Chloe
"Summer vacay!" Alyssa screamed as she walked into my dorm room, her hands waving in the air as she danced to a song that had to be jumping around in her head. She pranced around with a big-ass smile on her face as I finished packing everything up. I couldn’t help but chuckle under my breath at her. The girl had more energy than anyone might be expected to contain in such a small body.
"I'm not ready for summer. I'm going to miss all the tests and parties and the late night lattes," I pouted, putting on the show they all had come to expect from me.
"Well, I will too, but at least you're headed down to the beach. I gotta go work in my father's restaurant in Times Square for the summer. Ugh."
"Then why the hell are you dancing around like you have a vacation coming your way?" I pulled my long blond hair up into a messy bun and gave up on trying to remain organized. Picking up my last duffel bag, I dropped it beneath the dresser and started opening drawers and dropping crap by the armful into the waiting bag.
"Anything is better than studying and classes. I fucking hate school. If I could talk my folks out of forcing me to go, life would be perfect. I’m cute enough to find a hot sugar daddy and lay on the beach all day, right?"
“Yes, but I’m not quite sure that’s the life you want to live. Me on the other hand? I’m all about finding a hot rich guy to spread my legs for and nothing else. He better come with a cook, a butler and a maid.”
Alyssa rolled her eyes and ran her hand through her dark hair. "Speaking of cute guys who might have a chance of making it big… Is Jeremy going with you to San Diego?"
"No." I glanced over my shoulder. "We broke up awhile back. You knew that."
"I know, but I've seen you guys together off and on." She wagged her eyebrows. “I thought maybe you found some way to reconcile your differences. You know, kiss and make-up?”
"Just no. He's like ten years older than me. Why I decided it might be a good thing to try dating a non-traditional student here, I have no clue. I guess the fact that he loves politics and really gets along well with my dad." I shrugged and picked up the bag, lugging it back to my bed as I grunted dramatically.
"He's is a little creepy about your dad, like he has a man crush on him or something." She moved to the door.
"Yeah. It’s better that we ended things. I'm looking forward to hanging out with some old friends from high school and reconnecting with a few beach hotties I grew up with." I smiled and sucked my bottom lip into my mouth.
"You're so bad. Teach me your ways? No, don’t. I might get addicted." She swatted at me before pulling me into a tight hug. "Be careful and text me three hundred thousand times a day. Promise?"
"I promise." I laughed and squeezed her until she grunted.
She was new to UCLA and to our sorority, but she had made quite an impact her first semester. We had become close fast. She had extended an invitation to join her in New York, but I needed my beach and my sun for a long rest from the hectic course load I forced myself to take this last year. Impressing my father was the only way to get noticed, so impressive is what I had become, regardless of the toll it took on me.
"I'm out. Lots of love for you girlie." She walked out and I let out a long sigh, not sure about what time to leave. My father wanted to meet for dinner, but he was leaving the time up to me. I knew the minute I got into San Diego I would be bombarded with old friends. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about all of it. Being used because of my father’s status wasn’t a new thing, but it remained a pain in the ass to put up with no matter how old I was.
Growing up in the sunny beach city and being the daughter of the most-loved Senator in Cali history left me more popular than I wanted to be. I played the part well, but I was as fake as a California tan on an Alaskan cheerleader.
I heaved my last bag over my shoulder and walked down the hall to the long staircase that led to the first floor of the house. Having been the longest-standing member in the Sigma Kappa's, I got to choose my bedroom for the spring semester. I took the smallest one, simply for the fact that it had a great view of the outdoor track. All the boys in the shorty shorts would run each morning as I got ready for school. Nothing to get you in the mood to study like watching men who took care of themselves huff around in something shorter than undies.
I smiled at the thought and jogged down the final few stairs as my least favorite sister, Lizzy, opened the door.
"Who's going to have a great summer? You are! That's who." She smiled and flipped her arms around as if holding pom-poms. I had no clue why we had let a cheerleader into the Sigma's, but we did. I was the only vote against her, which should have left me feeling like an ass, but I just couldn’t muster it. Someone who was happy-happy-happy all the time was a damn lie.
"Thanks, Lizzy. Have fun." I walked out into the lazy day, the sun sitting at the far end of the sky.
It was going to be a great summer. I had absolutely nothing planned other than a week-long vacation with my father. He was going on the campaign trail and wanted me with him when he went to New Hampshire for a festival. Something about showing family values and such. It would make him look good, which would keep him busy like he had been all my life. I accepted his absence simply because there was no other option.
I walked to the bright red beamer at the far end of the parking lot and dropped my bag by the trunk, letting out a long sigh and waving at a few of the basketball guys who called out my name.
"A whole summer of just being me and no one else. No having to fake anything if I don’t want to. How fucking cool is that?" I opened the trunk and heaved the bag into the back of the car, smooshing it down on top of the other bags. I hated to pack up my whole room, but not knowing who was staying in the house for summer school, I just wasn't willing to leave my stuff laying around for anyone to take.
My phone chirped in my purse as I walked to the front of the car and got in. I started it and rolled down the windows before pressing a button on my dash to use the hand’s free device. My father would be proud, maybe. Probably not.
"Hi Dad." I pulled my sunglasses from the visor above me and turned as I backed the car out of my assigned parking spot.
"Hi pumpkin. Where are you? I'm back in town and hoped we were sharing a meal today. Is that still the case or are you standing me up like you’ve been known to do before?"
"No, Dad. I’m not standing you up.” I stifled a sigh. “I'll be in San Diego around four. Are you here in L.A. or already there?"
"I'm down in La Jolla at a beach house for a few days. Just call me when you get into town and I'll take you to dinner."
"Okay. Did your flight go okay? Nothing else happen lately, right?" I pulled the car out onto the busy side street just outside of UCLA. Students swarmed the campus as everyone prepared to leave for the summer, or mostly everyone. I couldn’t imagine staying and taking more classes. Where my father would be thrilled with the option, I was almost brain dead and needed a recharging badly.
"No, honey. I'm fine. It was just a one-off situation. Stop worrying." He chuckled and I tried to release the anxiety that seemed to be part of my new life. My father had decided to run for President, and the world went ape shit. Most of the constituents in California seemed pleased with his decision, but there were always a few crazies. Funny how they kept showing themselves in various manners. The last one had pulled a gun at an open-air concert a few weeks back, and I still had nightmares of my father bleeding out on the stage. It was a good thing I wasn’t there, though I should have been. Guilt riddled my insides as I tried to shove my thoughts aside.
The fact of the matter was that he was all I had left in the world, which wasn't saying too much.
"All right. I'm gonna let you go. I'll see you soon, Daddy."
"Okay, baby. Be careful. I have some news to share with you when we meet. I think you'll be pleased, or at least I hope you will be."
I saved my huff for after we got off the phone. His precursor to the news meant that he expected me to be pleased. He didn’t think or hope. He expected. He always had.
His surprises were never a good thing. He was single minded and his success held his attention for the entirety of my life. Anything he thought might be exciting or good usually had to do with protecting or promoting his assets, namely himself.
I cranked up the radio and let my concerns fly out the open windows of my convertible beamer. All I wanted was a Honda, but my father refused, his gifts the main means for him to show his love. He hadn't figured out in the past twenty-one years how to simply say that he loved me with words, so he felt the need to show me with tangible items.
My favorite song came on the radio and I sang at the top of my lungs, ignoring the stares and odd glances I received as I jumped on highway five and gunned it all the way back home. San Diego was my paradise and the beach was my playground. I planned on diving into lust and intoxication and not coming up for air unless I was forced to.
"Welcome to summer, Chloe. Welcome to summer."