“How was your lunch?”
“Sucked without you. What were you talking about over here?”
“Did you know your brother slammed Aiden up against a locker yesterday for talking shit about us?”
“Everyone knows that.”
“I didn’t.”
“I was going to tell you. I didn’t want to hurt your feelings. Or make you regret it.”
“People suspect. They don’t know. Speaking of that. Do you want to again? I mean, I thought that would be, like, all you’d want.”
He kisses my nose. “I don't want us to be about just sex. I like you.”
“I like you too.”
“But trust me, I want to. I’m just trying to be good.
“Good, cuz I do too. Like soon.”
No response.
French
Dawson walks me to French and kisses me until the bell rings. I’m in a good mood until I walk in and see Aiden’s stupid face and remember what he said about me.
I turn around and say, “Heard about practice yesterday. Good to know you think so highly of me. Obviously, tutoring you is out of the question.”
He doesn’t respond.
A fake ass-kicking.
5:40pm
I call Mom.
I know she probably won’t answer, but I call anyway. At least she’ll see my missed call. I’m surprised when Tommy answers her phone.
“How’s life, baby?”
“It’s okay. How come you're not filming right now?”
He clears his throat. “Well, your mom is. She’s kissing our co-star as we speak. I can’t watch. Good news is, later in the movie, I get to kick his ass.”
“Yeah, but it’s a fake ass-kicking.”
“Well, you know, sometimes you forget a step in a choreographed fight scene, and sometimes the punches actually connect. It’s really unfortunate, but it happens.”
“You’re bad.”
He laughs.
“Hey, off the wall question, but why is your hair always long?”
“Hiding my horns, probably.” He laughs a full-on belly laugh.
“So you are a satyr.”
“Hell, no. I played Zeus. I was a god. So, what’s going on with the god and Gorgeous?”
“They’re not going anywhere with the god. He told the guys that Gorgeous is just using me. I hate him, and I will not be tutoring him. Gorgeous kinda asked me to go out with him. I told him it was too soon. That we shouldn’t have to label our relationship. Wonder where I heard that from? Speaking of that, are you and Mom ever going to get married?”
“Are you sure you didn’t say no to a relationship because you are in love with the god?”
“I can’t love a jerk, so clearly I cannot be in love with him.”
“And to answer your question, yes. I do want to marry your mother. Hopefully sometime in the next year.”
“Really? That’s so exciting. Okay, so I have to go.”
“Break a leg, baby.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Good luck with your boy issues.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
Oh, shit. My bad.
7:30pm
Dawson is lying on top of me kissing me. One of the perks of being a senior is having your own room. Still don’t get your own bathroom though. His room and Jake’s connect through a shared one. Dawson has his door locked, but just about the time he has my red Cougar polo pulled up and his hand up my skirt, Jake walks in through the bathroom door, saying, “Hey Dawes.” Then, “Oh, shit. My bad.”
And it sorta breaks the mood.
Well, my mood. Dawson is still in full horndog mode.
He’s kissing my neck. Running his hands up my sides.
Finally I say, “Um, Dawes?”
And he’s like, “What, Keatie?”
“Can we just talk for a minute. Start over maybe? Sorry, that kinda embarrassed me.”
“Really? Oh. I’m sorry.”
He gets off the bed, sits in his desk chair, and pulls on his shirt.
“Okay, so shoot. Whatcha wanna talk about?”
“Tell me about your parents, your family.” Shit. Why did I say that? He’ll ask me about mine next to be polite.
“Boring,” he laughs. “Well, okay, so there’s me and Riles, and I told you about Camden. He’s a freshman at Columbia. Then we have a younger brother, Braxton. He’s in eighth grade and can’t wait to come here next year. Dad is a bond trader. Mom used to be a doctor, but she finally gave it up after she had Brax. We’re pretty close. We live in Manhattan, have the place in the Hamptons. That’s about it. What about you?”
I’m really impressed that even though he didn’t want to stop messing around, he did, just because I asked. He didn’t even give me a hard time about it.
And that makes me adore him.
It also makes me want him.
I smile at him, unzip his shorts, straddle him, and make him forget any questions he might have.
A little bit later, he’s lazily kissing my check. “That was amazing. You always surprise me. It’s so freaking hot. I thought we were gonna just sit here and talk. Well, until you attacked me.”
“I guess I couldn’t resist you any longer. Plus, it’s been a couple days, and you’ve been good. Like, you haven't been all sex, sex.”