Chapter Nine

As soon as my mom said she wanted to speak to me in private, my mind began reeling. What on Earth did she want to talk to me about? Whatever it was, it could not have been good. I mean, otherwise, she would have had her say right there in the TV room, but she wanted to talk to me alone in my room instead, which could only mean one thing: She wanted to ask me if Jesse and I were sleeping together. That was the only possibility my poor tired brain could conjure up, and it was logical to me that she'd ask that. I had, after all, spent the night at my boyfriend's place, and he and I had been dating for over two years. Everyone I knew (except Father Dom and Jesse himself) wouldn't have thought twice about the possibility of me sleeping with Jesse, unless they knew him well enough to know that he'd never deflower me before he married me, and I'd thought my mom had known him well enough to know that I was not sleeping with him. So why was she asking now?

I had to quickly think of a lie to protect myself. I mean, what girl wants to discuss her sex life (or in my case, lack thereof) with her mother? I mean, I am nineteen. I can fully get my own birth control pills without my mother's knowledge or permission. Also, who wants to discuss her boyfriend's naked body with her mother? No one, especially if the said mother has been spotted giving the said boyfriend the old hairy eyeball during Sunday dinner.

As fate would have it, I was at a total loss for a good lie to cover up for what Jesse and I had been doing. I mean, the truth, which was that we were only watching movies (okay, so there was a little bit of making out. Sue me. Or one second thought, don't), wouldn't sound very convincing, even though it was the truth.

We climbed up the stairs to my room, and we went inside. Mom shut the door after her. Whatever it was she was going to say, she did not want our discussion to be overheard by anyone else in the family.

"Mom, you know Jesse and I totally aren't " I started to say, but Mom cut me off.

"I know you aren't. He's too polite. That isn't what I was going to talk to you about," she said.

I sighed in relief. It wasn't? Oh, no. It must have been worse. I mean, why else would she have shut my door like that?

"Susie! You are never going to believe this. Earlier today at the station, I pulled a story from my notes, and you were on it! Susie, your purse won the contest your professor entered it into, and it's been sold to Le Sportsac. It's going to be called 'Suze Simon for Le Sportsac.' Isn't that wonderful, Suze? You're going to be a big success! Remember how successful Gwen Stefani's bag was? Oh, I'm so proud of you, Susie!"

"Really, Mom? You're serious?" I was suddenly very happy. I mean, it's not every day that a girl's fashion design class assignment gets sold to a famous bag company.

Not to mention the fact that I was going to receive payment for the bag's design, and for its sales once it was made and sold.

"Yes, really. And one more thing " Uh oh. That didn't sound so good. " Gina called and asked if she could fly out and stay for the summer. I told her she could, so Gina will be here next month in June," Mom said.

"Really? Oh, Mom. Thank you!" I hugged my mom. Gosh, I hadn't seen Gina in a long time. I wonder how she'd look, and whether she'd have a boyfriend. She and I had only sent a few letters, but the letters were starting to grow few and far between, which was partly my fault because I was so stuck on Jesse. And, you know, college is not exactly what I'd call fun. It makes high school look like a trip to the beach, which my high school career most certainly was not.

Since I'd enrolled in The Art Institute of California in San Francisco and Jesse had enrolled at University of Northern California, we'd both been all school, school, school, and then, finally each other. I'd had so little time for much else. Even my shopping had suffered a little: I no longer begged my mom to take me to the outlets and let me have an all-day shop-till-I-drop-and-pop-Jimmy-Choo-one-in-the-face day. First of all, I have my own car now, so my mom didn't need to drive me, and, again, I didn't really have time to go all the way to the outlets. I had to stick close to Carmel and San Francisco for shopping purposes.

Mom eventually left, and I started on making the designs for my next assignment. Then the phone rang.

"Oh my God, Suze! I can't believe you won it!" CeeCee shrieked into the phone and into my ear.

"Hey, Cee," I said.

"I mean, Suze, you stitched your own skirt to the cloth when you were taking Basic Sewing Techniques in Fashion 210, which everyone is still trying to figure out how you did that, by the way. How did you ever manage to make a bag, and how did it win?"

"Ugh. Thanks for reminding me about that, Cee," I said, remembering that day in the first semester when I had actually done what she'd said and stitched my skirt to the scrap piece of cloth we'd been told to sew a button onto. Professor Simmons was always happy to point out that little incident every chance she got in her Fashion 230 class, Pattern Making, which I was also enrolled in. She'd always say things like, "Now, Suze, be sure not to cut the patter out of you jeans instead of you pattern-making paper." I don't think she liked me much, but that might have had something to do with the fact that she was forty and unmarried, and Jesse had sent flowers to me at the school during her class on my nineteenth birthday. She had not been very happy about this, and it only got worse after she met Jesse.

"Yeah. Sorry. Anyway, I can't believe it! Suze! You're going to be great."

"Thanks. How's Journalism going, Cee?"

"Oh it's great. I have to do an internship this summer. I'm interning at The Los Angeles Times in July. I have to keep a log of everything I do while I'm there and everything. I don't know how I'm supposed to do all this and manage a long-distance relationship with Adam." She sighed. "I haven't actually seen him in forever, same as you. Gosh. But I'm coming home to Carmel next month, and so is Adam, and you'll be there, right?"

"Yeah."

"So it'll be just like old times!" CeeCee said.

"Yep."

"Can't wait to see you guys. Well, I have to go. My roommate wants to use the phone, and she makes Kelly Prescott look nice."

I laughed. "See you next month, Cee."

"Bye, Suze."

I finished up my design and looked at it with some pride. I had really come a long way since I'd stitched myself to the scrap piece of cloth, which had completely ruined my best Betsey Johnson skirt (that really made me mad). Maybe someday I would be great.

I took a shower and got ready for bed. I set my alarm clock and clapped out the lights.

I'd have a long drive to San Francisco and back, but it would be worth it on graduation day.