I have no idea really what they’re even talking about. Something about girls. I just nod my head yes.
Riley grabs Dallas’ phone and sets it in front of me. "Look at this!" Riley scrolls though the list of the eight girls that he's currently talking to.
"Dallas! You're talking to all these girls?"
Dallas grins. “Well, you know, just keeping my options open."
And Riley says, “Dawes, you never play COD with us anymore.”
“I’d much rather hang with Keatie than play COD with you douches.”
“Yeah, cuz we won’t put our hands where hers is. Well, Bryce might. I’m pretty sure he’s gay.”
I try to move my hand, but Dawson covers it with his napkin and makes it stays put.
Bryce says, “I used to be gay with Dawes, but he ditched me for Kiki.”
Dawson laughs.
Then Bryce says, “Keatyn, you gotta set me up with a hottie, but she has to be a low maintenance girl like you.”
“I’m not sure being low maintenance is a good thing.”
“Sure it is.”
“I’m not sure it’s a good thing,” I say again. “Maybe girls just want to know they’re worth a little effort. Think of the effort you put into beating a video game or into memorizing all your football plays. Is it too much to ask for just some of that same attention?”
Ace has been listening to me very closely. I forget how smart he is when I look at him. He totally looks like a dumb jock. “That’s a good point, Keatyn.”
Riley looks thoughtful and nods his head in agreement. I watch him take out his phone and send a sweet text to Ariela.
The boys go on and on discussing sex versus video games.
Dawson whispers in my ear, “Let’s get out of here.” He throws some money down on the table and grabs my hand as we stand up. “We’re gonna go. We have, uh, some errands to run before we go back to school."
I wave at everyone. “Bye. See ya.”
Riley goes, “What kind of errands, exactly?”
Dawson flips him off.
Take them off.
9pm
It's dark outside now. When we get to Dawson's car, he starts kissing me. He has my back against his car door, and he's kissing me fast and with a lot of tongue. Deep, plunging kisses that make me grab the back of his neck and pull him in tighter.
He runs his hand up my dress, grabs ahold of my panties, and pulls them quickly down to my knees.
"Take them off,” he tells me.
Normally I don't like to be told what to do, or given commands, but I do it, no questions asked.
"Right here?"
He goes, “Mhmm.”
"Dawson! No! There are people around!"
He leans into me, his weight pressing into my chest. His breathing is ragged. “This is what I have been thinking about all through dinner. I want to do it like this. Up against my car. Without one.”
“We might scratch it,” I tease him.
He grabs my ass, picks me up off the ground, and pulls my legs around his waist so I can feel just how worked up he is. “I wouldn't care,” he says.
He wouldn't care if he got a scratch? This is a guy that just parked two blocks from the restaurant and takes up two parking spots, so he doesn't get a door ding. He wipes his car off with cloth diapers. And the day the school’s sprinklers turned on it and it got all water spotted, I thought he was going to have a coronary.
But the way he's got his body pushed up against me, I know he’s not playing around. "You better get us somewhere more private then."
He drives to the park where the lake is and pulls off in a desolate treed area. The kind of place where people get killed in horror movies.
The second I get out of the car, he full on attacks me. Pushes my back up against the passenger door. Then he picks me up, wraps my legs around his waist, and cups my butt in his hands. He brings his lips down harshly on mine as he pushes into me.
Dawson talks about nothing on the short ride back to school but how amazing it was. How different it felt without a condom. How amazing he feels.
When he walks me to my door, he says, “I wish you could sleep with me.”
“Why don’t you come sleep with me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like, sneak out of your room, sneak in my window and sleep, actually sleep, tonight. We can set my alarm for four or something, and you can sneak back to your room. Katie sleeps hard. If you’re quiet, I don’t think she’ll even know.”
At one o’clock he crawls through my window. “You’re sure you set the alarm for 4:30, right?”
“Right.”
“What do you have on?” He runs his hands slowly across my body like he’s blind and I’m braille.
What I’m wearing is sleep shorts and a tank top. What I say is, “Armor.”
He laughs. “Don’t worry. You wore me out tonight.” He kisses softly down the side of my neck, “Well, sorta, I mean I could probably do it again if you wanted to.”
I pull him into bed with me. “Dawson, go to sleep.”
Wednesday, September 21st
I’d bite you. Make you mine.
5:45pm