She leans in and whispers, “So, I was flirting with hottie Cooper this morning.”
“Peyton, don’t do that.”
“Why not? There’s no one here I want to date.”
“What about Brad?”
“Hmm, let’s see. Pretty little boy Brad versus a manly tattooed hottie. Um, no. Besides, I’m pretty sure that he was flirting back. Whitney wants him too. But I’m not going to let her win.”
“Peyton, look, this thing you have going on with Whitney. I know what you’re trying to do. And, I swear, it’s going to backfire on you.”
“No way. I’m not afraid of her anymore. You were right. It’s silly of me to let her hold that over my head. I was a minor. What good would it do if it came out now? Sure, it’d be embarrassing, but pretty soon I’ll be at college far away from here. And her. By the way, I saw what Dawson did in front of your dorm.”
“What do you mean?”
She grins. “Looks like you have two boys trying to woo you.”
I decide to stop by my dorm to see what she’s talking about before I make my way down to the gym.
Maggie is outside, writing all over the sidewalk with chalk.
“Doesn’t it look amazing?”
“It’s really pretty,” I tell her, looking at all the messages the girls in our dorm have written to welcome the prospective students. “How was the library with Jake? I asked him about it and he wouldn’t tell me. He always tells me.”
She grins, full on. “It was good. Very much a friend thing. I’m pretty sure we are in the same boat.”
“The friend boat?”
“Yeah. You still in that with Aiden?”
“I’m not sure anymore. Last night he told me we were going to be together for a long time. Does that seem weird to you?”
“Not if you feel the same way. But, wait, I thought you went to the game with Dawson?”
“I did. And I was bad. Again. We decided we weren’t going to anymore, but we did.”
“You have no willpower.”
“You’re right. Dawson is like me satisfying my sweet tooth. When I’m having something sweet, I love it, but then when I’m done, I feel guilty.”
“Because of the calories?”
I laugh. “Yes. Dawson is a five layer chocolate cake with ganache filling. Impossible to resist, but leaves you feeling a little guilty after.”
“He stopped by here earlier. Did you see it?”
“Peyton said something about it.”
Maggie grabs my arm and pulls me toward the dorm. There on the first step, near where he always sits and waits for me, is a huge pink heart. It says: Dawson + Keatie.
“Oh, that’s so sweet!”
Dawson grabs me around my waist. “I’m glad you think it’s sweet. I have something else sweet for you in my dorm. Come on.”
As we walk next door, I say, “Did you see your brother’s neck? He has new hickeys over the old ones.”
“Did you see my brother’s stomach?”
“We’ve never done that, you know. Given each other hickeys.”
“You’ve given me a couple little ones before,” he says, pulling me into his bedroom and sucking hard on my neck. “Want me to give you one?”
“Not really,” I laugh. “You know, we kind of missed out on all that. The kissing for hours, the hickeys, and all that.”
“Is that what you want? For me to write Dawes across your stomach?” He immediately puts his lips on my stomach, which is exposed in my game day dance uniform. “Maybe I’ll just put my football number on you. Mark my territory.”
“Uh . . .”
“I’m just playing. Tell you what. Let’s just make out.”
I smile at him. “That sounds like fun.”
We kiss for a few minutes.
But when he pulls me on top of him, our kissing gets deeper, and both our hips start that little movement toward each other.
“Keatie, you gotta stop that.”
“Stop what?”
“Every time you kiss me, you move your hips into me, and you keep making those sexy little noises. I don’t know how much more I can take.”
“That’s cuz you keep pushing my butt into your leg and moving it against me.”
I roll off him and wrap both my arms up around my head. He puts his hand across my exposed stomach and then down inside my dance pants.
I moan, then sigh and try to shake this desire. “What happened to just kissing?”
He runs his hand further down, pulling my pants down in the process. “I don’t think that’s gonna happen,” he says huskily, as I use his feet to kick my pants the rest of the way off.
He pulls off my thong while I try to undo his belt. I finally get it undone, unzip his shorts, and pull down the front of his boxers. He holds my hands down above my head with one hand, while he slides off his shorts and boxers.
Then he grins at me and says, “We’re just gonna kiss.”
I wrap my legs around his waist in agreement. “Yeah, we’ll just kiss.”
Dawson may not touch my soul, but the parts he does touch, he makes feel really good.
After we get dressed, Dawson says, “I’m starved. Let’s go get lunch.”
We’re now sitting at the lunch table, probably looking way too happy.
Bryce says to me, “So, what’s going on with you two? I saw the It’s complicated thing, but then I heard you had a date with Aiden.”
“We’re allowed to date other people,” Dawson answers.
“So, you’re still hooking up?”
Dawson laughs and says, “Um, we decided we’re just gonna kiss.”
My phone makes a little email ding, telling me I have a message from Grandma.
Grandpa says you want to know the difference between love and true love. Joan Crawford said this, “Love is a fire, but whether it’s going to warm your heart or burn down your house, you can never tell.”
Dawson and I are the only ones left at the lunch table, so I ask him, “Do you believe in true love?”
“Uh, I think so, why?”
“Do you think you just know?”
“Like love at first sight? Romantic fairy tale stuff? I though what we just did in my room was pretty damn romantic.”
“Our just kissing was romantic?”
“Hell, yeah.”
I tilt my head and look at him, like Seriously?
“Okay, so it probably wasn’t romantic. It was hot. Sexy. That’s what all this is about, huh? The romance? We have the sex, but not the romance? Wasn’t last night romantic?”
“Dinner was romantic.”
“So early dinner and then tonight after the game you’re mine, right?”
“I think I already was yours.”
He laughs. “Naw, we just kissed.”
Just kiss.
1pm
After lunch, I do all the stuff Brad asked me to, then go to the small auditorium where all the student guides are meeting to get instructions about what we’re expected to do with the visiting students. Aiden sits down next to me as I’m studying the photos of the two girls who are going to be Katie’s and my roommates.
“So, tonight, we’re doing dinner before the game, right? I have something special planned.”
“Oh, um, I didn’t know that you planned something. I was trying to be fair, so I told Dawson I would hang out with him tonight. Then tomorrow, all day—well, except for the party after curfew—I’m yours. Like, if you want.”
“Bryce told me you and Dawson decided you’re just gonna kiss for now.”
I blush and look down, hoping he didn’t notice.
“Well, we’re going to try.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “I don’t like this.”
“Don’t like what?”
“You dating him one night and me the next. It sucks.”
“But you’re the one who told me to date you both.”
“Yeah, I know,” he says with a sigh as he runs his hand through his hair. “So, are you okay with that?”
“Okay with what?”
“With me dating you one night and someone else the next?”
“You can do whatever you want.”
He sweetly puts his forehead against mine. “I haven’t dated anyone else this year. Don’t know why I’d start now.”
I bite the edge of my lip, trying to suppress a smile.
He lets out a loud laugh. “You love getting your way, don’t you?”
My little smile breaks into a full-on grin. I can't help it.
He squints his eyes at me. “You like that I’m a little jealous.”
“Kinda.”