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"Want to expound?"

She turns in the seat and looks atin her bourbon colored eyes that are now filled with acerbicin her eyes when I should be looking at the road Her next question jolts me back to reality

"Have you ever been under someone's complete control?"

"Sure," I answer easily enough "The Marine Corps I did what they told me to do, no questions asked"

She's silent because I know I make it sound so effortless and I don't want her to think that is the way of all things So I clarifyin and I accepted it"

"Well, I don't accept it and that's what pisses my mother off"

"So, the little girl is rebelling? Nice!" I'oes over like a ton of bricks

"I' to live my life with freedom I'm an adult"

The air is heavy with tension and I feel bad that I ht of what is apparently a very touchy subject for Es, and the fact I feel badly about it is a new emotion for s, so they'll back off and leavefor a way to ht

"I' to tease you and apparently, I suck at it So tell me what you want that is so different than your parents' aspirations"

She takes a deep breath "My father is Alex Burnhamdo you know him?"

I whistle throughthe White House"

"Well, when you come from an affluent and political family like mine, you tend to have all of your choices taken away"

I glance over at her skeptically Surely, she's exaggerating just a bit "All of your choices?"

"Most of theo to the bathroo down on me

"Give me examples," I prompt her "So I can understand"

I want to see just how bad she really has it Because it must be so terrible to co And yes, that's the sarcastic Nix Caldwell surfacing for an appearance

E her pitch to me "Okay Let's seewell, I am told what to wear, who to socialize with, how to talk, how to act, what friends to have, what degree I can get, and how et fat and look terrible on camera"

"Is that it?" Which, okay, that's really pretty bad now that I think about it

"No One of the worst things isto push an ex-boyfriend at est can contributors"

"The stalker?"

"The one and only And they could care less that he is violent As long as I don't rock the money boat"

"What the fuck?" I exclaim loudly "He was violent with you?"

She nods "Just once, but I broke it off with him immediately"

I'm bloay "And you're parents still want you to see him?"

"Well," she hedges "They don't exactly knohat he did to me I just told them that it ended badly I don't exactly have the type of relationship with my parents where I can confide in them"

So about her tone of voiceso in her relationship with her parents and I wonder if it's so as simple as love I throw out just to see what she'll say, "Maybe they would understand if you told them"

"Maybe"

She slouches down in the seat and crosses her arms over her stolorious inch My mind is still very much involved in this conversation but I can still appreciate the breathtaking viehich I' treated

I decide to change the subject a bit "So which one of those edicts did you break that caused you to lose your money?"

She actually snickers "I declared journaliso to law school or medical school"