She starts to smile and shakes her head. A second later, her smile fades. “They actually don’t know about my YouTube channel.”
“Why not?”
“I didn’t tell them.” She lets out a heavy breath. “They think anything that’s not directly related to law school or getting into law school is a waste of time. When I first started tutoring, they weren’t crazy about it. They thought it would take away from my study time to get into law school. They only dropped it when I told them that my academic advisor thought it would look good on my law school applications.”
I tug a hand through my hair, annoyed as hell. “That’s fucked up,” I mutter.
“That’s why I keep my YouTube channel a secret. I do it because I love teaching and connecting with people. It’s a break from all the law school stuff.”
“I can’t believe your parents are so strict. Everyone else’s parents would be psyched out of their minds to have a perfect kid like you.”
Her eyes sparkle when she looks up at me.
“My parents would be ecstatic if I were like you.”
“Your parents love you, Nick. They wouldn’t trade you for anything.”
She’s right. I’m grateful to have the parents that I do. They’ve always been supportive and loving, no matter what I did. Even in high school, when I got caught ditching school and sneaking out of the house, they loved me. They punished me, of course, but they never stopped caring about me and being proud of me.
“Believe me, they would have gladly traded us in high school,” I tease. “You were polite, followed the rules, and got perfect grades. I was a troublemaker who refused to do my homework and constantly drove them nuts.”
She chuckles softly. Sadness flashes in her big hazel eyes. “Your parents are so great. I’m honestly a little jealous of how sweet and supportive they are of you and Anna. You guys can do whatever you want, and they’re proud of you.”
She glances straight ahead at the darkened apartment building. “I have to follow the plan my parents laid out for me. Perfect student with perfect grades and test scores. Get into a top ten law school. Work at a prestigious law firm, just like them. They want me to follow in their footsteps.”
“Is that what you want?”
She turns back to me. For a second, she hesitates, like she’s not so sure if she should speak.
“For a long time, that’s what I wanted,” she finally says. “But now I’m not so sure.”
She says it quietly, almost like she’s afraid to admit to herself.
I give her hand another soft squeeze. With my other hand, I cup her cheek and hold her gaze.
“That’s okay,” I say gently. “It’s okay for you to want different things from your parents, Poppy. It’s okay for you to follow your own dreams.”
She nods. “I know.”
I gently run my thumb over her soft skin. Our gazes are locked together, and the air around us is thick and charged. Probably because we’re touching and there’s no reason for it. We’re not in front of anyone. We don’t need to convince anyone we’re a couple in this moment.
But I don’t care about any of that. I need to touch Poppy, to hold her, to make sure she understands that I’m here for her.
She swallows. I watch, mesmerized by the way her delicate throat moves.
“I should go,” she says.
I pull my hands away from her, even though I don’t want to. Even though I want to keep touching her and holding her and telling her how amazing she is. I want to do it until she believes it, until the look in her beautiful eyes shifts from uncertain to happy.
I get out of the car and follow her to the front of her apartment building. She stops at the door and turns to me.
“Thanks for the talk,” she says. She bites her lip, and raw want surges through me.
I want to press her against the door, run my hands all over her while I kiss her, and tell her how fucking incredible she is.
I clear my throat and plant my feet on the ground. “Anytime you need a reminder of how perfect and amazing you are, Poppy, just come to me.”
A beautiful smile blooms across her face. “I will.”
