“Can I get a clone of you? Seriously?”
I start to say something, but Bryce interrupts me. “What the heck is on the football?”
In front of him, Annie says, “Looks like a four-leaf clover to me.”
Dawson says, “That’s for Notre Dame, like the fighting Irish, right? Why would they put that on our footballs? Shouldn’t it be a cougar paw?”
I look out and see that Riley is getting ready to toss a pass to Aiden. And on the football is a marker-drawn, green four-leaf clover outlined in black.
And I think I just passed out.
Toying with my force field.
9:45pm
Dawson has a paper due, so I’m getting ready to leave after giving him just a few kisses. Well, okay, we were making out a bit, and his hands were everywhere under my shirt. But I drew the line when he was trying to undo my shorts.
“We both have homework. You told me to promise to make you do it.”
“Oh, I wanna do it, alright.”
“Dawson! Behave!”
“Sorry, okay. I’ll text you before I go to sleep.”
“K, bye.”
As I round the corner to go down the hall, I almost run into Aiden.
Who is looking more god-like than ever in a plain white T-shirt that clings to his perfectly formed chest.
He grabs my hand and nods his head toward the stairs.
I follow him up to his room.
He shuts his door, locks it, and dazzles me with a smile. “So, only had twelve tonight. But we won!”
“Yeah, you all played great. Riley’s really stepping up.”
“That and we had a secret weapon.”
“What’s that?”
“Motivation.”
“I saw the clovers on the footballs. That your doing?”
“Yeah. This girl wished me luck and offered me dances. So I gave a little motivational speech before the game. Showed everyone that I drew them on the game balls, prayed Coach wouldn’t kill me, and it was a big hit. We went out there pretty pumped up.”
“It was awesome, really.”
“I didn’t have a chance to pick twelve new songs. Okay if we do some of the old ones?”
“Are we dancing tonight?”
“Heck yeah.”
He hits play on his iPod and pulls me in close. We sway to the music and he gets so close to me. Like before. It’s like our faces have a force field around only them.
And he is toying with my force field.
Like, he’s firing shots, trying to find its weakness.
And what’s up with that?
Because I clearly told Kirk, or Scotty, or whoever is in charge of that stuff on the starship, Shields down!
But he will not kiss me. He is totally teasing me, totally playing with me, and it pisses me off, and makes me weak at the knees at the same time.
Remember how I said it feels like time stands still when I kiss him? It feels that way when I dance with him too. Like we are the only two people on this green earth, and we’re okay with that. And, before I realize it, we’ve gone through not just twelve songs, but all twenty-nine on his original playlist. Rap music blares on, and I look at the clock.
Holy shit!
Shit!
“Aiden! I’m thirty-six minutes late!”
I go tearing out of his room, down the stairs, and sprint to my dorm.
I check in and receive a very stern warning and over one hundred minutes of detention.
Worth. Every. Second.
I mean, our team won, right?
I’m still downstairs, dealing with being late. There’s paperwork that has to be filled out for my detention. Now that she’s done chewing me out and focusing on that, I check my phone.
I have texts. Lots of texts.
Dawson: Almost done with my paper. Night, Keatie <3
Katie: You are 12 minutes late for curfew. Where are you?
Katie: Texted Dawson, to tell you you were late. You are not with him???? Where are you??? And now you are 15 minutes late!
Dawson: Where are you? I thought you were going back to your dorm?
Katie: I’m freaking out. 18 minutes late.
Katie: Text me for god’s sake.
Maggie: Katie is trying to find you. Where are you?
Annie: Why aren’t you in your dorm? Why aren’t you answering? Katie says Dawson doesn’t know where you are.
Dawson: Text me when you get in. Katie’s freaking out.
Katie: You ARE 27 MINUTES LATE!!!!
Dallas: Heard you are MIA, have a sneaking suspicion you are tutoring. If so, use Dallas as your excuse. I will always have your back. But you better text me back and tell me what the deal is.
Katie: 32 MINUTES!!
Me to Katie: I’m in the dorm. Will be up in a few. Getting my ass chewed first. Tell everyone you were texting I’m fine.
Katie: THANK GOD!
Me to Dallas: I love you, seriously. And you are correct. I told you he is a powerful one. I got lost in his eyes and lost all track of time.
Dallas: Why do I have a feeling you have something to do with the four-leaf clover on the footballs tonight. He gave you one before dance tryouts, right?