Her Teen Dream by Devon Vaughn Archer Page A

it. I was lucky that I got a good look at the
basket and was able to put the ball in.”
    “Your ‘luck’ turned out to be their loss,”
she uttered lightly.
    “Yeah, guess so.” After a moment or two of
awkwardness, he asked, “So are you ready to go get some grub?”
    “I’ve been ready,” she answered, knowing that
this was another dream come true.
     

CHAPTER TEN
     
    Reese drove a black BMW. Karin was impressed.
She wondered if it was his or if he had borrowed it from his
parents. Not that it mattered. She was just happy to be with him.
He played an Usher song on his iPhone.
    “Got these wheels for my seventeenth
birthday,” he said, as if reading her mind. “I think it was my old
man’s way of buying the affection he was never there to give. And
you know what? I’ll take it. I understand he had to do what he had
to do for my mother and me. I’m cool with that.”
    Was he really? Karin wondered, trying
to play armchair psychologist. Or does he have some underlying
resentment?
    “Are you and your father close?” Reese asked
from behind the wheel.
    “Probably closer than me and my mother,” she
answered truthfully. “But not close enough that I can expect him to
buy me a BMW anytime soon.”
    Reese laughed. “Yeah, I heard that. Well, you
can borrow mine sometime if you ever need to.”
    “Really?” Karin couldn’t believe her
ears.
    “Yeah.” He looked over at her. “You do drive,
don’t you?”
    “Not as much as I’d like to. But I got my
driver’s license last summer,” she said proudly.
    “Great! And I’m serious about the car,” he
reiterated.
    Karin smiled. “I’ll remember.” How could she
forget? No guy had ever offered to let her drive his car. Most guys
were more protective of their precious cars than they were of their
girlfriends. Reese was obviously different. She suspected Cheryl
Green had driven his BMW on more than one occasion, which made her
want to drive it even more.
    “Where are we going?” she asked, noting that
they seemed to be leaving the neighborhood.
    Reese gave her a mysterious look. “You’ll
see.”
    * * *
    They ended up at a restaurant called The
Great Steak Place. It was just blocks from downtown Crestview,
where Karin rarely ventured. They were shown to a booth and sat
across from each other.
    “You come here a lot?” Karin asked after they
ordered. What she really wanted to ask was: Have you come here a
lot with other girls?
    “Not really,” Reese said coolly. “My old man
used to have an office across the street. He would meet my Mom and
me here for a quick lunch or dinner sometimes, before going back to
work.”
    “What does your Dad do for a living?”
    “He’s an advertising executive. Probably not
as interesting as practicing law, but he started at the bottom and
is now at or near the top.”
    Karin sensed some pride there and perhaps a
measuring stick by which Reese could one day gauge his future
success.
    “Does your mother work?” she asked.
    “Only on her hair, house, and plants, but not
necessarily in that order,” he said.
    Karin laughed. “Sounds like my mother. Except
she’s also a part-time Pilates instructor after a friend introduced
her to it.”
    “That’s cool. Maybe I can get my Mom to give
it a try. She belongs to a health club, but never goes. Don’t ask
me why.”
    “I think that would be great if she tried
Pilates,” Karin said. “Some people are intimidated by it, but it
really works to tone and shape your body.”
    He regarded her with interest. “Spoken like a
true expert on the subject.”
    “More like the daughter of an expert.”
    Their food arrived and Karin still couldn’t
believe she was actually having dinner at a nice restaurant with
Reese McKenzie. Maybe heaven really did begin on earth.
    “So, do you plan to go to college?” Reese
asked, slicing into his steak. “I never did get my answer to that
the other night.”
    “Yeah, but I’m not sure where though.” Maybe I’ll go wherever