Текст книги "Kiss Me"
Автор книги: Jillian Dodd
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Текущая страница: 18 (всего у книги 20 страниц)
Wednesday, September 21st
I’d bite you. Make you mine.
5:45pm
In French today, Aiden seems like he has gotten over his little tantrum or whatever, so I agree to meet him tonight to study. We’ve just finished up our homework, and I’m standing by his desk, throwing my workbook in my bag.
“Okay, so I gotta go meet Aiden.”
“But I'm right here, Boots.”
“What?”
“You said you have to go meet Aiden.”
“No, I didn’t. I said Dawson.”
“No. You said Aiden. Your subconscious wants to be with me.”
“It does not. I’m just distracted.”
“I distract you, huh?”
He gets up off his bed and stands right next to me. Distracting the shit out of me. But I say, “No.”
My hair is up in a high ponytail today and Aiden moves his face in close to my neck.
“You have a pretty neck.”
“What? No. It’s too long,” I scoff.
“Naw, it’s almost regal,” he says, as his lips move closer.
“Maybe for the Queen of Giraffes,” I joke.
“I've never kissed your neck.” He puts his hand on the side of my head and pushes it slightly. “Tilt your head.”
I do as he asks. I know I shouldn’t. I should run away. But it’s impossible to resist an order from a god.
He takes the tip of his finger and glides it from just underneath my earlobe to my collarbone. He blinks lazily and then puts his lips like our almost kisses. He is as close as he can possibly get to my neck without actually touching it.
And even though his lips don't touch, occasionally, he accidentally—or on purpose, maybe; who knows a god’s train of thought on this—touches it with his cheek.
I can feel some stubble on his cheek. He hasn’t shaved in a few days and the hair is so light it’s barely visible, but just that little bit of scruff looks so sexy on him. It changes his perfect face from a work of art to something of museum quality. It makes his beautiful face look more angular and masculine. And even though scruff usually scratches my face, his feels soft against my neck.
Have you ever rubbed a balloon across your hair and made it stick straight up? That's how my whole body feels. All my nerve endings, or synapses—really, I don’t even know what a synapse is exactly; I think it’s in the nerve family . . . Whatever, they are all sticking straight up like balloon-rubbed hair.
He’s still at my neck when he says, “Too bad I'm not a vampire. I’d bite you. Make you mine.”
“Trust me. You don't want me. Dawson tried to give me the key to his heart. I wouldn’t take it.”
“Is that why he’s wearing that key necklace?”
“Yeah, he’s wearing it until I change my mind. And I don’t know why I keep waiting. I didn’t wait for anything else.”
I hope to piss him off with my reference to sex with Dawson, so he will move his powerful lips away from me.
Instead he whispers, “Just because sex is good with someone, doesn't mean you’re destined to be with them. Imagine what it will be like with the guy you’re really supposed to be with. Your true love.”
When he speaks, his lips graze my neck a few times.
“You’re touching my neck. With your lips,” I say raggedly. I can barely breathe when he’s this close to me.
“I’m talking. Not kissing. It doesn’t count.”
And I don't know where this comes from—not from rational thought, obviously—but I make a little breathless moan and say, “Talk some more.”
I feel his mouth form a smile on my neck.
“Remember what I told you? In French. Your lips are my bliss?”
Then he speaks it in French. His lips grazing my neck with each syllable.
I forget who I am.
I forget where I am.
I have but one solitary thought.
Those lips must be on me.
“Aiden, come here.”
“I'm here.”
I grab his face. “No, like, do that to my lips. The not-kissing-kiss.”
“It won’t be enough. You want to kiss me, don’t you?”
Do I? No. Yes. No. I like Dawson. I don’t like Aiden. I don’t love Aiden. I can’t. I shouldn’t. But I’m weak when he’s this close to me, so I mutter out, “Uh, huh.”
He slowly moves his lips up my neck and next to my waiting mouth. His lips are just a quarter of a millimeter—no, more like a gnat’s ass—away from touching me. I lean forward and brush them with mine.
He backs away quickly.
“Boots, Boots. I can't kiss you. Not when you’re dating Dawson.”
Screeeech! All nerve endings feel like they were just in a car wreck. They just hit a tree and the airbags failed to deploy. And I’m pretty sure they just went through the windshield. The nerves come to a sudden horrifying stop.
And I feel like I have whiplash.
“I hate you.”
Why didn’t you tell me?
7:30pm
Dawson is kissing me very enthusiastically. And I’m not really that into it. The almost-kisses with Aiden have made me distracted. And I have no idea why.
Yes, actually, I do. I’m mad. Mad he would tempt me. Mad at myself for falling for his little godly tricks of seduction.
“What’s wrong?” Dawson asks me.
“I just got done tutoring Aiden, so my French homework is done, but I still have Math and an English essay to write. I don’t know why they have to pile on all this homework at once.”
“Wait? The person you are tutoring is Aiden?”
“Uh, yeah, you know that.”
“Uh, no. I did not. You didn’t tell me. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I thought I did. Everyone knows I’ve been tutoring Aiden. It’s not a secret.”
“Well, you didn’t tell me. He has a crush on you.” He squints his eyes at me. “Has he been hitting on you?”
Has Aiden been hitting on me?
No.
Really, he hasn’t.
What he’s been doing is more in line with godly torture.
“I don’t know. Maybe sometimes a little. Mostly he just succeeds in pissing me off. He sucks at French. Almost failed last year, I guess, but he needs it to go to whatever Ivy League college he wants to play soccer at or whatever. And he knows he has to behave or I will quit and he’d be stuck, so it’s fine. We’re kind of getting to be friends. Especially now that he’s on the Social Committee.”
“He got on the Social Committee too?”
“Yeah, I thought you were going to?”
“Why did he get on the Social Committee?”
“Uh, oh, well, I kinda asked him to.”
“But you didn't ask me?”
“I told you when I first met you that you should get on it, but you didn’t, so I didn’t think you wanted to. And I asked him in the hopes that if he was in there, Whitney might stop hating on me. And I didn’t think you could help with that. I needed a buffer. I mean, I had to dance ten more songs with him, but then he did it.”
Shit. Why did I just say that?
“You danced with him?”
“Yes. Gosh that all sounds kinda bad, doesn’t it?”
“Um, yeah, it does. Do you still like him?”
“No. I like you. ”
“But I’m still wearing the key.”
I sigh. I really don’t want to have this conversation right now. He obviously has no idea how exhausting it can be to fight off a god’s power. But I care about Dawson. I do. I don’t know if I love him, but I do know I don’t want to lose him.
“Dawson, you make me happy. We have fun together and the sex is amazing.”
“But . . .”
“But I’m a little skittish about professing love. You know that it hasn’t worked out so well for me in the past. It didn’t work out that great for you either. I like you a lot, Dawson. Can’t that be enough for now?”
I kiss down his neck. Kiss my way across the chain. Kiss the key. And wish I could let myself fall for him.
He pulls me in for a tight hug. “I like you a lot too, Keatie. And, yeah, it’s enough for now.”
Thursday, September 22nd
Your panties are yellow.
English
Dallas and I are walking to English. “So how’s the sex kitten doing?”
“What?”
“You know what I’m talking about,” he laughs and flits his eyebrows up and down.
“No, let’s talk about you, Mr. I’m Talking To Eight Girls. What else are you doing with them and how many more pairs of panties have you gotten?”
He looks at me, his eyes serious. “You know I’ve never done it, right?”
“Actually, no. You didn’t tell me that.” I can’t hide my surprise. “You’re a really good kisser.”
“Well, I’ve had a lot of practice at that,” he grins. “And the Panties for the Poor drive is going quite well. You’d be surprised at how many offers I’ve had.”
“So why haven’t you?”
“I’m holding out for you.”
I roll my eyes at him.
“Fine,” he says. “Maybe I want it to mean something.”
“Really? That’s really cool. I didn’t think most guys were like that.”
“Yeah, well, I’m more than just your boy toy,” he laughs.
“Anyone seem like they have potential?”
“A couple, but I’m not talking to them.”
“Really, who?”
“You know I think Katie’s really cool, but she likes Tyrese, I guess.”
He looks bummed.
“Yeah, but I don’t think that’s gonna last.”
“What about you and Dawes? You gonna last?”
“I hope so.”
“Dang, you’re my back-up plan. I was thinking about getting you drunk, making it special.”
“You’re hilarious.”
One of those moments.
French
I’m in class a few minutes early. Kym just texted me to let me know she has some dresses for Homecoming on hold for me and sends me the list of stores where they are. I see Miss Praline out of the corner of my eye making a beeline for my desk.
Shit! She can’t take my phone from me now, can she? Class hasn’t even started!
She stands in front of my desk. I don’t try to hide my phone; instead, I put on my sweetest and most innocent face.
“Keatyn, I’m handing back the tests today.”
“Uh, okay.” That’s not what I was expecting her to say.
“Do you want to know what Aiden got?”
“I don’t know. Did he do okay? We’ve really been working hard. I thought he would at least pass.”
“Keatyn, look!” She whips out his test from behind her back. There is a huge red circle on the front. Inside the circle is a large, red C plus.
I’m immediately disappointed. “Oh, wow. I’m sorry. We’ll have to work harder.”
She gets a big grin. “Work harder?! Do you have any idea how excited he’s going to be? He failed every test last year. If it weren’t for daily grades, extra credit, and a special project I let him do, he never would’ve passed. This is amazing!”
As more people walk in, she goes, “Shhhh.”
Aiden rolls in right before the bell rings.
And even though I’m still mad at him, I turn around and say, “We get our tests back today. How do you think you did?”
He groans.
Miss Praline makes us wait until the very end of class to hand back our tests.
The bell has already rung. She hands me my test. Apparently tutoring Aiden has hurt my grades because I got an A minus.
She puts Aiden’s test down on his desk, just as I am standing up, and says, “Good job, Aiden.”
I turn around and look at him. His eyes go wide with shock. Then he jumps up, grabs me, lifts me up in the air and twirls me around. “We did it! I got a C! I passed!”
Then, for a second . . .
As he slides me back down his body and sets my feet back on the floor, it happens.
Another one of those moments.
Where we just stare into each other’s eyes.
But then Annie groans, the mood is broken, and I forget why I was mad at him in the first place.
She mutters, “Shit. I got a C too.”
I guess it’s all about your perspective.
Aiden is walking me out of class, excitedly talking about his grade. Dawson is waiting for me outside the building.
Aiden points to me and says to Dawson, “Dude, she’s awesome!”
Then he high fives me and bounces away happily.
“What was that all about?” Dawson asks.
“You know the test we studied so hard for, the other night, when you were mad at me?”
“Yeah?”
“He got a C plus.”
“That sucks. Why’s he so excited?”
“He’s failed every one of his tests until I started helping him.”
“Oh, so a C is good?”
“Yeah, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
“So the tutoring wasn’t just an excuse to hang out with you? Peyton told me he’s really smart. Sorry, I just, it seemed weird.”
“Speaking of weird, your brother was telling me about something today.” I whisper something into his ear. Something Riley says is supposed to drive a woman crazy.
He runs his hand through his hair. “Jeez, Keatie, pretty soon I’m gonna be failing. That’s all I’m gonna be able to think about today.”
Then I remember I have a meeting tonight.
“Oh, wait. I have a Social Committee meeting tonight at 6:30. And it might go late. The dean is going with us. We have a lot to plan. Don’t tell anyone, but we may have something really cool planned for Homecoming. You’ll love it.”
“Tell me.”
“Okay, but you can’t tell anyone until we get it all approved.” He kisses me in agreement. “I think we’re gonna have an after-party. At a club. From midnight until six the next morning. Dancing, VIP section, great DJ. It’s gonna be really fun.”
“That does sound fun. That your idea?”
“Yeah.”
“I think it sounds amazing, but let’s go back to your other idea.”
Mesmerized by my tongue.
8:50pm
Our dinner meeting is quite productive. I knew the dean was coming with us to hear our plans, so I decided to wear a really cute dress. It’s got a chestnut leather bodice with a breezy black pleated skirt. I paired it with some funky heavily-studded midcalf boots. A Fendi ponyhair baguette bag. And a necklace I ordered online recently that is made from recycled items. It has a vintage brass number four on it, for my sisters.
He had already given us his blessing for the project, but tonight he offers to send an email not just to the current students’ parents but to all the alumni asking for donations. Which means our Homecoming after-party is going to rock.
After dinner, Aiden offers me a ride back to school. He leads me to a beautiful creamy white Maserati GrandTurismo MC that I have always admired at school but never knew who it belonged to. I know it has special order paint called Bianco Fuji as well as twenty-inch black Astro wheels. Tommy is seriously obsessed with cars, and the knowledge must have worn off on me.
Aiden opens the passenger door and I slide onto a black leather seat with custom white contrast stitching.
“Nice car,” I say.
He nods his head humbly. “Thanks. Do you want to stop for some ice cream?”
“Sure,” I say excitedly, but then he tells me wants to talk about our dreams. “I thought there had to be weed or alcohol involved for you to tell me about your dreams.”
“I didn’t say there were dreams. I said a dream.”
“Oh, sorry. Semantics.”
“Well, I don’t want you to think I sit around and dream about you all day long.”
We get ice cream cones and sit outside eating them.
I take a big lick. “This is good,” I tell him. “Thanks for stopping.”
“Oh, thank you,” he says, apparently mesmerized by my tongue.
Ha. It’s good to know I have a little power of my own. I like it when Aiden seems like a normal boy. Makes him easier for me to deal with.
“Thank me for what?” I say and then slowly move my tongue around the base of the cone.
He blinks. “Uh, um, for helping me get the C.”
“Oh, yeah, that. But I thought our goal was a B? Or don’t you want to come to France with me anymore?”
I get the god-like smile. Then watch as he licks his own lips.
“Oh, I’m definitely going to make a B. Can we go to the Eiffel Tower?”
“Well, sure. Our house is in southern France, but we can go to Paris for a couple of days, why not?”
He raises his eyebrows up and down at me. “It’s gonna be very romantic, you know.”
“Maybe I’ll bring Dawson with us.”
He gets his face in close to mine. “You won’t be bringing Dawson. You’ll be with me.”
“You know, you keep saying stuff like that. It makes no sense.”
“Why doesn’t it make sense?”
“Because I couldn’t have a relationship with you. I always know where I stand with Dawson. Our relationship is very simple.”
A flash of irritation crosses his eye.
“So, are you going to tell me about your dream?” I say, changing the subject.
“No, you’re going to tell me about yours first.”
“Okay, so when it started out I was, like, in this clearing in the woods. It kinda looked like the cave, but there were streamers and ribbons and flowers hanging from all the tree branches. It was gorgeous. Everything was cream-colored, like your car, and golden. I was going to get married there. I had on a white dress with beautiful gold embroidery—it was very Robin-Hood-marries-Maid-Marian feeling. Anyway. I’m getting married, and I don’t know who the person is that I’m marrying because I can’t see him through my veil, but, like, I know in my heart it’s the guy I’m in love with. So, we get married and even when he kisses me, it’s through the veil.” I stop. “This sounds really stupid, I can’t tell you the rest.”
“No, it’s interesting, go on.”
“Fine. Okay, so then I’m in a dorm room. I’m sitting on my husband’s lap, maybe kinda straddling him in his desk chair. He slowly took my dress off. And pretty soon I’m naked on top of him, but I still have the veil on and can’t see his face. So we start, uh, consummating the marriage. But I still have the veil on. And then in the middle of it, he lifts the veil, so I can finally see his face.”
“Wait, go back to the dorm room part. You done something like that lately?”
“Um, sorta?”
Aiden walks to his car, gets in, and starts it. I’m not sure what to do, so I throw what’s left of my cone away and get in too.
He doesn’t even look at me, just slams through the gears, driving.
He squeals into the school parking lot, gets out of his car, slams the door shut, and starts walking away. Doesn’t say a word to me.
I get out of the car. I’m not sure what to say. I mean, I thought he would love the dream. It was him I was with. He was the guy I married. I was going to tease him about how the stuff that he says is, like, affecting my brain.
“Don’t you even want to know who I married?”
“No, not really,” is his response as he marches away from me.
I text Dawson.
Me: Hey, just got back.
Dawson: Come give me a good night kiss.
I follow the marching god to his dorm. When he turns to open and go through the door, he notices me. “Are you following me?”
“Uh, no. I’m going to see Dawson for a few minutes before curfew. And we’re going to be gone this weekend. At that weekend Whitney planned, so I won’t be able to tutor you.”
“Good,” he says and marches up the stairs.
Friday, September 23rd
I wish we didn’t fight.
12:55pm
Garrett calls me as I’m leaving lunch. I tell Dawson that I have to take a quick call and send him off to his next class. I’m freaking out a bit because Garrett never calls me. He always texts me and has me call him back.
“What’s wrong?”
“Did you tell Vanessa where you are?”
“No.”
“Keatyn, it’s important that you tell me the truth. I won’t yell at you if you did. I know this has been hard on you, but if you did, it’s imperative that I know.”
“I swear to you on my sisters’ lives that I’m telling you the truth. What’s going on?”
“Vanessa may be missing.”
“Missing how?”
“She apparently posted something on Facebook about how she talked to you. That you wanted everyone to know you were getting better.”
“She just wants to act like she knows what’s going on.”
“Well, that may be, but she went to a club last night and RiAnne says no one has seen her since.” He swallows loudly. “Vincent was at the same club.”
“And you think something’s happened to her? But you told me if I kept my friends in the dark they’d be safe. Did you lie to me? Do you think he’s done something to her?”
“We don’t know. We aren’t running surveillance on him twenty-four-seven anymore.”
I’m shocked. “Why not?!”
“I was told to cut back.”
“By who?”
“James.”
“Is it a money thing?”
“I think they were pretty surprised at how much the bill was, yes. But in their defense, it’s been almost a month and we haven’t produced any compelling results. The goal was to gather information that we could use against him. Other than him being at the same places as some of your friends, his going to Oregon, New York, and a few coincidental Facebook things, we have nothing. Nothing we could take to a judge, anyway.”
“Do you think for my safety we should be watching him more?”
“I don’t know that twenty-four-seven is the answer, but, yes, I’d like to have the freedom to do what we think is best. For example, my man followed him to the club, but then went off duty.”
“From now on, you have the freedom to do what you think is best. Just bill me. And you need to give me more details about Vanessa because what you’re saying doesn’t make sense. Vanessa never went to a club alone. She made RiAnne and me go with her. And she may not have told RiAnne who she was leaving with, but she would have told her she was leaving. RiAnne was always her cover.”
“What do you mean, her cover?”
“It’s just not that unusual for her to go off with a guy for the weekend. And when she did that, she always told her dad that she was staying at RiAnnes. What did RiAnne say, exactly?”
“On her own wall, she said that Vanessa is missing, but on your Facebook wall she said, Vanessa is off radar and I’m going to be pissed if you two are having a reunion without me.
“Off radar means RiAnne has no idea where she is. You need to send her a message. Don’t write on her wall. Send her a direct message. Tell her that Vanessa is not with me. That I haven’t spoken to her or anyone else since my party. Tell her—and this is important—that I pinkie swear. She’ll come home, Garrett. She always does. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that he was there.”
“Like it was just a coincidence that he was in New York at Brooklyn’s tournament? I don’t think so. When she comes home, Keatyn, I’d like her to come home alive. We can’t find Vincent either.”
“What do you mean?”
“We can’t find him. He’s not at home. Didn’t go to his office today. His assistant said she wasn’t sure when he’d be back.”
“Wow,” is all I manage to mutter out. My mind is going in a million directions. Trying to process it all.
“When she went off with guys before, did she go to the same place? Is there somewhere we can look for her?”
“Not really. She’d take off and come back with some amazing story. And pictures. Always pictures. Do you really think she could be with Vincent?”
“I don’t believe in coincidences.”
I remember her telling me that Vincent was hot that day at the hotel. “You might check The Chateau. It’s her favorite hotel and it’s where she met Vincent to begin with.”
“I’ll call you if I hear anything. You swear to me, she doesn’t know where you are? If she does, I want you out of there now. I’m serious.”
“I swear.”
I hit the end button on my phone with a shaking hand. I know at any moment I’m going to burst into tears. I can’t go to class.
I run my hand through my hair, look up, and see the chapel at the top of the hill. I put my head down and quickly walk toward it.
The heavy wooden doors open with a creak. Thankfully, no one is here. I choose a pew in the back row and plop down. I fold my hands and say a prayer.
Please, God, let Vanessa be okay. I don’t understand this. I gave up everything. My friends. My family. My home. I wanted to put as much distance as I could between us. I did it because I thought it would keep them safe. They told me it would keep them safe. I was so sure of my decision when I made it. I can still see the photo of the girls. I can still hear the voice in my head that told me they’d be safe. I don’t want anyone hurt because of me, and they are really the ones I did this for. They are the ones I gave my life up for. And I’ll give it up forever as long as those four little smiles stay safe.
Tears stream down my face as I’m praying, but when I think about the girls, I start bawling. I just put my face in my hands and cry. I miss them so much.
A hand touches my knee and a silky voice says, “Boots.”
I look up and Aiden’s eyes meet my tear-filled ones. Those green eyes that see straight through me. Those green eyes that always make me feel emotionally naked.
I close my eyes and start crying again. I don’t know why he’s here. He’s supposed to be mad at me. But he doesn’t act like he’s mad anymore. He wraps his arms around me and I melt into his chest. He whispers soothingly in my ear, “Shhhh, it’ll be okay.” And maybe I’m desperate, but when Aiden says it, I somehow believe him.
I shudder, sob a bit more, then soak in Aiden’s touch. The way his hand is tangled into the back of my hair. The way I can feel his heart beating against my cheek. The way his chest rises and falls with every breath he takes. The strength I feel in his muscular arms.
“Why aren’t you in class?” I whisper. But I don’t move.
He runs his hand through my hair. “I saw you sitting on the bench, talking on your phone. You had your head down the whole time. I was waiting so I could apologize for last night. Again. It feels like I’m always apologizing to you. But when you looked up, I could tell by the look on your face you were upset. And when you marched straight to the chapel, I knew you must be really upset. What happened?”
“I got some bad news from my family. Um, my friend, she has this guy who has been stalking her. She’s maybe missing right now.”
“And they think the stalker might have hurt her? What was their relationship? Did they date?”
“No, they think it started when he saw a picture of her.”
“A picture?”
“Yeah. Um, my friend wanted to be an actress and he saw a picture of her. They met. He flirted with her. Told her he wanted to make a movie with her. They actually had become friends. She thought he was nice.” I sit up and wipe tears away with my shaking hands. “Until he tried to kidnap her.”
I can’t believe I’m telling Aiden all of this. But what I really wish is that I could tell him the truth. That I could tell him it’s not my friend. It’s me. That I gave so much up to be here. And it’s not working. That I don’t know what to do. That I’m considered hopping a plane home and not telling anyone. That I’m thinking about confronting Vincent. That I’m thinking about finding a gun and killing him. But then I would go to jail and I would never ever see my sisters.
“So why isn’t the guy in jail?”
“She invited him to a party. There was a commotion. He told her he was taking her to a van out back. But she got away. A guy fought with him. The police came. They took her statement. She was hysterical. Threw up. She’d been drinking. It was her word against his. There was just not enough evidence.”
“That’s awful,” he says softly. He pulls me back against his chest. “Tell me the rest.”
I tell him everything. It all spills out of me. Everything I have been holding in.
I just lie and pretend it all happened to my friend.
“I’m sure she’ll be okay. Is that why you came here? To pray?”
I nod my head. “Yes. And I knew if I went to class I would start crying. I wouldn’t want anyone to see me like this. I’m sure I look gross.” I hang my head down so he doesn’t have to look at me.
Aiden gently pushes my chin up. “I told you before. I doubt you’re ever gross.”
I wipe the tears off my face again and look at my fingers. They’re covered in mascara and I know he’s so lying to me. “Aiden, do you ever lie?”
“I don’t like to be lied to, so I try not to.”
“My friend. She was afraid, so she left town. Just up and left. Didn’t tell very many people where she went. She’s living somewhere else under a different name. She’s meeting new people and making new friends, but she hasn’t told them what happened. Or that she’s using a new name. She feels like she’s living a lie.”
“Is she just lying about her name?”
“No, she has to lie about her past too. She wasn’t famous, but her parents are. People would recognize her name.”
“Well, I’m sure her new friends would understand if they found out.”
I lie down, putting my head in his lap, pull my feet up onto the pew, and curl up into a ball. “I’m afraid for her.”
He pulls my hair back off my face gently and runs his hand across my cheek. “What I told you in class. Whenever you need me, I’m there. I know we were talking about tutoring, but it goes for everything. You can always come talk to me when you’re upset.”
I let out a big sigh and new tears fall down my face. I wish that were true. “No, I can’t. Half the time you’re mad at me. You got so mad at me last night. I really wish we didn’t fight, Aiden.”
“It bothers you?”
“Yes, it bothers me. I like you. I wish we could be friends.”
“You know why I get mad, don’t you?”
“Yes. You jump to conclusions about things that you shouldn’t. Half the time you don’t let me finish my sentence before you go storming off. And then you pretend punch my head.”
He bends down and kisses the top of my forehead. “I’m sorry. I promise not to pretend punch your head ever again.”
I smile at him. “Thank you.”
He looks at his phone. “It’s my sister. She’s called me four times. Hang on.”
“Yeah,” he says. “I didn’t realize it was that late. It’s fine. Don’t worry. And yes, she’s with me.”
“Are we in trouble for skipping French?”
“We didn’t just skip French, Boots. School’s out. You’re supposed to be in the dance locker room and I’m supposed to be getting ready for the game.”
I sit up quickly. “What time is it?”
“5:45.”
“Ohmigosh! Are we going to be in trouble?”
“Tell you what. I’ll go talk to the dean. You go get ready for dance.”
I clean my face up as best as I can, straighten my red game day skirt, pull the short Cougars jersey down, and run to the field house. My hair is still damp around my face from all the tears that fell into it, and it’s chilly in the cool air.
Just as I open the door to the field house, Dawson confronts me.
And he’s pissed.
“Where have you been?”
“I was in the chapel.”
“With Aiden?”
I try hard not to start crying again. “Yes.”
Dawson closes his hands into tight fists. He looks ready to punch anyone who comes near him. “Were you hooking up with him?”
“Do I look like someone who’s been hooking up? Look at my face, Dawson. I have no makeup left on. I’m sure my eyes are all red. Do I look happy to you? You have got to stop this jealous bullshit and trust me. I had a horrible day, thanks for asking. And now I’m late.”
I push my way past him and into the dance locker room, where freaking Peyton meets me at the door.
She looks pissed, but then she really looks at me, sees the mess that I am, and pulls me into a hug. “Are you okay? Did you and Dawson break up?”
“Dawson and I aren’t going out, so we can’t break up.”
She steers me out of the dance room and into a field house bathroom and says, “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Flavor of the week.
7:30pm
I screw up every single dance number I do. I can’t concentrate. Can’t keep one train of thought.
I want to check my phone, but our dance advisor makes us leave them in our lockers during the game. I’m the first one into the locker room at halftime. We have exactly eight minutes before we have to be on the field to perform with the band.
