A Summer to Remember(31)
“He pulled this shit where he and Talia went off and he f*cked her then. She didn’t see or hear from him until she moved to L.A. after we graduated from Vassar and she was assigned to working on a song for their first album. He acted like nothing happened and it broke her heart. I mean…she says they are close and he does love her in his own way but every time they get together, he treats her like complete and utter crap. I just don’t want her to get hurt.”
“You’re speaking from experience?”
“Yeah…that was our sophomore year all that shit happened with the concert in Poughkeepsie and guess who accompanied Talia to the abortion clinic? Our situations weren’t the same because her parents consider him poor white trash. He grew up in Boston to a first generation Catalan mother from Barcelona and a German-Irish-Italian father.”
I paused as I walked into the bedroom to join Paul who’d dried off and had begun to dress. “When Talia’s mother hit the jackpot and married up, do you really think she would have wanted her only daughter saddled down with a baby from some rocker who, at the time, was only marginally known and had a cult following? Hell, they didn’t even have a contract at the time and there was no guarantee they would make the big time. She did what she had to do and I respected her for that.”
“Jesus, is there any girl you know that hasn’t had an abortion?”
“Savannah hasn’t if it makes you feel better. She was all about school and didn’t date much. Plus she was kind of known as a ‘tease’ in college so it’s not like she could go out with the cool guys or anything. It happens and I’m not saying we all did the right thing but it’s a reality. I don’t want you to judge Autumn, Talia and I because we had to make some very hard decisions. I’m still screwed up over mine, Autumn pretends hers didn’t happen and Talia tortures herself by these one night encounters with the prick that got her into trouble in the first place. None of us did what we did and came out unscathed. It just doesn’t happen.”
Paul pulled me into an embrace and I slipped my arms around his waist. “I wasn’t judging because frankly, I don’t have the right. I’m a guy and I can never know what it’s like for a woman in college or anywhere else who is faced with a decision that big to make. I know what yours did to you and I wish it wasn’t so prevalent—that’s all.”
I looked into his eyes before I leaned forward and kissed his lips. It was supposed to be a quick peck but he turned it into something more when he held the back of my neck with his right hand and I felt his mouth open. His tongue snaked between my lips before I opened my mouth to receive it and our passionate embrace could have led us down a road neither of us were prepared for at the moment. My stomach rumbled from hunger at the same time his did and I realized we were both starving and needed something to eat as soon as possible.
He pulled away reluctantly. “Right. Food and friends…we better go downstairs before I never let you leave this bedroom…ever.”
“Is that a promise?” I teased.
“You bet your sweet ass it is.”
Paul took my right hand into his left and we finally left the bedroom together side by side.
Chapter Eleven
Martha’s Vineyard was amazing and an absolute revelation. Although all the spots in the world where the rich and beautiful gathered had a certain feel and appeal, the roaring Atlantic ocean, the mansion and being with my friends made the experience that much more wonderful and magical.
I had to admit finally being on Paul’s arm didn’t hurt the situation one bit though it was a bit annoying to see Ashley there with my brother. They were definitely sleeping together by the way they were all lovey dovey with one another and I know it shouldn’t have bothered me but it did. I couldn’t help but feel the only reason why she was still around was because she wasn’t with Paul and wanted to prove to him she could be happy with any man and he was the one who’d lost out.
However, she didn’t know Paul at all because he had a one track mind and all he seemed to see was me. It was Thursday afternoon and still Independence Day. Most of us had been up since ten in the morning and when we weren’t sunning our asses next to the perfect pool in the back of the mansion, we were fixing drinks and goofing off with one another.
I finally separated Talia from Gerald and convinced her to walk on the beach with me.
She acquiesced, albeit reluctantly, and we enjoyed one another’s company in silence before she said, “Gerald is pretty hot, isn’t he? I mean, he’s got all this money and you would never know it because he is so down to earth and cool.”