“Leora, now that we can expect you to be in our lives for a while." She pauses, looking me up and down again, a sneer on her face. "What are your goals? Where do you plan to attend college? What will you major in?”
I look at Ev, and he nods, giving me the okay to share and be honest.
“I would like to attend whatever college Everett attends. I don’t have any dreams of a specific one, so whichever he chooses, as long as I am accepted, I will go where he goes. As far as my major, I am undecided at the moment. I’m hoping that once I begin my classes, something will speak to me. And as far as other goals go, I don’t really have any. I just want to go to college right now.”
“No goals, no dreams, no aspirations? You don’t sound like you have put a lot of thought into your future and success, Leora,” his father says, his tone full of disgust.
“Father.” Ev sends a silent pleading look to his father, an irritation hiding under the surface but contained because of who it is directed at. Funny… Ev has never been one to hide his true feelings, but he can’t help it with his parents.
His comment fills me with shame but even more so with fury. I can’t hold my tongue.
“I haven’t been afforded the luxury to dream. I haven’t allowed myself to plan a future that each night I wasn’t sure would ever come. I did not come from a life where college was even a possibility until I put in the work to make it one, sir.” I say the last word with contempt. How fucking dare he. I have worked hard to get where I am, to survive. And he sits there in his perfect, thousand-dollar suit, eating a meal that costs more than my monthly grocery budget, and he has the balls to tell me I have no drive.
“Everyone can have goals. Doesn’t matter where you come from or who your parents are.” Ev’s mom looks at me like I’m the whore and not my mother.
Ev grabs my leg under the table and levels his parents with a look that can only be described as furious. “Okay. That is eno—”
I lay my hand on his to silence him. “My goal is singular. Survive. And that is what I have fucking done.”
I take my stupid fabric napkin from my lap and slam it onto my plate. Who eats fucking duck, anyway?
“If you’ll excuse me. I’m done here.”
I walk out and hear Ev’s chair slide out. “Leo, wait up.”
I don’t stop. I’m fuming. I have never been made to feel so low. Even through all the bullying, I have never been made to feel like I could have done more. People have always talked down to me, telling me I was nothing. I was trash. I didn’t belong. But that was the first time in my life someone has told me that I wasn’t doing enough. That all I have done to survive wasn’t enough. I should have done more. Dreamed more. Set higher goals.
Well, fuck them. Fuck their goals.
I almost make it to his truck when his warm hand grasps my elbow. He spins me around and catches me in his arms. Holding my face to his chest like he has done so many times.
“I got you.”
I take a minute to breathe him in. Letting his smell wash away all my anger.
“I’m so sorry, Ev. I just couldn’t sit there and let them tell me that what I have done with my life isn’t enough. Ijust—”
He grabs my face in his hand and looks me in the eyes. “Shhh. You don’t have to explain yourself to me. If you hadn’t walked out, I was about to. Don’t listen to them. You have done enough, more than enough, honestly. I don’t know a single person who, if put in your position, would be as amazing, kind, and gracious as you. I’m just sorry that I ever thought they would be different. If I had known—”
“Hey, it’s not your fault. Don’t apologize for hoping for the best in people. It’s one of the things I love most about you.”
He kisses me and…
I pull away, suddenly feeling very nauseous. What the heck?
Then I barf. All over his very expensive leather shoes.
“Leo, are you okay?”
He pulls my curls from my face and rubs my back, not giving a single care about his shoes.
As soon as I empty my stomach of the highly pretentious appetizer we were served, I stand and wipe my face with the back of my hand. “Yeah. I don’t know what that was. It came out of nowhere. Maybe I just worked myself up too much.”
“Come on. I’ll take you back to Mill's.”
He helps me into the truck, and my mind is racing on why I just threw up. And then my leg is shaking. Shit. I have to really pee…again.
My heart drops into my stomach.
