Текст книги "Kiss Me"
Автор книги: Jillian Dodd
сообщить о нарушении
Текущая страница: 2 (всего у книги 20 страниц)
Mom: Wait, I thought you said he wasn’t doing anything to you.
Me: I mean like I can barely breathe when he’s around. When he touches me, I feel like I’m getting shocked. And tonight, I was at this party and he took me to this empty dorm room. And he DIDN’T attack me! He just gave me these slow, amazing, tender and TONGUELESS kisses. He looked deep into my eyes and, I swear to God, he looked into my soul.
Mom: Wait. What time is it there? And what were you doing at a party? It’s your second night!
Me: Can we PLEASE stick to what is important here? HOW DO I MAKE HIM FALL IN LOVE WITH ME?
Mom: Maybe he already is.
Me: No! He’s not. He was a total gentleman. He doesn’t want me. Should I like sneak over to his room and just attack him?
Mom: Sex is not going to make him fall in love with you. It sounds like he likes you.
Me: OMG!!!!??? You think??!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mom: Yeah. Go to bed! And make good decisions please. And call Garrett tomorrow when you’re free. He wants to talk to you.
Me: Okay. I love you. Kiss the girls for me.
Mom: I love you too. And I will.
Saturday, August 27th
You don’t have a bra on.
10:30am
Clearly missed breakfast. Can’t remember what is supposed to be going on today. Did we miss something already?
I grab my phone and read a few texts.
The love of my life <3: You up yet? Heard you had some fun at the party :)
Wait, that’s confusing. I have to change that. There, that’s better.
Dallas: You up yet? Heard you had some fun at the party :)
B<3: Miss you.
Peyton: You need to be in the dance locker room at 2:30 to get your uniform and get dressed. We have to be on the field a little before three.
Sex God: You kissed my brother?
Shit.
First things first.
Me: Your brother kissed me. He was drunk. It was horrible.
Sex God: You didn’t like kissing him?
Me: OMG! NO! It was AWFUL!
Sex God: Maybe I should come kiss you now. Can’t let him ruin the Johnson brothers’ reputation. BTW, what are you wearing?
Me: I’m told your reputation precedes you, so no kissing is necessary. And PJ shorts and tank top. Still in bed.
Sex God: Heard that’s what you wore to the party. White tank top with a leopard bra underneath. I was jealous at first, but I already saw that bra :)
Me: Yes, you saw my bra strap when I was holding up my dress. Gee, I’m such a slut.
Sex God: So you ready for the big scrimmage today? Ready to watch me kick some ass?
Me: I guess. I have to dance or something at it.
Sex God: Can I come over?
Me: Why?
Sex God: Maybe I need a cuddle.
Me: I just woke up. I’m sure I look like shit.
Sex God: Doubtful. Go brush your teeth. I will be there in like 2 minutes.
Me: No!
Sex God: I have coffee and muffins.
Me: Awww, that’s really nice.
Sex God: Oh, I’m gonna be very nice...
Me: <3 and no.
I’m not sure what to say to Brooklyn. And for some reason, I can’t seem to bring myself to delete the heart by his name. I wonder if he was right about fate. That if we were meant to be together, then fate would help us find a way. Of course, fate would also need to teach him to appreciate my love of shoes and discos before that would ever work. I sigh. Try not to list all the mistakes I’ve made lately in my head, and just reply with, Miss you too.
Now I want to find out what Dallas heard.
Me: What’d you hear?
Dallas: Dawson kissed you. Dumped a girl off his lap, walked across the room, and attacked you.
Me: Yeah, it was awful. I stopped it as quickly as I could.
Dallas: And what about Aiden?
Me: How do you know all this shit?
Dallas: I also know Riley is buying you coffee and muffins as we speak :)
Me: You’re scaring me. What do you know about Aiden?
Dallas: Heard you kissed. Heard you got mad at him. Heard you were crying in the hall.
Me: He told you??
Dallas: Can’t give up my sources
.
Me: DID HE TELL YOU?? YES OR NO??!!!!
Dallas: No.
Me: He did kiss me, but he decided he doesn’t really like me.
Dallas: You sure about that?
Me: Yes. He kissed me. It was amazing. But that’s all he did. No hands, no tongues, just a kiss. Well a couple kisses.
Dallas: Hmmm. Maybe he wants to take it slow.
Me: Only people who don’t like you want to take it that slow. But I’m glad I know now. So I won’t get my heart broken.
I get up, run to the bathroom, pee, brush my teeth, run my hands through my hair, and remove the mascara smudges from underneath my eyes. I’m just finishing when Riley knocks gently on the door. Katie is still asleep, so I run over to the door quickly and open it.
And there is Riley. Looking hot in a bright orange Polo rugby shirt and khaki cargo shorts.
“I think I’m a little underdressed,” I say.
He hands me a tray of coffees and holds up a bag of muffins. I walk over and set them on my nightstand.
I hear Katie’s sleepy voice groan, “Please say one of those coffees is for me.”
Riley nods, gets a blueberry muffin and a coffee, and hands them to her.
“Hey, I’m gonna shower and get ready. I’ll be in the bathroom for probably at least a half hour,” she says with a smirk on her face. Like I’m gonna have sex with Riley the second she leaves. “Thanks for the muffin, Riley.”
The minute she walks out of our room, Riley grabs me and throws me on the bed.
“Hey, I need sustenance.”
He rolls on top of me, pins my arms above my head, and says, “I need something to sustain me too. God. You don’t have a bra on.”
“Oh, shit. I forgot. I’m sorry.”
He breaks out into a wide grin. “Oh, no. No apologies necessary.”
“So you have a muffin for me too?”
“Yeah, you want me to butter your muffin?”
I know he’s just playing around. Teasing me. But his teasing and pinning me to the bed remind me so much of Cush. I start to get tears in my eyes. Then my mind flashes to Vincent holding my wrists. I start to shake and my breathing speeds up.
Riley’s face scrunches up. Then his eyes narrow. “What? Why?” He jumps off me. “Did you think I was going to hurt you? Like hold you down? I wouldn’t do that. Ever. I was just messing around.”
I nod. I can’t even say that I know. I just put my hands over my face and start crying.
Riley gathers me up into his arms. “Did that happen to you before?” he asks quietly. “Is that why you’re so upset?”
I shake my head no and start sobbing on his shoulder. He’s holding me like Damian did the night I almost got kidnapped. Which makes me cry harder.
I have a complete breakdown.
I must have emotional jet lag.
Like, it just all hit me.
Right now.
At the most inopportune time.
I’ve been so good at holding it in. Pretending to act like it didn’t affect me. That I’d be fine going away by myself. Being on my own. But I don’t want to be on my own. I miss my family. I miss the girls. I miss Cush. Sweet, sexy Cush. I thought I could come here and start over, but I can’t. This isn’t my life.
He pats me on the back. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I suck in a big breath and shudder. Calm myself down. “I’m sorry. I just, like, when you did that. It reminded me of someone. Someone I miss. Someone I had to leave when I came here.”
“The surfer guy?”
I lean my back up against the headboard while I wipe under my eyes. “No. It’s a long, complicated story. I don’t want to bore you with it. Let’s just say my coming here was not exactly by choice.”
“Tell me about the guy.” He laughs. “Or should I say guys?”
“Guys, I guess. You really want to hear about it?”
He hands me a coffee and says, “I’ve got all morning.”
Now I have to figure out what to say. What can I say that is close to the truth? What I end up with is a weird combination of truths.
“I sort of got sent here because of a guy.”
“Your parents not like him?”
“Um, there was some trouble. My parents decided to move to France. Told me I was either coming with them or coming here. They deleted my phone, Facebook, everything. I told a guy I thought I loved him, that we would get back together, then I left. Didn’t even get to say goodbye.” Tears trickle down my cheeks. I brush them away quickly.
“That sucks. But you get to talk to the B guy?”
“Yeah. My parents, um, liked him.”
“I can relate.”
“How?”
“I got kicked out of here my freshman year. Parents sent me to military school. Same deal. No friends. No phone. No social media. Very strict. We all have to go to school somewhere. Trust me, there are worse places you could be than here.”
“Did military school suck?”
“For the most part, yes. At least there are girls here.”
“What did you do to get kicked out?”
“Let’s just say I was being pretty reckless and deserved it.”
“Are you still reckless?”
He laughs. “Hell, yeah. Military school is supposed to strip the life out of you. I didn’t let it. You can’t let it. And don’t worry. I’m sure you won’t have any trouble finding a guy here.”
“I already found a guy here. I’ve never felt such an instant connection with anyone ever before.”
“You like Aiden a lot, huh?”
“Yeah. He, like, speaks to my soul. He makes me feel nervous and tongue-tied and I want to run away from him because it scares me. But he’s, like, magnetic. He has this pull on me.”
“Maybe you’re just horny,” he laughs.
“It hasn’t been that long.”
“Oh, do tell.”
“There’s nothing to tell. Even though we broke up, I slept with B my last night at home. It was breakup sex or goodbye sex. But now when he texts me he acts like it was makeup sex.”
“So you need to get over him and the other guy before you can be with Aiden? Is that what you’re thinking?”
“I’m thinking I can’t like Aiden at all.”
I don’t tell him that I promised myself that I wouldn’t fall in love here.
Or that I forget that promise every time Aiden is near me.
“I should suggest we have some revenge sex, but I can’t even bring myself to hit on you. You look pathetic.”
“I don’t want to be hit on, Riley.”
“I know. But the good news for me is that you’re not wearing a bra.”
“Is there any good news for me?”
“Yeah. At least your parents didn’t send you to military school.”
“Maybe they should have. I could do nothing but study and get buff.”
He nods his head, agreeing with me. “That was the one good thing. Wanna see?”
“See what?”
“How buff I am.”
“Only because I know you’re dying to show me.”
“Maybe it will sway you. Make you change your mind about us just being friends. It’s important before we go too far down the friendship path that I know how much willpower you really have.” He pulls his shirt off over his head and shows me a lean, buff, and tan chest. He doesn’t quite have a six-pack yet; more like an adorable four pack. “So what do you think?”
“I’d say military school does a body good.”
He smiles.
Then he raises his eyebrows and says, “Okay, so now it’s your turn.”
“My turn for what?”
“To take your shirt off.”
I laugh at him. “You’re incorrigible.”
“It’s a gift. And, more importantly, I made you laugh.”
The paths you choose.
1:30 pm
Katie was really nervous about getting to dance on time. About fitting into her uniform. About dancing at the scrimmage when we only know one routine. I tell her to go ahead and I’ll meet her later, knowing I need to call Garrett.
But as I scroll down my contact list, I see a D. And I hit it instead.
I figure I’ll have to leave him a message, but at least I can hear his voice.
“Are you okay?” Damian answers right away.
“I’m fine. Where are you?”
“Stockholm, getting geared up for tonight’s concert.”
“I just called to thank you. I never thanked you for taking care of me that night. I’ve been a bad friend. I’m sorry.”
“You’ve never been a bad friend to me. And even if you were, I’d forgive you.”
“I broke down and started crying in front of a boy I barely know today.”
“You had a traumatic experience. Not to mention leaving your friends and family and going off on your own. Are you pretending it’s a new adventure?”
I think about my little sisters and want to start crying again. “I forgot it was your dad who started that when we were little. That’s what we told the girls. I’m worried about them. Do you think this is going to work? Have you heard anything? Are you taking precautions?”
“Yes, to all of the above. We have security built in with the tour. I’ll be fine. James sent me a photo of the guy that I shared with the team. Didn’t tell them why, but they will be on the lookout for him and we’ll get a heads up if he leaves the country. James also said that they had eyes on the guy when you left. That he was in his office all day. It worked. He doesn’t know where you went. You’re safe, Keats. Do you like it there? Is it nice?”
“It actually is. I feel safe. And so far people have been nice. And I met this guy.”
“That doesn’t really surprise me.”
I remember what else Brooklyn told me. “You know how I was maybe going to come here when I was a freshman, before I decided to stay in Malibu?”
“Yeah.”
“B suggested that maybe I fought fate. That fate was sending me here now because there was someone I needed to meet. Do you think that could actually be true? Or did he plant a thought in my brain and now I’m trying to fulfill it?”
Damian laughs. “All that fate stuff is just a little too deep for me. I think you make your own fate by the paths that you choose.”
“I’m not on a path that I chose, Damian.”
“That’s true. Just be safe, try to have some fun, and let fate take care of itself. Hey, I have to go. Break a leg.”
“You break a leg too.”
I scroll down and call Garrett.
“Mom said you wanted me to call?”
“Just wanted to let you know that things are looking good. Vincent has been following some of your friends around looking for information—”
I interrupt him. “Garrett! Did you lie to me? You told me my friends would be fine if I didn’t tell them anything. Where did he follow them?”
“Your friends are fine, because they don’t know anything. Thursday night, your friend Cush got together with, I believe it was, his soccer team. Does that sound right?”
“Yes. He’s the team captain.”
“They were having some kind of party at a pizza place. Let me look at the report. Yeah, it says they were having some kind of going away party.”
“Going away party? For who?”
“Not sure. But the report says Vincent sat beside them and listened to their conversation.”
“Did they say anything about me?”
“There was some discussion about you. All rumors. Really, the more rumors Vincent hears the better, as far as I’m concerned. Then, last night he was at the same club as Vanessa and RiAnne. He even danced with Vanessa.”
“Oh my God! I forgot that Vanessa knows him. Well, she met him once anyway.”
“She did? When?”
“When I came back from Europe. We were at The Chateau pool. He was there. Asked me to go to his room to see the script. Vanessa got introduced to him.”
“That shouldn’t matter. As long as we keep your friends in the dark, they will be safe.”
“You keep saying that. I’m sort of sick of hearing it.”
“And I’m trying to keep you from doing something dumb. Like contacting them.”
I feel like I’m going to cry again. Why me? Why did this have to happen to me?
“I feel like I should warn them or something. I feel guilty.”
Garrett says in a soft, fatherly voice, “Keatyn, move on. You’re at a great school. Try to enjoy it there. It may be your life from now on. I know we said that maybe after six months or so you could come back, but based on what we’ve seen so far, I honestly don’t think you’ll ever be coming back. I know you don’t want to hear that, but it’s the reality of the situation.”
I feel like an elephant just stepped on my chest and crushed the breath out of me. Smashed all my ribs. I grab my chest and try to breathe.
I just need to keep breathing.
Shake my ass.
3:30pm
I pull myself together and put on a happy face for the football scrimmage. I think the shock I feel when I see myself in my dance outfit helps me push it all to the back of my mind.
The outfit I’m wearing is a teeny gold glittery spandex dress. The sides are slit high up on my thighs. The halter neckline shows off my cleavage and leaves my back fully exposed. The briefs we wear under the skirt are gold glitter thongs. Okay, they are bigger than thongs but, still, they do not cover much up. As in, when I dance, I’m pretty sure you can see my ass cheeks—well, part of them anyway.
I know the dance team at my old school wore skimpy outfits and they looked adorable in them. I just never realized how small they are. And I practically lived in a bikini. But when you are in a bikini and everyone else is in pads and full uniforms, you feel kinda exposed.
No wonder all the boys are gaga over the dance team.
I’m out here practically naked!
Peyton comes and stands next to me. “So, I heard you kissed Dawson at the party last night. And my brother.”
“Dawson kissed me. I think he was pretty drunk.”
She sighs. “He was super drunk. Probably why he’s playing so badly today. I’m sure he’s very hung over.” She points out at the field, where Dawson is struggling at quarterback. “He’s a good guy. He took their breakup pretty hard.”
“She kinda glared at me at the party when she saw us talking.”
“Talking? More like he was pawing your chest.”
“I made him stop. So what’s the deal? They’re broken up, right?”
“Yeah, they are. She has a boyfriend in college. Well, we both do now.”
“And let me guess, she broke up with Dawson because you got a college boyfriend, so she had to have one too?”
“I don’t know, maybe.”
“I know how girls like her work. Dawson was a pawn. She traded him up for a rook.”
“It seemed like that, yes.”
“So you’re best friends, huh?”
Peyton kicks the ground. “Yeah.”
“How come you’re always so nice to me when she’s not around but completely ignore me when she is?”
She sighs. “She doesn’t like you.”
“Why? She doesn’t even know me. Never said one word to me.”
“She’s pissed about Dawson. She doesn’t want him, but she doesn’t want anyone else to have him. He kissed you. She’s automatically gonna see you as a threat.”
“I’m not a threat. I don’t have any desire to be like her. I was friends with girls like her at my old school. I don’t care how many friends I end up with here. I just want to know they’re not going to stab me in the back as soon as I turn around.”
“That’d be nice,” she says wistfully. “How do you know all this?”
“Stuff gets around here really fast. Like gossip, rumors. Plus, quiet, cute little Dallas hears everything.”
“You’re right. Stuff does get around. In fact, I’ve heard my brother kinda has a thing for you.”
“He doesn’t. He kinda did, maybe, like on the Ferris wheel and with the clover, but last night he decided that I’m not it.”
“What do you mean?”
“He told me that’s why he had so many girlfriends last year. When he knew they weren’t right, he’d break up with them. He doesn’t want me. Maybe we’ll be friends, though. He seems nice. And he’s, like, the most beautiful boy I’ve ever met, and that’s saying a lot since I grew up around Hollywood.”
“You like him,” she says in a singsong voice, teasing me.
“He doesn’t like me, so I can’t really like him,” I sing back.
Aiden runs down the field past me, leaps up and catches a pass thrown by Logan, the gold team quarterback. He was wide open and runs the ball a few yards for a touchdown. Then he runs right back by me and says, “Boots, how about I get a dance for every point I score?”
“Uh, sure,” I say, and then nervously shake my red and gold metallic pompoms.
“We’re supposed to be cheering for the Red team, Keatyn,” Peyton laughs.
“But they’re all our guys. Shouldn’t we cheer for both sides? And you have to cheer for your brother!”
“You know, he’s gonna score a lot of points. I told you, he likes you. And now you owe him six dances. Oh, wait.” She watches him drill an extra point through the uprights and says, “Make that seven.”
I scream. Shake my pompoms. Shake my ass. It’s a really fun scrimmage.
Because of Dawson’s major hangover, he plays poorly. At one point, he walks behind the bench and throws up on the turf. I feel sorta sorry for him. It’d suck to be in love with someone like Whitney.
Tyrese plays well. He’s a running back and has this little stutter step before he cuts in a certain direction that no one can seem to guard. Plus, he’s pretty big and hard to knock down. Katie has been cheering her heart out. She’s a bit hung over herself. She didn’t take my advice on the only have two drinks thing. Dallas plays defense, linebacker for the gold team. He has some great tackles and sacks Dawson like four times. Coach finally takes Dawson out, and Riley comes in as the red team quarterback.
And then there’s Aiden. I don’t know how it happens, but the Gold team, specifically Logan and Aiden, get on a roll. Aiden catches twelve passes and scores on three of them. He kicks five extra points and two field goals.
Meaning I owe him twenty-nine freaking dances.
After the game, I’m standing with a group of dancers when he comes strolling up, helmet off, hair sexily messed. He even looks beautiful when he’s all sweaty and gross.
He grins at me.
“So, you scored quite a few points out there. You don’t have to dance with me twenty-nine times. I know you said your dance card was already full.”
He stops walking and stands really close to me. “No, you said my dance card was full. And now it is. With you. Twenty-nine dances. That pretty much makes you my date.”
“I promised I’d dance with a couple other people.”
“Fine. Dance with them at the start of the dance. I want all twenty-nine in a row. And then I’m going to kiss you again.”
Pledge my undying love to you.
Ask you to marry me.
Have my babies.
Oh, wait. Sorry. There my imagination goes again.
He glances down at my barely-there dance uniform, raises his eyebrows in amusement, and says, “I saw you cheering for me. You were excited I scored, weren’t you? Can’t wait to dance with me all night.”
“I was standing next to your sister. I had to cheer for you,” I tease.
“See you tonight, Boots.”
Glitter whores.
6 pm
Peyton and I are standing in the coffee shop line after the game.
Whitney struts up to us. “Who picked out the uniforms this year? For God’s sake, you look like glitter whores.”
Peyton stands up a little straighter and says, “The guys really seem to like them.”
“I suppose. Guys are dogs. Are you going to introduce me to the new girl?”
“Uh, sure. Whitney, this is Keatyn Monroe.”
“Nice to meet you,” she says. “Peyton, why don’t you go on. Let us girls get to know each other.”
Oh boy. I know what this means. Queen Bees never say anything mean in front of anyone. They’re like politicians. Plausible deniability. If no one heard it, it didn’t happen.
I put on my fake smile and stand and wait. This should be good.
Peyton nods, puts her head down, and says to me, “You did good your first time out there. Have fun tonight.”
What the hell is wrong with Peyton? She’s confident until she gets around Whitney. Why does she put up with her shit?
But I guess I can’t say much. I was the same way with Vanessa.
As soon as Peyton’s out of earshot, Whitney says, “Heard you kissed Dawson.”
“I . . .”
Her voice drips with venom. “Stay away from him. He’s mine.”
I take a deep breath. I know what I’m about to do is going to piss her off. But I don’t care. She has a college boyfriend, supposedly, was making out with Jake, is making Dawson miserable, and she has the nerve to tell me to stay away from him? Uh, no. No one is ever going to tell me again who I can and cannot date.
“You were kissing Jake at the party. Why do you even care?”
“Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but I can make your life miserable here. Stay away from him.”
I’m Abby fucking Johnston’s daughter is what I want to say.
But I don’t need that.
I’m going to make it on my own.
And my own knows how to play the one-up-you game quite well.
“You don’t have to worry. I don’t want what you have. Besides, my boyfriend already graduated from college.” Well, my ex-boyfriend. But those are just details.
Then I turn on my heel and walk away from her, purposely shaking my glitter whore ass for all the boys in the coffee shop.
Knock his socks off.
7pm
I’m in the dance locker room, eating pizza with the most of the girls on the dance team. We’re laughing and getting ready for the dance. I don’t know many of the girls very well yet, but my initial impression is that they all seem to be very friendly. I’ve been surprised that I have yet to hear one catty comment from anyone. They all seem to get along and have gone out of their way to make me, Katie, and Bethany, the other new member of the team, feel welcome.
My first day here, I looked casual in the knit dress, the cowboy boots, and straight hair. For the carnival, I looked mostly sweet. The little print dress. My hair in a pouf. The leopard wedges definitely gave it an edge, but mostly I’ve looked like a good girl.
Tonight, I’m going to give them a different Keatyn. I’m wearing an Herve Leger black bandage dress. Mom wore this dress to a premiere in London last year. Kym told me I should pack it and wear it tonight for the dance. That it would look killer on me, which is good. The dress has a plunging halter neckline and a body-hugging design that leaves nothing hidden. Every curve of my body is amplified in this dress. And it’s ass-skimmingly short. But, actually, a little longer than the dance team dress I just took off. My shoes are black platform peep-toe Louboutins covered with studs. Tough girl shoes. The only jewelry I’m wearing is my locket and a large silver cuff bracelet.
I’m curling my hair into a riot of big, sexy, just-got-out-of-bed-but-my-hair-looks-ah-mazing supermodel curls.
I do my make up simply, with pretty pink lips and blush, but then add dark, smoky eyes.
I think I look pretty damn good.
At least I’m feeling kinda sexy.
Tonight I look like a bad girl.
And that’s good because somehow I have to get through twenty-nine dances with the God of all Hotties.
And I really want to knock his socks off, and maybe a few other articles of clothing as well.
Twenty-nine songs.
8:30pm
I go to the dance with Katie and Maggie, another cool girl from the dance team. Peyton ditched us to go get ready with Whitney and crew. Which is typical. I don’t care one way or another, but I am glad I don’t have to walk in here alone. We make a pretty good-looking entrance. Katie looks cute in a slinky royal blue dress that shows off her ample cleavage. Maggie is wearing a gorgeous copper-colored dress. It looks really pretty against her auburn hair and tanned skin.
I’m looking for Aiden when Dallas walks right past me, gives me a complete look over, and then walks away.
“Dallas!”
He turns around, looks confused for a second, and then says, “Holy shit, Kiki! Look at you! I didn’t even recognize you. You look freaking hot!”
“I think you owe me a dance.”
“Hell yeah, I do.”
He leads me out to the dance floor. Grinds with me. Jumps around crazily. I should have known he’d be fun to dance with. I dance a long DJ remix of songs with him.
Then another.
Finally he says, “I’m dying of thirst.”
We walk to the drink table and grab a couple bottles of water. “Hey, you wanna go to the cave later?”
“Maybe. Did you hear I owe Aiden like thirty dances?”
“I heard it was twenty-nine. One for every point he scored.”
“You hear way too much.”
“Well, I’m more worried about what I didn’t hear.”
“What’s that?”
“I didn’t hear what happened with you and Riley this morning. Other than that he brought you coffee in bed and planned on not letting you out of it.”
“Nothing happened.”
“Kiki, seriously. We talked about this. No fibbing.”
“Okay, so I tried to put the moves on him, but he turned me down. Told me he just wanted to be friends.” I try hard not to laugh.
“No way,” he says. “You’re lying.”
“Fine. I had a breakdown and cried on his shoulder.”
“Seriously. The cave tonight. We’ll chill, have some fun.”
“Maybe.”
Riley walks up behind us, grabs me around the waist, turns me toward him, and takes in my outfit. “God damn, baby, you look tough. Hot. Fuck-me-in-the-bathroom hot. Speaking of that.” He grins at me.
“I’m not going in the bathroom with you. You had your chance this morning.”
He laughs. “Yeah, right.” Then he grabs both Dallas’ and my hands and pulls us out onto the dance floor.
Riley’s dancing is naughty. Plain and simple. Seriously, I think we could get expelled for this. One hand is cupping my ass, he’s grinding into my hips, and the other hand is running down my arms, in my hair. Thank goodness the dance floor is packed by now, and we’re in the middle of the pack, surrounded by people doing their own version of the bump and grind.
“I have to pee,” I tell him after quite a few songs.
“You’re just trying to get me in the bathroom, right?”
I roll my eyes at him and walk off the dance floor. The boys stay out there. Riley has another girl grinding her butt against him almost before I step away.
I look around for Aiden.
Where is he, anyway?
As I work my way through the crowded dance floor, I walk by Jake. He’s dancing near Whitney, Peyton, and a couple other perfectly-dressed girls.
Jake yells, “Monroe.” Then he grabs my arm and pulls me against him.
“Hey, Jake. Having fun?” I ask, as I dance with him briefly.
“Oh yeah,” he says.
I lean in close to his ear and whisper, “Thanks for the dance. I’ll catch you later, okay?”
I really do have to pee.
He nods at me and goes back to dancing with the girls.
I pee, make sure my makeup looks okay, and head out the bathroom door.
As I come out of the bathroom, Dawson grabs my arm and pulls me off to the side. I’m afraid for a moment that he’s going to try and kiss me again.
“Whitney knows we kissed,” he says.
“Uh, everyone knows we kissed.”
“I’m sorry, okay. I was pretty drunk. I’m still so hung over.”
“You should come with a warning label. Do Not Kiss When Drunk. It was horrible.”
“Sorry. I . . . I’m sorry. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“So, I saw you out there grinding on my brother. What’s up with you two anyway?”
“I want in his pants, and he won’t let me, basically.” I walk away from Dawson, who still has his mouth hanging open in astonishment.
Tee hee.
I look around for the god. He’s nowhere to be found, but I do see Whitney marching toward me. She looks perfect, except for a hint of wrinkle between her perfectly arched brows. Am I in trouble because Jake grabbed me? I thought she had some hot college boyfriend?
“Just who do you think you are?”
