Chapter 19: An offer he cannot refuse

David, too, was back into the grind of student life. His semester had started with a week of orientations where he and his fellow students learned what awaited them in the first clinical year. Medical school was different in Continental Europe, comprising six years and starting right after secondary school education. The first two years were devoted to the preclinical training, science classes, Anatomy, Math and Statistics. This was pretty much but not completely comparable to David's undergraduate curriculum, so in some areas he was ahead while in others he had to catch up. It was slightly confusing to him, but he solved this with dogged determination.

If he felt out of place and lonely, this was most mostly due to missing Melanie. The weeks they had spent over the summer had been intense, rewarding and habit forming. They had connected on a much deeper level than during their forced cohabitation over the winter and David now felt like missing a part of his self. He knew from their daily calls that Melanie felt similar and he was woefully aware that their separation was his own fault. His knee jerk reaction to Melanie's publicized date with Skrepnik had landed him overseas and away from her.

When thinking about it, he had to acknowledge that moving to Granada had helped him considerably, in particular in overcoming his hang-ups about basketball and by extension, his resentment of Melanie's good fortunes. That had been a decided advantage when they were reunited. Yet, he could not help feeling dissatisfied.

At least, he had friends. He was still playing pick-up ball with the same group of people and he was doing a lot of things with the Ramos siblings. They often met for lunch and at least twice per week they had dinner together. It was nice to have friends and to be exposed to their viewpoints and opinions, but on the whole, he'd rather be with Melanie.

That particular morning, David was in a Medical Microbiology class learning about all sorts of nasty bugs when the lecturer, Dr Vidal, received a phone call and looked around.

"Señor Olsen, tienes que ir al decano de estudiantes," he announced to the surprised David.

"¿Por qué?" David asked, but Dr Vidal just shrugged without interest.

Nonplussed, David grabbed his stuff and left the lecture hall, heading upstairs and to the students' office. The Dean was in and a secretary let him in.

"Ah, Mr Olsen," the Dean started in his very careful English. "Please, do have a seat."

"Thank you, Sir," David answered and sat down.

"Mr Olsen, I have received an e-mail from your Alma Mater, the esteemed University of Southern California. They inquire about you and your progress."

"Sir? Why would they do that?" David asked, his bewilderment increasing.

"It would seem that they were quite disappointed over your decision not to pursue your graduate education at their Medical School. I admit to feeling flattered that you chose our school over such a highly esteemed institution."

"I had – hrhm – personal reasons to look elsewhere."

"Yet it would seem that they are still interested in you. I have it here from a Ms Chan, of their Office of Public Affairs, that they would like to entice you into rejoining their school. They even offer you favorable conditions under certain circumstances. Are you interested?"

David swallowed. USC meant being close or at least closer to Melanie, but he had also accepted a spot here in Granada.

"It is interesting, but I declared for this school and it would seem ungrateful to just jump at another chance."

Dr Alonso, the Dean, beamed. "That is an honorable feeling, my dear Mr. Olsen. However, you must be aware that in order for you and for the other exchange students to attend, an equal number of Spanish students were denied the opportunity to join us. The semester has barely begun, so I would anticipate that your slot here would be filled immediately with a very grateful candidate."

"Oh, I'm taking away a... ?"

"Well, we love to have foreign students with us to be sure, but in the current economic situation, we also feel the scarceness of resources needed to teach our young people."

"I didn't realize that..." David began apologetically.

"My dear Mr. Olsen, do not fret! If you decide to pursue your education here, your presence here will be welcome. I only wanted to assure you that no hard feelings would be caused should you decide to consider your Alma Mater's offer. Why don't I forward the e-mail from Ms Chan to you? That way you could see what they have in mind and contact them by yourself?"

David nodded. "I suppose that would be the best."

"Just let me know your decision at the earliest," Alonso beamed and stood to shake David's hand.

David then left a post-it note with his e-mail address with the Dean and beat a retreat.

A day later, David was looking at the reply e-mail from Ms Chan. In it, she expanded on the vague promise of favorable conditions. It was in fact a good offer for David, easily shaving off more than $40,000 from his tuition over the course of four years. This was condition of his willingness to represent the school and USC in general at promotional events. Any costs incurred through promotional activities would be reimbursed as well.

Chan waxed a bit about his inspiring example, being near-paraplegic, treated at LAC-USC, and now playing ball again and being cast in an international movie. If he agreed, he could start at any time. The School of Medicine was holding a slot for him left empty by an early drop-out and would do so for two weeks. He was assured that his late joining would not impact negatively on his standing.

That evening, he discussed the offer with his friends. He wanted their opinions before he contacted Melanie about this. Both unanimously urged him to accept. Cecilia questioned his sanity for even thinking about it.

"Zombi, you are idiot! You can be with the greatest girl in the world and you ask us if you should do it? Listen to your heart. What does your heart say?"

"I miss her," David admitted.

"See? What is keeping you then?"

"I don't know why they're making that offer. I mean, maybe it's because they want Melanie to accompany me to those events. You know, they may not want me, but her."

"So?" Cecilia snapped. "I am sure Melanie will be happy to be again with you."

David sighed. "I guess you're right. I don't know what it is with me sometimes."

Cecilia grinned. "I do. You are idiot, Zombi."

It was after midnight that evening when David made a Skype call to Melanie. Normally, he tried to catch her during her noon break, after nine o'clock CET, but he wanted to have no time limits for this discussion and waited until she was back home. A short text message had prepared her for the late call and when he connected to her, she was online in the fraction of a second.

"Hey you," she purred for a greeting. "Oh, baby, I really miss you!"

"Same here, Mel. Things are just no fun without you."

"Well, at least I have Dani to keep me company. How's the Granada gang?"

"They're on my case. They keep telling me that I'm an idiot for being here while you're in LA."

"I brought that about with my..."

"Mel, they're right. It was a knee-jerk decision to leave LA. Well, about that. I got an offer. An offer to join USC Med School as a late entry. They offer to cut me some slack with tuition if I give motivational testimony to the alumni once a year. It's actually a good deal. One I can afford."

"But?"

"No but. What's your take. Would you be okay..."

"Are you kidding me? You really have to ask me if I'm okay with you coming back home?"

"Well, are you?"

"You idiot! Of course! When can you move?"

"They want an answer in the next ten days."

"And just how long does it take to type 'I accept your offer.'? Sheesh! Go! Accept! Don't call again before you've accepted!"

"It's not so easy. I need to look into things and..."

"No, you don't. You just get on a plane. I'll pick you up and put you up, and the rest will sort itself out. Just don't start finding reasons to dawdle."

"Dawdle? You're reading Austen again," David teased her.

"Ha-ha! David, what's the problem? Don't you want to be with me?"

"Of course I do! I just don't know why they are making that offer."

"Oh, my God! It's your we-don't-take-handouts attitude again. They want something of you and they are willing to give you a break in return. Big deal! If you had made it into the NBA, wouldn't you have done endorsements?"

"You mean..."

"It's the same. They want you, so they can parade you and me and our sob story in front of the alumni. It'll keep the donations coming. They'll be getting their money's worth, you get to be with me, and I get to have you around. Everybody wins."

David sighed. "I guess you're right. I'll send them an e-mail accepting. About putting me up, think I can bunk with you?"

He could see how Melanie rolled up her eyes.

"Okay, stupid question. How ... I mean, do you think we'll share a room?"

"What's going to keep us? David, you're my man. We spent the damn summer sharing a bed. You think Dani will rat us out to your mom? And if she does, you think Judy will bat an eye?"

"Yeah, I get it. How about Mom and Josh? Things are really speeding up. I mean, Mom joining the LAC's Sheriff's Department? Jeez!"

"And your sister started at Stoddard! Don't forget that."

"It's going to be weird at first."

"Not so you can tell," Melanie laughed. "It's great to have Dani around though. So, can I tell them that you'll return to LA?"

"Yeah, tell them. Mel, I'm looking forward to have you close again. I really miss you."

"See? That was the first smart thing you've said this entire phone call. Go to sleep now. You're going to need a lot of stamina soon!"

Finding somebody to take over David's lease was a snap. Paco and Cecilia took it instantly. They eagerly accepted the furniture too since they were moving from a furnished apartment. They haggled a bit over it, and in the end David had to accept some payment.

The scooter took a bit longer, but he found a buyer for that too. He incurred a loss there, but that was anticipated. After all, he had logged quite a few kilometres with it and had also accumulated a small collection of scratches in the paint.

Once everything was organized, he invited all his Spanish friends for a big bash in the apartment. Paco and Cecilia chipped in, making it their own housewarming party too. Food and drink lasted long into the night and it was a terribly hung-over David who boarded his morning flight to Madrid. He spent his last Euros at the airport in Madrid before boarding his non-stop Iberia flight to LA at noon. The flight lasted 12 hours, arriving at LAX a little after 4 p.m.

The long flight had given David time to recover. He had been lucky to get emergency exit seating and had been able to sleep for perhaps three or four hours. Yet he felt like death warmed over when he emerged from customs into arrivals.

"Daveeeee!" a voice pierced his eardrums. A second later, Mel launched herself into his arms from four feet away. He managed to drop his luggage in time to catch her, and then he felt her lips on his mouth as she kissed him silly. "Oh, baby! I missed you so much! You're back!" she babbled in between kisses.

"Jeez, she's going to have sex with him right here in the concourse!" Dani could be heard from the side.

David freed himself for a second and reached out with one arm to hug her.

"Hey, Beany! Came to pick me up?"

"Duh!" Dani gave back. "Say hi to Mom and Josh!"

Melanie let go of him temporarily, allowing David to hug Judy and to shake Josh's hand.

"Guy's, that's so great of you to pick me up!"

Judy rolled her eyes. "You doofus! Of course we're picking you up! If we left that to Melanie, she would've dragged you into the Airport Hilton for the rest of the afternoon before coming home."

"Not too far off," Melanie admitted with a grin, snuggling close again. "You have your luggage, Mister?"

David pointed at the two trolleys. "That's it. I left some stuff behind. Paco and Celia will send it after me."

"So, let's split," Melanie prodded. With Josh leading the way, they made their way outside and towards the short term parking. Dani was dragging one of David's suitcases allowing him to walk with one arm around Melanie.

The limo was one from Josh's firm, a Town Car with seating for six in the back. David's big trolley cases vanished easily into the cavernous trunk, and then they were on their way. For the first time, David had a good look at his mother and he grinned. She was wearing casual, no doubt, but nothing cheap. The jeans might look worn-out, but they fit far too well to come from an outlet. The blouse too was shouting "Beverly Hills" as was the thin Cashmere sweater.

"Been shopping?" he asked with a grin.

Judy pointed at Melanie. "Your girlfriend has a bad influence on me."

Melanie grinned smugly. "Well, we don't have a Wal-Mart in Beverly Hills, so I had to show Judy where the natives do their shopping."

"Ah-huh!" David made. "Mom, I can show you where the other 95% of the natives buy their stuff."

Judy looked down at herself. "Nah, I guess I'm fine," she stated and Dani giggled.

"You can show those places to me," she said. "I don't have a big-shot lawyer for a boyfriend."

"How about one for a future stepfather?" Josh offered.

Dani nodded sagely. "I guess that might solve the problem. Sorry, Davy. No sale."

"So I'm the only one not corrupted yet?" David asked the limo at large.

"You're the corruptestest of us all," Dani laughed. "True, it's not the money, but for..."

"Hr-hm!" Judy interrupted. "Let's not enter into this sort of discussion."

"What did she mean by that," David asked his girlfriend.

Mel leaned over and whispered into his ear. "She thinks you're pussy-whipped!"

"Ah, that! Yeah. I guess I am," he admitted.

Mrs. Ling had gone out of her way to produce a welcome dinner for David. There were four courses, one more delicious than the other, and David stuffed himself not being used to her cooking anymore.