consumed in darkness because I had lost so much of who I was, and I didn’t know how to get it back. I honestly don’t even remember getting to the quad. I just kind of was there. That’s it.” It was amazing how quickly the pain resurfaced as I spoke the words.
Parker was quiet for a long time and then shook his head. “I hate that guy!” He said it so fiercely that I looked up at him startled. I had never seen him angry before. He turned to look at me, deeply searching my eyes. “You know he was wrong, don’t you? You are inherently special, and no decision or action you take can change that.”
I looked back at my hands and tried to stop the tears that were filling my eyes.
“Avery, look at me,” he insisted and I complied. “He. Was. Wrong.” Parker said the words slowly and deliberately, trying to make sure I absorbed them.
I smiled and nodded, wanting so much to believe him. I wiped my eyes and took a deep breath. “No more serious questions, or I’m not playing anymore,” I threatened.
He smiled at me and squeezed my hand, “You got it.”
I was much quicker the next two stops, extra motivated not to be on the receiving end of the questions. I asked Parker what he was like in high school and how he decided on going into the military. He told me that he was the average jock who loved sports. He knew his parents would be strapped sending him to college, so he really worked hard in school and applied to every type of scholarship out there.
“I never really thought about the military, but when I saw they did medical scholarships, I went ahead and applied. My fitness abilities and test scores got me in, and the rest is history.”
The next stop was rigged, because my card said, “sour skittles” and they only had original and tropical. I tried to declare a miss-deal, but Parker refused, happily eating his Milky Way.
“Now its my turn,” he said grinning. “What were you like in high school?”
I visibly relaxed, much more comfortable answering this question than I was the earlier one. “Nothing special, really. I joined the cross country team my sophomore year and between that and school, I stayed pretty busy.”
“Any serious boyfriends?”
I looked at him with a grin. “That’s two questions.”
“Humor me.”
“No, no boyfriends. Guys really weren’t that interested in me and honestly, I was too focused on just getting out of there to mess with any of it.”
He looked at me like I was lying. “Not possible.”
I hit his leg playfully, blushing at the way he was looking at me. Parker always made me feel beautiful. He never looked at other girls and was constantly complimenting me. My bad habit of comparing my body to that of every woman I met seemed to disappear when I was with him.
“Ok, you have to answer that question too.” I said, hoping his answer was the same as mine. The idea of him caring for another girl bothered me a lot more then I wanted to let on.
“I had one girl I dated my senior year.”
“Was it serious?”
“Well, as serious as it could be in high school, I guess. We grew up together in a small town and hung in the same circles. It was easy.”
“How did it end?”
He shot me a knowing look, fully aware I was making sure it had ended. “No big event or anything. We both went off to college and mutually knew it wasn’t going to work. I still see her around town sometimes, and it’s just fine.”
It was hard for me to imagine that, because I only had one real boyfriend before Parker and everything about that relationship was heat and drama. I shot him a little smile and said, “Good.” As much as I knew it was hypocritical, I wanted Parker all to myself.
We were an hour and a half into the drive, and I was having a wonderful time. I watched Parker as he drove, singing under his breath to a tune that was on the radio. He reminded me of Issy, but without all the baggage. So comfortable with who he was that the world just seemed to fit around him. We only had two more stops before we got to his house, and I was determined to win. My next card said, “hot dog w/ ketchup,” and I easily beat him to the counter while he