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“Still, once I can move again, maybe you can ride my face.”
“I haven’t done that before,” she admitted, sounding intrigued.
“Hold on a second,” I said as something occurred to me. “How did you know where I live?”
She lifted her head to watch my reaction. “I went to see you at your work and convinced your father to give me your address.”
“Pops gave you my address?” I asked in shock. “The old man’s really getting soft now that he’s in love.”
“He’s in love?”
I told Blair the story about finding Elana and Pops in the middle of having sex. I hadn’t seen his girlfriend again since that morning, but my father was bugging me to set a time for the three of us to go out to dinner so we could get to know each other better. I’d begged off, not because I didn’t want to go, but because I’d been too upset about what happened with Blair to think about being social.
“Well, he did threaten to end me if I hurt you, if that makes you feel any better,” she told me after I’d updated her on my father’s new relationship. “And I’m glad to go with you when you have the get-to-know-you dinner if that helps.”
“Looks like Pops and I are both in relationships now,” I said. “That’s never happened before.”
“I hope he’ll like me,” she said softly.
I gave her a squeeze. “Pops is going to love you as much as I do.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Epilogue – Blair
One year later…
“How many times can one person fail a driving test?” I grumbled. “Sixteen year old kids can do this, why can’t I?”
The frustrating thing was that I did perfectly fine driving with Jenny, but whenever the tester from the Department of Licensing got into the car I got so nervous that I did crazy things like run over curbs and slam on the brakes for no reason. I’d kept renewing my learner’s permit in the hope that I’d eventually calm down enough to pass the behind the wheel test.
I’d failed so many times it was basically a running joke between us. That was one thing about Jenny, she knew how to find humor in setbacks. And given all that I’d accomplished on my own this year, if this was my worst problem I was probably doing okay.
“Maybe you just like someone driving you around,” Jenny teased. “Like the princess you are.”
I didn’t mind it, to be honest. I also didn’t mind walking. I walked almost everywhere these days, and found I really liked it. Not only was it good exercise, but it gave me ample time to think about whatever was on my mind.
“I have a surprise for you,” Jenny said as we got back to her car.
I shook my head. “Nope, you can’t give me the surprise after I failed my test again.”
“It’s not for the test, it’s for the one-year anniversary of the day we met.”
“Is that today?” I asked, looking at the date on my watch. “Oh yeah, I guess it is. I’m a sucky girlfriend, aren’t I?”
“You do okay,” Jenny said, giving my shoulder a squeeze. “You remembered my birthday. And I guess we could say our official anniversary is when we started dating, but I wanted to commemorate the day you dove into my backseat and learned about Frappuccinos.”
“And puked on the side of the road, don’t forget that part,” I laughed.
The last year had been a good one. Jenny and I were still very happily dating, and we were planning to move in together when my lease was up next month. She had another four months on hers, so I’d move in there, but only for a while. We were actively searching for a house to buy together. And despite the fact that I could buy any house I wanted outright, Jenny was insisting that we split the cost so we both had equity.
My relationship with my parents was still strained. We exchanged a few texts here and there, but I hadn’t seen them in person since the day I moved out after returning from Chicago. I suspected that they were waiting for me to apologize to them for not appreciating their protectiveness or something, but they’d have to keep waiting for that. The longer I lived a regular life, the more I understood that their paranoia was also a kind of control which wasn’t healthy.
I’d gotten close with Pops and Elana though. They’d tied the knot on Valentine’s Day, with Jenny standing up for Pops as the best woman. Jenny and I regularly hung out with them for dinner, to watch sports, or to participate in game nights. They’d even got me to start watching football, insisting that I needed to be a Seahawks fan. I pretended to hate it, but I actually was into it now.
“Here you go,” Jenny said, handing me an envelope. “Open it.”
