"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 fifteen 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 house guests. 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."
"Ex-girlfriend," I said. My father was fast becoming an awful shade of purple, but I decided to go with his “honesty is the best policy” course of action. "I broke up with Trent because I caught him having sex with another man. Owen kissed me in a ridiculous ploy to make Trent jealous. It was childish, but that was it."
"He also almost knocked my head off my shoulders," Trent said.
For a moment, it looked as if my father might applaud Owen's efforts. "You should have been honest with me on the phone, Trent. I do not appreciate you coming here to cause a scene. Now, if you'll please excuse us, I believe it would be better for you to go before my wife-"
"Sorry I'm late to the party. Just a few finishing touches," my mother said. She swept into the room in a flowing black dress with a coral red necklace. She often overdressed for dinner, especially when she thought her daughters were entertaining young men.
"Turns out I made a mistake," my father caught her in the door. "Quinn broke up with him and now Trent is here with his new boyfriend."
"Boy toy," Trent corrected him.
"Honestly, Quinn, you can't stick with anything these days, can you?" my mother asked. She peered over my father's shoulder at Trent and Nicky. "Well, boys, the least you could do is pour us all some of that wine."
She took the glass Trent gave her and, in front of everyone, popped two pills into her mouth before her first sip.
Both my parents gave me angry and accusing looks. The room was painfully quiet, as if they expected me to be the one to buoy up the conversation. I pressed my fingernails into my palms and tried not to scream at everyone. How was this supposed to be helping me get back on track? What kind of track was this?
I caught a wicked gleam in Trent's eye before he launched into the raunchy story of how he and Nicky met. My mother pounded her glass of wine and Nicky poured her another before my father could intervene. The entire night was coming apart before my eyes and then the doorbell rang.
"Hi, I heard you were home. Maybe we can grab some Chinese food before you crack down on studying?"
"Oh my God, Owen," I said. "You could not have come at a worse time. Please, just turn around and run."
Owen laughed. "There is no way I'm leaving now. Whose car is that?"
I pressed my forehead with both hands. "Seriously. I am so glad to see you. I didn't think I would after my dorm room and all that. But I'm telling you that you do not want to be here now."
"I'm not letting your father's misplaced anger keep me from seeing you," Owen said.
He dropped a kiss on the top of my head and strode past me to the front parlor.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Owen
I was ready to face Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, but I was not ready for the other dinner guests. Trent met me in the doorway with a glass of wine. I almost wiped the cheeky smile off his face with my fist. Mrs. Thomas' white carpet was the only thing that saved him.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" I asked Trent.
His smile slipped a little but he brightened with malice when Quinn joined us. "I'm Quinn's boyfriend."
"Ex-boyfriend," she said.
I handed her the wine that Trent had given me. "The cheater," I said. "Little late to be kissing up to the family, don't you think?"