Becoming His Ch. 01

Lila laughed, almost snorting on Sprite. He sat back and watched her eat. When she finally finished her burger, he slid the milkshake across to her.

She eyed it suspiciously.

"What flavor?"

"Vanilla."

"Good, I like vanilla. Don't you want some too?"

"Just a sip," he said.

He leaned forward and took a sip off the straw, his eyes meeting hers as if daring her to make a move. Her cheeks burned, but she wrapped her hands around the cup, slid it closer to herself, and took a sip, her lips wrapped around the same straw he'd used. It was the middle school equivalent of kissing, but she doubted he'd remember something like that, being maybe close to two decades her senior. Still, she remembered, and that was what counted. She drank too much of the milkshake too fast, and for a moment her brain seized up, and time seemed to stand still. For those few breathless seconds she thought she was dreaming. Then the world sped up again, coming back into focus, and she was there again, sitting in a booth across from a man she barely knew.

"What exactly does a consultant do?" she asked him.

Cameron laughed.

"Holds a very nice office, consults, and makes a boatload of money for their consultation," he said. He pointed at the milkshake. "Finish that up. I'd better take you home before your mother starts worrying."

She slurped on the milkshake. She wanted to ask him many more questions, but she didn't want to seem nosy or conspicuous.

"You're very rich, aren't you," she said, emboldened all the same.

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"You've seen my car and the way I dress. What do you think?" he asked.

She looked at the tray, the paper wrapping that had contained his burger and the fries he'd wolfed down.

"Rich people don't eat like that."

"Rich people eat whatever they want, however they want," he countered. "Besides, I started from the bottom, so I'm used to this."

She finished the milkshake, processing all that he'd said. He gathered all the trash onto the tray and got up, taking it in hand. She followed him.

"You mean you're not one of those people who was born rich," she said. "Like my stepfather."

"Oh, but many people are born rich," he said, quirking an eyebrow in her direction. "Your stepfather's rich because his father was rich, but his father was born poor. I know people whose families were rich before they arrived on this continent. Not all rich people are alike, newly-minted or otherwise."

"Where did you learn to talk like that?" she asked softly.

He pushed the door open, and they stepped out into the night, the light spilling through the glass behind them.

"Harvard," he said.

Caught between giggling and gaping, she giggled.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"I'm serious," he said.

His flat tone pressed her against further comment. He opened the car door for her, and she slipped inside. The drive home was quiet, punctuated only by the evening news, which he'd picked instead of jazz. She zoned, staring out the window and watching streetlights flash by. A Harvard-educated self-made man. She'd never met anyone who stroked her romantic notions more.

He pulled up outside Robert's house in the comparative darkness of the quiet, tree-lined street and turned off the car. For a moment they sat in the dark stillness.

"Give me your phone," he said, breaking the silence. He had turned to look at her, his eyes seeming to cut through her. She, no longer emboldened, found herself too shy to hold his gaze for more than a second. "I want to give you my number."

Wordlessly, she handed her cell phone over. Inside, her heart pitter-pattered against the confines of her ribcage, picking up pace.

"Passcode?" he asked.

"Ten zero four," she said. Her tongue felt dumb in her mouth. She watched him unlock her phone and tap in his number, and for a moment she wondered how often he did this. Surely he wasn't handing his number out left and right to teenage girls. And what did it mean? Was he trying to be friendly, or was it a romantic overture?

If it was, she should have been putting him off. But she found she couldn't formulate a protest. After a moment, he handed her phone back to her and got out. This time she waited for him to let her out, expecting it. She hadn't known anyone so gentlemanly in this modern age.

Outside, they walked up to the front door together. Before either of them could knock, it swung open, and Lila's mother whisked her over the threshold.

Robert, leaning just inside, gave Cameron a wry glance.

"Well, how was she?" he asked.

"She's a natural. Just ask her about it. I think she enjoyed herself," Cameron said.

"Then it'll have to be a repeat performance, huh?" Robert slapped his coworker on the shoulder. "Kidding with you! Now you know how tough I have it. Teenagers."

"I'll see you in the office on Monday," Cameron said to Robert. Then he looked at Lila, who peered back at him from around her mother's shoulder. "Goodnight, both of you."

"Goodnight," said Lila, so quietly that she doubted he heard.

Her mother closed the door on his retreating back.

"Well, how was it, sweetie?" she asked. "You were gone a long time. He didn't let you go on roads your very first drive, did he?"

Lila shook her head.

"No, we just did circles in a parking lot. I guess it was fun. He- he's a good teacher."

"Good, good. I'm sure I can teach you the rest," her mother said. "Now up to bed with you. You need some beauty sleep this weekend before prom!"

For once, Lila didn't drag her feet up the stairs, even though it was only eight o'clock, hardly a fitting bedtime for a high school senior. In her room, she looked at herself for a long time in her mirror. She didn't think she looked very different, but she thought she could see a little bit of the afterglow of the evening on her face, a sort of permanent rosy blush hanging about her cheeks. She turned on her bedside lamp and got into a nightgown before settling into bed, where she began scrolling through the group chat she shared with her friends, checking the messages she'd missed. Emily and Claire had shared their typical teenage concerns about which shirts to buy; Claire demanded that Victoria hurry, hurry because Emily's curfew was coming; wild child Victoria scoffed at the notion of a curfew.

Lila felt, somehow, that these things were small and inconsequential in comparison to what had transpired in her life that night. To her, it felt she had been completely transported out of her humdrum daily existence and into one of the books she so loved, the Pride and Prejudices and Jane Eyres of the world. She found herself lingering on the contact Cameron had added to her phone, which listed his name and a single personal number.

After a long while of trying to talk herself out of it, she composed a brief message to him.

Hi, it's Lila. I hope you don't mind me texting. I realized I hadn't said thank you for taking me out tonight and for everything.

Her fingers hovered over the screen before making a most ill-advised, in her own opinion, final addition.

I hope we will see each other again soon.

With her heart in her mouth, she sent the message out into the blue. A second later, its status changed to delivered. Setting her phone on her nightstand, she turned out her lamp and resolved herself to go to sleep, and she was just about nodding off when a single long vibration broke the silence. With a jolt she fumbled for her phone in the darkness, and the screen lit up and burned into her eyes along with Cameron's message.

You're most welcome, Lila. I don't mind you texting at all. Speaking of seeing each other again soon, how does coffee sometime this weekend sound? Let me know. Goodnight.

***

The next day, all the high school seniors, Lila included, went to the high school for yearbook collection and slush. Most of them showed up in their pajamas.

Around ten, Lila, Emily, and Victoria walked to the square, where they headed into their favorite coffee shop and took their usual table by the window. Emily went up to the counter to place their order. Lila sat staring out at the street, her yearbook lying on the table in front of her.

Underneath the table, Victoria kicked at her foot.

"You're quiet today, kiddo."

She blinked, jerking back around.

"Yeah, I guess."

"You guess?" Victoria's blue eyes rolled to heaven. "Jesus, what am I supposed to do with friends like you. Something's up with you, girl. We've got to get it out of you. Come on, Lila! Spit it out."

"Spit what out? What have I missed?"

Emily was back, sliding onto the empty spot beside Victoria on the bench.

Victoria snickered under her breath.

"Your best friend's got a secret. Unless she's told you already?"

"Secret?" Emily's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about? What's she talking about, Lila?"

"I just -- " Lila shook her head, her fingers digging into her temples in consternation. This was far from how she'd intended to seek her friends' advice, but damn Victoria's uncanny ability to read minds. She slapped her phone down on the table. "I need to ask your opinions on something, that's all. It kind of happened last night."

"Oh, you mean last night when you totally couldn't go out with us because of family dinner," Emily said, her voice low.

"Listen, I've already said I'm sorry about that. My stepfather invited his coworker to dinner. Actually, this guy has been coming around a lot, several weeks in a row." She could feel her cheeks reddening. "Anyway, last night he -- "

"Oh, my God." Victoria's blue eyes were fixed on Lila's face. "Are you seeing this, Em? Our little ice queen has a crush on her stepdad's coworker. How precious is that?"

"Christ, Victoria, can't you let her finish?" Emily nudged Lila's shoulder. "Go on. What happened?"

"He took me out driving," Lila blurted out, her face burning. "I mean, to teach me how to drive. He asked my parents and everything, they were fine with it. I mean, I think it made my mom nervous, but it was fine. And then we went to that burger place on Main and -- "

Victoria's mouth had fallen open.

"You mean he took you out?" she asked. "Like on a date?"

"No, it wasn't like a date! I mean..." Lila wrapped her arms around herself, mortified. It hadn't been a date, had it? "No, not a date, he only took me because he thought I looked hungry."

"Well, he's got that right," said Victoria. "You always look hungry."

"The side comments aren't helping here," said Emily, glaring sideways at the blue-eyed blonde.

Their coffee arrived. Lila wrapped her fingers around her cup, letting the warmth of the liquid inside seep into her hands.

"You know, you clearly think something's up with this guy, or you wouldn't have such a hard time telling us all of this," Victoria said.

Lila swallowed. It was the first helpful comment that had been made.

"Well, he gave me his number," she said in a small voice. "And he wants to get coffee with me this weekend."

Hands and coffee cups clattered to the table, and she found two pairs of eyes fixed on her.

"Coffee? Like..." Victoria cast her gaze about the coffeeshop. "He isn't here, is he? Because if the creep is stalking you, we're about to show up at his house with my father's rifle. I really hope he isn't. You should see your face right now, you are so red."

"No, he's not stalking me! At least I don't think," Lila said. She couldn't help but look around, and thankfully there was no sign of Cameron anywhere. She squeezed her paper cup tighter. "No, I had just texted him to thank him for taking me out -- taking me driving, I mean. And he just asked if we could get coffee this weekend..."

"No. Absolutely no," Emily said. Her eyes were wide. "You haven't responded to him yet, have you?"

"No! I know it's a bad idea. I'm just going to let it hang. He'll get the hint..."

"You should block him," said Emily in a low voice.

"How old is this guy, anyway?" asked Victoria. She had whipped out her phone. "And what's his name? And do you have a crush on him?"

"I don't know, he's probably in his thirties? Definitely not forty. You're not going to Internet stalk him, are you? And it's just..." Lila's cheeks burned. "He's good looking, that's all. If you saw him, you wouldn't blame me."

"Bold statement, girl." Victoria fixed her with a blue-eyed stare. "His name. Give me his name."

"Cameron. Cameron Winthrop," Lila said.

She watched her two friends scoot closer together on the bench across from her, their eyes on Victoria's phone. She didn't know what to hope for. She knew he worked with Robert, that was a fact, but she hadn't checked the other big claim he'd made, that of a Harvard diploma. Maybe they would find some evidence to the contrary, and she could distance from him for lying and rest easy.

Emily and Victoria's expressions shifted and deepened as the search progressed. Every thirty seconds or so they whispered something to each other, but she could only catch single words above the coffeeshop music and chatter of the barista with the people lining up at the register.

Finally, Victoria glanced across the table at her.

"This guy is pretty legit, Lila," she said. She seemed much more serious, and that was saying something -- it took something to make Victoria serious. "I mean, he's a big fish. And okay, fine, I don't blame you -- we don't blame you, right, Emily? He is pretty attractive."

"Thanks," Lila said. She suddenly found herself more curious than irritated or perturbed about the Internet stalking session. "What did you find?"

"He did an interview with Fortune about a year ago. Not like a big cover piece or anything, but just a little segment. Apparently he emancipated himself from his parents when he was sixteen, did a good stint in the Air Force, went to Harvard..." Victoria raised her eyebrows at Lila. "And played the market pretty successfully afterward."

"What d'you think is pretty successfully?" Emily asked, leaning over again to look at the phone.

"I don't know. Hundreds of thousands? Millions? Billions?" Victoria gave Lila a look. "What do you think, girl? Did he drop any hints?"

Heat spread across Lila's cheeks. She thought about Cameron's car, his wristwatch, his credit card, but then also his roughness around the edges, his starting from the bottom.

"I think he's very well off," she said. "Anyway, what do you think?"

"What are you thinking?" Victoria asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She slapped her phone down on the table. "Honestly, I'm surprised you even had to bring this up to us. I'm surprised you went out with the man in the first place. That's very unlike you. There must be something about him that you like."

Lila's face burned.

"You'd understand if you met him. He's very persuasive," she said, rushing to her own defense.

"Clearly," said Emily. She rolled her brown eyes to heaven. "Jesus, Lila, get a grip and don't let him talk you into anything. I don't know what he put in your head, but there's no good reason a man like him would be interested in someone like you. Or me or Tori or anyone our age, for that matter. He's clearly trying to sleep with you! Maybe that's his thing, eighteen-year-old virgins."

"I'm not going to get coffee with him," Lila said. She stared out the window. "I already made my mind up about that. It's just that I'd like to let him down easy. He seems like a good guy. Sincere and all that."

Emily shook her head.

"Like you said, he's very persuasive. C'mon, Tori. Back me up. Tell her it's a bad idea, and she ought to block his number."

"I don't know, Em, I'm not sure the evidence is here," Victoria said. She looked at Lila. "I think you gotta go with your gut on this one, girl. Seems like your mind is made up not to get coffee with him, that's all well and good. But blocking him might be overkill. Besides, you'll probably be seeing him again. And there's nothing wrong with an older guy who wants to sleep with someone our age, at least not in my book. As long as she's ready and willing, he isn't really crossing any lines. Age of consent in this state is sixteen, anyway. He'd prey on someone younger if he were really a sleezebag."

"Jesus, Tori!" Emily turned on Victoria. "I can't believe you'd say that! Of course it's wrong for him to go after someone like Lila. It's predatory. He already dished out a favor by taking her to drive, plus he got her dinner. That sounds like grooming if you ask me."

Victoria shrugged.

"Lila isn't a child. So it isn't grooming. If I were her, I'd feel pretty disenfranchised right now. What happened to her right to make decisions as a legal adult?"

Lila stared at her friends, who continued arguing. What was this, debate club? Her head spun. She had already made up her mind to refuse Cameron's proposition, but if anything she felt more conflicted now than she had before she'd asked her friends' advice.

"I for one think you should go for it, whatever that means," Victoria announced, her voice cutting over Emily's. "I would if I were you. When are you going to get another chance to get close with a man like that? If his intentions are good, he could really help, or whatever."

"Of course you'd go for it!" Emily snapped. "Because you're a slut. Lila, don't listen to her."

"That is way over the line," Victoria said. Her expression had gone cold. She slung her bag over her shoulder and got up. "Excuse me, Emily. I think I'll show myself out."

"Oh, come on, I didn't mean it!"

"Sure you did. So you two can bask in your kissless virgin glory alone. Sorry, Lila, I know you weren't the one who called me a slut, but honestly. You hate so much about your life. Is now really the time to play it safe?"

She pushed past Emily, who had moved halfheartedly aside. A moment later, the chimes atop the door jingled as she went out onto the street. Lila looked across the table at her best friend.

"You really shouldn't have called her that," she said softly. "That wasn't fair at all."

"I know. I'm sorry. I just got heated."

"You better apologize. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up with both of you at the same time. I had a feeling you'd argue about it."

Emily gave her a long look.

"Listen, Lila, I don't want to sound like a mother hen or anything, but I just want you to be safe. You can be kind of naive, even for a... kissless virgin. I guess I should know, because I am one. Maybe Tori could handle a guy like him, that's why she says she'd go for it if she were you. I just worry you wouldn't be able to say no. You seem so flustered about him and everything."

"Well, I'm saying no to him now." Lila stared down at her phone, lying face down on the table. "I'm not going to respond. I can't think of what to say. He'll know he's crossed a line. If I see him again, and he apologizes, I'll know it's okay. Right?"

"Right," Emily said, though her tone remained guarded.

Lila took a sip of her coffee and scalded the roof of her mouth. Across the table, Emily had gone still and silent. After a moment, she reached across and caught Lila's free hand in her own and gave it a squeeze.

"Just promise me we won't lose you," she whispered. "No matter what."

"Oh, come on," Lila said. "How would you lose me? And, hey, speaking of being a kissless virgin, I have a feeling you're not going to be so kissless after prom night. James is going to shoot his shot for sure, now that he had the guts to ask you to go with him."

"Yeah, sure," Emily said, but she was blushing. They finished their coffee in companionable silence before turning their attention to the freshly printed yearbooks and counting up the number of group photos each of them was in. The absent Victoria, of course, won that competition by a long shot.