“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.”