“
You’re not gonna believe what just happened to me,” Jase says the minute I flip my cell open, taking advantage of break at the B&T. I turn away from the picture window just in case Mr. Lennox, disregarding the break sign, will come dashing out to slap me with my first-ever demerit.
“Try me.”
His voice lowers. “You know how I put that lock on the door of my room? Well, Dad noticed it. Apparently. So today, I’m stocking the lawn section and he comes up and asks why it’s there.”
“Uh-oh.” I catch the attention of a kid sneaking into the hot tub (there’s a strict no-one-under-sixteen policy) and shake my head sternly. He slinks away. Must be my impressive uniform.
“So I say I need privacy sometimes and sometimes you and I are hanging out and we don’t want to be interrupted ten million times.”
“Good answer.”
“Right. I think this is going to be the end of it. But then he tells me he needs me in the back room to have a ‘talk.’”
“Uh-oh again.”
Jase starts to laugh. “I follow him back and he sits me down and asks if I’m being responsible. Um. With you.”
Moving back into the shade of the bushes, I turn even further away from the possible gaze of Mr. Lennox. “Oh God.”
“I say yeah, we’ve got it handled, it’s fine. But, seriously? I can’t believe he’s asking me this. I mean, Samantha. Jesus. My parents? Hard not to know the facts of life and all in this house. So I tell him that we’re moving slowly and—”
“You told him that?” God, Jase! How am I ever going to look Mr. Garret in the eye again? Help.
“He’s my dad, Samantha. Yeah. Not that I didn’t want to exit the conversation right away, but still . . .”
“So what happened then?”
“Well, I reminded him they’d covered that really thoroughly in school, not to mention at home, and we weren’t irresponsible people.”
I close my eyes, trying to imagine having this conversation with my mother. Inconceivable. No pun intended.
“So then . . . he goes on about”—Jase’s voice drops even lower—“um . . . being considerate and um . . . mutual pleasure.”
“Oh my god! I would’ve died. What did you say?” I ask, wanting to know even while I’m completely distracted by the thought. Mutual pleasure, huh? What do I know about giving that? What if Shoplifting Lindy had tricks up her sleeve I know nothing about? It’s not like I can ask Mom. “State senator suffers heart attack during conversation with daughter.”
“I said ‘Yes sir’ a lot. And he went on and on and on and all I could think was that any minute Tim was gonna come in and hear my dad saying things like, ‘Your mom and I find that . . . blah blah blah.’”
I can’t stop laughing. “He didn’t. He did not mention your mother.”
“I know!” Jase is laughing too. “I mean . . . you know how close I am to my parents, but . . . Jesus.
”
”