was awesome.”

Dominic's eyes sparkled, “You can say that again. You're a lucky guy, Bastian.”

Bastian took his seat, but his eyes never left mine. “You don't have to tell me that, bro, I already know. Let's order, I'm starving.”

After dinner we said our goodbyes to Dominic, but not before I got his phone number. As Bastian and I headed back to Poppy's, my thoughts lingered on the disastrous encounter with his parents. Looking in Bastian's direction was impossible because I was embarrassed at how I had behaved: like a girl who had been raised by wolves. Bastian claimed that he was okay with how I had spoken to his parents, but they were his parents and I had been exceedingly rude. I heard the words coming from my mouth before I even realized I intended to say them. “I'm really sorry I spoke to your parents the way I did. They were being insufferable, but that doesn't make my behavior right.”

His knuckles brushed against my cheek. “Stop thinking about it. I would have torn into them harder if you hadn't beaten me to it. Dinner turned out to be really fun after they left, so please stop being so hard on yourself.” His eyes met mine and I saw the humor, “Aspire to more than a double-wide and six kids with different fathers.” He laughed out loud. “That was fucking priceless. I don't think I will ever forget the look on my mom's face when you said that.”

I couldn't help the grin, because as appalled as I was with my behavior, there was a small part of me that had really enjoyed provoking them. My smiled faded though when I thought of Bastian and Dominic growing up under the thumb of those people.

“How did you and your brother manage to stay so down to earth?”

“I honestly don't know.”

“I always thought being invisible was the worse way to grow up, but I think maybe being oppressed is.”

“I'm moving out; I already found an apartment,” he said.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I'm 19 and I make good money at the garage. Besides I've spent most of the past year crashing at Dom's.”

My heart ached hearing that he had spent much of the last year at his brother's because it only reinforced how bad his life at home must have been.

“What are you thinking?” He asked.

“I'm thinking I'm happy for you.”

“Maybe you could help me decorate my place?”

“I'd love to.”

We rode in silence for a bit before I asked, “I don't believe that you don't know what you want to do with your life, because you're too together for that. What is it you want to do?”

He smiled as he continued to watch the road, so I took a moment to study the beautiful lines of his profile. “See, you know me better than anyone. I want to be an architect with a focus on restoration.” He looked at me and added, “Columbia has an excellent program.”

“Did you apply?” I couldn't help my excitement at the idea of us going to Columbia together.

“Yes.”

“And?” I wanted to smack him for keeping me in suspense.

“I was accepted.”

“Are you kidding? You're seriously considering going to Columbia?”

“I already was before I even met you, but now that I know it's where you're going to be, I'm absolutely going to Columbia.”

“How will you pay for it? I can't imagine your parents will help, especially knowing that I'll be there.”

“My parents set up a trust for me when I was younger. I suspect they only did so because it was the thing to do and they are all about image. In this case, their vanity worked in my favor, because I gained access to the funds when I turned eighteen.”

I couldn't help the smile I gave him, it matched the one he was giving me.

“Why didn't you tell your parents what you want to do next year?”

“They aren't interested in knowing what will make me happy. They're only concerned about how what I do will affect them, so fuck them.”

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