Lesson by Her [Book 1]

Chapter 24

"I waited up for you," Dusty's mom declared as Dusty entered the trailer, the bright morning light warming her back. Kayla sat at the kitchen counter, her eyes bloodshot.

"Well, you shouldn't have bothered," Dusty retorted.

"I was worried."

"Well, I'm home now, so panic over." Dusty went to walk into her shared bedroom to change, but her mother stood up and grabbed her arm.

"You should have called me," Kayla told her.

"Mom, chill out, I'm eighteen, for God's sake." Dusty shook her mother off.

"What if something had happened to you?" Kayla cried in despair. "What if you'd been shot?" The talk of shooting made Dusty come to her senses, and she turned to her mother, her face apologetic.

"I... I honestly didn't think," she admitted. "I just got caught up in the moment." Dusty slumped down at the counter, and Kayla sat beside her, her face etched with concern.

"I know how exciting it is to meet a someone and start falling for them," she began. "But you need to keep a focus on yourself. You've got so much going for you now, Dusty. The last thing you want is someone coming along and ruining that for you."

"It's not like that, Mom."

"Just make sure you don't get too caught up in her," Kayla advised.

"Mom, I love her," Dusty admitted, startled to hear herself say the words. She'd known she felt that way for a while, but it was the first time she'd said so out loud. It made the feeling seem more real, more tangible.

"Young love can be so powerful." Kayla sighed. "But don't let yourself fall too far; it will just make things more difficult in the fall when you have to leave her to start college."

Dusty nodded, but internally she panicked. The thought of leaving Valentine to go to Princeton made her feel physically sick. She remembered all the looks Valentine attracted when they were together. If that was how others behaved when Valentine was with her girlfriend, then surely they would just be throwing themselves at her when she was alone.

And what if while Dusty was away she fell for another student? She'd come home to be with her only to have her own heart crushed. Her skin still tingled from her touch, how she had explored every inch of her body.

She'd experienced levels of euphoria in the bed of Valentine apartment that she'd never known were possible. Dusty understood why people sang and wrote about love so much. It's because it was soul shaking, core moving and wonderful. Being with Valentine had irrevocably changed Dusty.

She'd glimpsed love first hand, and she didn't want to let it go; no, she refused to let it go. If going to Princeton meant that she'd have to give up Valentine, then she wasn't sure that she could do it.

****

"I won't let you do that," Valentine told Dusty as she sat looking up at Valentine from the leather couch in her apartment.
Valentine paced upon the wooden floor, pausing only to cast exasperated looks in Dusty's direction.

The late summer sun warmed the hard floor. The past few weeks together had been magical, like some delirious dream from which Dusty didn't want to wake up. "But it's my choice," declared Dusty.

"And a terrible one. And one I can't let you make because I care about you too much." Valentine ceased pacing to look deep into Dusty's eyes, her face imploring Dusty to reconsider.

"But I want to stay here and be with you," Dusty told her. "I love you." Valentine stiffened at the word and sighed. It struck Dusty that despite her numerous usages of the four-letter word that changes everything in a relationship, Valentine hadn't once said it back to her.