She comes into his room like it's hers, her self-possessed confident stride always demands his attention. He remembers the first time he saw her, walking up to her house, he knew he was meant for her.

He tells her she's beautiful & that he's happy to see her & he asks how her day was, does she like her new job? And he pulls her into his arms, longing to be close to her.

She says her job is stupid, and her boss is a snobby Beverly Hills bitch, which she pretty much expected from the beginning. She pouts up at him, and she looks a little worried, so he kisses her, biting her pouty lips. "I have to tell you something," she whispers as he's nibbling on her ear.

"My parents are coming to town for a short visit, thank God they'll be staying at a hotel & not in my room," she tells him, and then she drops a bomb on him, she doesn't want her parents to know about him. "You're ashamed of me," he says flatly, the words coming out slowly: it hurts more than anything he'd ever imagined could hurt. He hates himself for making such a mess of his life at such a young age, making himself too far beneath his Eleanor for her to acknowledge him publicly. "I'm not ashamed of you, Justin," she protests, "Please understand, it took a lot for them to allow me to go to school so far away from them, and to spend the summers here, too...I have a history of getting into trouble & "self-destructive behaviors"," she says, making little quotation marks with her fingers, "They would completely misinterpret you, and make me go back home if they knew about us." Having left his own family when he was 16, Justin has a hard time wrapping his head around the idea of being made to do anything by one's parents. "They can't force you back east, Eleanor," he says, "You're an adult now." She ducks her head & sighs, "They pay for the school, for everything, please Justin, it's just a couple of weeks, and most of the time I'll be going to museums and such with them. But when they do visit here, I just need for them not to know...that I'm your girl. Pretend like we're just friends, neighbors, okay?"

He hasn't got a lot of choice, so he tells her he'll do it, though it breaks his heart. "I'm sorry, Justin, I really am," she says, and she looks distressed & even close to tears, though she doesn't ever really cry. She's breathtakingly beautiful, and he'd do anything to please her, even this.

"I'll do what you want, Princess, but I need to know, am I something you're going to toss aside as soon as you finish school? Are you ever going to be able to bring me into your family? Am I some dirty secret of yours?" he asks, holding her face firmly so she can't avoid his gaze. Her eyes dart around & her face grows flush with discomfort: he hates doing this to her so much, but he has to know.

"Eleanor," he groans, kissing her, "As long as you're tossing me crumbs, I'll be at your feet to lick them up, if you want me to live in your closet the rest of my life, I'll do that, too. I just want to know what it's going to be," he says, kissing her beautiful, pale neck, dying inside as he waits for her to tell him. She tucks her head under his chin, runs her hand over his chest, "When I finish school, I'll be on my own, Justin, I won't have to please my parents, only myself." Typical of her, it's half an answer. But it's what he needed to know: when she finishes school, she has only herself to please. He has a couple of years to please her so much that she can't live without him.