Her Teen Dream by Devon Vaughn Archer Read Free Book Online Page B

you.”
    “Oh. How?”
    “Dinner.”
    She raised a brow. “You mean like McDonald’s
or Burger King?”
    He laughed. “No, I mean a real restaurant.
Just the two of us. We can talk without friends interrupting
us.”
    Karin stopped, even as her heart kept racing.
“When?”
    “How about tomorrow night...after the
game?”
    She considered playing hard to get, but
doubted that worked very well. Besides, if she gave Cheryl even an
inch, she would probably take five miles with Reese. And if not
her, then some other girl.
    “Okay,” she gave in.
    Reese smiled broadly. “Great! Gotta run.”
After separating from her, he yelled back, “I hope you were
planning to come to the game?”
    “Of course,” Karin fibbed. In fact, she had
planned to go shopping with her mother. But that would definitely
have to be postponed for something even more important.
    Karin found Lesley in the hall by her locker.
“Doing anything tomorrow night?”
    “Yeah, I’m going to the game.”
    “Well that makes two of us,” Karin said.
    Lesley cocked a brow. “Since when?”
    “Since Reese invited me out to dinner
afterwards a few minutes ago.”
    “You go, girl!” Lesley’s lips lifted at the
corners and they gave each other a high-five. “Marcus really wanted
me to come and see him play. Like I could say no.”
    “Not in a million years,” joked Karin.
    “Look who’s talking? Seems like somebody’s
really trying to get on someone’s good side. And it’s obviously
working.”
    Karin chuckled. “It’s just dinner, not a
marriage proposal!”
    “Yeah, but no guys have ever asked me out to
dinner.” Lesley pouted.
    “Maybe Marcus will,” Karin tried to give her
hope.
    “Maybe, but he doesn’t seem the type. Not
unless it’s a fast food place or something.”
    “So ask him,” Karin suggested.
    “No way,” Lesley said adamantly, then did
somewhat of an about face. “At least not till I know it’s me he
really wants to be with.”
    That was something Karin had to ask herself
about Reese. Did he really want her? Or was this just a way for him
to get under Cheryl’s skin for unresolved issues, if not as a means
to get back together.
    * * *
    “I think it’s great that you and Lesley are
going to the game,” Karin’s father told her at the dinner table
that night. “You should be there rooting for your team.”
    “I agree,” she said, now that she had a good
reason to.
    “Just so long as you’re not neglecting your
homework,” her mother warned.
    “I’m not.”
    “What time does the game end?”
    “I don’t know.” After a pause, Karin said
hesitantly, “Anyway, Reese invited me out for a bite after the
game.”
    Josephine lifted her brows. “You mean a
date?”
    “Not really,” she sought to downplay it.
“Just a meal.”
    “That’s at a restaurant , I assume?”
Greer asked.
    “Yes, Daddy. I’m not going back to his
hideaway with him, if he has one.”
    “Well, good,” he said happily.
    “Not good,” her mother begged to differ.
“That boy’s eighteen and too old for you to get involved with,
Karin.”
    “I’m not involved with him. We’re just
friends, Momma.” Karin didn’t want to make any assumptions or make
things more complicated than they had to be. “And I’m only two
years younger than Reese,” she added, feeling it was no big
deal.
    “He’s an adult and you’re a minor,
young lady,” Josephine argued. “Tell her, Greer.”
    He dabbed a napkin at his mouth. “She’s
right, Karin. I’m sure Reese is a nice boy and a fine basketball
player. But he’s still a man legally.”
    “And a high school senior who plans to go to
college and become a lawyer.” Karin glared at her mother, and then
looked pleadingly at her father.
    This seemed strike a chord with him. “Lawyer,
huh? Good choice. Always money to be made.”
    “But, for now, he’s just a student who
happens to play basketball,” she said. “I should be allowed to hang
out with my friends after the game