“No, but, never mind. I’ll take care of it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’ll just talk to Aiden.”
“And why would you do that?”
“He needs to stop flirting with my girl.”
“Oh my gosh. Seriously?”
“You think I’m being dumb, right?”
I get a big grin on my face. “I think what you need is a talking to.” I push him gently with both my hands, but I gesture big, which made it look like I was trying to push him hard. He lets himself get pushed up against the brick wall that surrounds the stairs going up to the bleachers.
I grab the front of his shirt and get in close to his face. “You need to behave, Dawson,” I say then kiss him hard. He wraps his arms tightly around me and gets all worked up.
“You make me so hot. Can we go back to my dorm? Or we could have some fun out here. Wanna go up in the bleachers?”
“No time. Plus, I have my period. You’ll have to make do with kisses for tonight. And any other night you act like a jealous boy.”
Monday, September 19th
A whole lotta love.
7:40am
We’re just finishing up another ass-crack-of-dawn Social Committee meeting.
“Okay,” Brad says. “Let’s meet again on Thursday morning.”
I groan and roll my eyes.
Aiden, who is sitting next to me, says, “Why don’t we meet on Thursday for dinner? The JV team has a bye week.”
I mouth I love you to him.
He cocks his head to the right and gives me a smirk.
“You know what I mean. I’m just thankful I don’t have to get up so early. I love you for suggesting a later meeting. These are about killing me.”
He doesn’t reply. Just nods his head and keeps grinning.
As we’re walking to get coffee, he says to me, “You gonna dance with me at the after party?”
“I’m sure I’ll be dancing with everyone. We want it to be a shake-your-ass-bump-and-grind-with-everyone kind of thing. See you missed out on that with your twenty-nine slow dances.”
“I loved our dances. I love to dance with you.”
“Why don't you just say it?” I arch an eyebrow at him.
“Say what?”
“You love me.”
“Naw, not yet.”
“Still, you were throwing out a whole lotta love there.”
As he runs his hand through his hair, I notice a bead of sweat just below his hairline. For once, Aiden looks like a normal, nervous boy.
He changes the subject. “You have really good ideas. Like seriously.”
“Only for parties.” I laugh.
“Naw, you have that thing. That think outside the box thing. It’s like you think anything is possible. It’s refreshing.”
“Well, whatever we can dream, we can do, right?”
His green eyes glisten and he says quietly, “I sure hope so.”
“Aiden! Have you been dreaming about me?”
He blushes.
Seriously. He actually blushes. And I was just teasing.
I mean, I’ve had dreams about him.
But he BLUSHED!
That means his dreams were sexual!
“Aiden!?”
“What?”
“You’ve had dreams about me. Tell me about them.”
“No.”
“Come on. I'll tell you one I had about you. It was naughty.”
I get the smile, the mega watt can’t-look-directly-into-it-like-the-sun-cuz-it-hurts-your-eyes smile. “Do tell,” he says.
“No, you go first. Did we have sex in your dream?”
“Yes.” His mouth looks playful. The corners of it are turning up, but his eyes make me feel like I’m standing naked in front of him.
“Tell me.”
He doesn’t answer. Instead he asks, “Did we have sex in yours?”
“If I tell you that, I have to tell you the whole dream.”
“If I’m going to tell you, I need to smoke. Meet me at the cave tonight.”
Katie, Annie, Maggie, and me are having a girls’ night to celebrate my Student Council victory and so that I can attempt to thank them for all their help. I ordered in Chinese food for us. We eat, paint each other’s nails, gossip, and drink some nasty screw-top wine.
We discuss who we hope will ask us to Homecoming and who might be possible backups. They tell me about all the grand ways in which boys here ask you to the dance. They sound like mini wedding proposals. They go on and on about all the romantic things they have seen. Maggie tells us how Logan asked her last year. How he ordered her a big cookie cake that said Homecoming? in frosting. I think about how Sander asked me last year. It was something like, Once you pick out a dress, you’ll have to go shopping with me so we can match. I don’t think he ever actually asked.
Tuesday, September 20th
He thinks he’s a sex god.
8:20am
I think I drank a little too much wine last night. Or maybe it was just because I was already tired, but it totally relaxed me and I was completely crashed out by eleven.
I missed meeting Aiden at the cave and I saw this morning that he called and texted me, but I didn’t hear my phone. I didn’t even hear my alarm go off. Thank goodness Katie had hers set too.
I have a bit of a headache, so I pick out something cute to wear.
I firmly believe that Gucci shoes have the ability to cure a hangover. Kym always says that when people with hangovers dress sloppily, they feel sloppy all day. So, I’m dressing for how I want to feel. A cute white oxford shirt with an oversized black bow tie neck. Plaid skort. Black cardigan. Black over-the-knee socks with ribbon ties. Gucci black patent and suede platform oxford booties. Matching Jimmy Choo black patent bag.
In History, Riley flicks the ribbons on my socks. “How are things going with you and my brother?”
“Good, I think. He got mad at me the other night, though, and was acting kinda jealous.”
“Would you rather have a guy that doesn’t care?”
“I guess not.”
“He told me you were with Aiden the other night.”
“And Annie and a bunch of people studying for our French test.”
“In a hot tub?”
“Well, that was the plan. Regardless, it was fun. And I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“So you’re not in love with the Hottie God anymore?”
“That wasn’t love. I just, I thought he was cute, and he has a certain charm about him, but he tells me he likes me one minute and then he hates me the next.”
“He told you he likes you? Was this recently?”
“Um, no. It was a while ago. What about you? You and Ariela are cute together. She seems a little too sweet for you, though.”
He flicks my hair.
“Hey!”
“What do you mean she’s too sweet for me?”
“Well, she’s not like the whoredom girls.”
“She’s not.” He grins big.
“Why are you grinning so much?”
“Cuz I like that about her. She doesn’t want to have sex with me until we’re going out and in love and stuff.”
“Do you want her to fall in love with you? Usually you’re good with just lust.”
“Yeah, well, I really like her. I’m not just a sex god, you know,” he laughs. “Hooking up is fun, but I think it’d be cool to do it with the same person. Truthfully, my brother has been so happy, I kinda want to be that way too.”
“Your brother is happy because all of a sudden he thinks he’s a sex god.”
Riley laughs out loud.
The teacher says, “Riley, do you have something you’d like to share with the class?”
Riley clears his throat, trying to stop laughing. “No, sir.”
As we’re leaving class, I can’t help but give him a big hug.
“What’s that for?”
“My wittle Wiley is growing up and falling in wuuuuv.”
“Do not tell anyone I said that. We don’t want to ruin my reputation just yet.”
He can go it alone.
French
I walk into class where Aiden is sitting at his desk, book open, doing some last minute studying.
“Hey, sorry about last night. Did you not get my text this morning?”
“Yeah, I got it. Just didn’t have anything to say back.”
He’s pissed at me. Again.
“Oh. Um, I think you’re gonna do good on the test. Good luck.”