My mother stayed with him at his apartment in Los Angeles, but she needed a break and I said I would spend a week with Mike. I barely knew Mike and, f...ankly, I wasn't looking forward to the experience.I was shocked to see Mike when I arrived at the LA airport. He had always been a powerful man, six feet tall and a rock-hard 170 pounds. Now, he looked gaunt and older. He was 30 pounds lighter, his face was drawn, his skin sagging and sallow. The chemotherapy had caused him to lose his hair,. I had agreed to go and live in Italy because I really liked it there and of course the perks were fantastic, things had yet to be finalised but I had been given an apartment and a car but the contract was on the definite understanding that I could work outside Italy as and when I needed, the question of the woman had been squashed by Maria who said that she would fill that role and that the company should not even consider putting someone else with me unless they wished to see their factory. He slowly leaned in and kissed me. Normally I would not have kissed him until we were shaded behind his tinted windows, but I was sixteen now and could officially date. We did not have to hide from my family anymore, even though they already knew. Jeremy and I met the first day of school in my first class, drafting. As a freshman I was nervous, but the minute he said hello I was infatuated and even more nervous. All I knew then was he was my student advisor and a senior. As he helped us get all. Since he was too busy or important to ever get his oil changed (or any other sort of maintenance) he'd just drive the car until the engine froze up or otherwise incurred a 'failure to proceed', and then he'd return it to the dealership and go buy a newer one. Just because he could. He was a self-entitled asshole and a poster child for giving 'conspicuous consumption' a bad name.Since I was born and raised in a less than privileged household, the idea of colossal waste really irks me and digs.