by Jillian Dodd
Me: Library 20 min?
Hottie God: My room 20 min.
Me: NO!
Hottie God:Fine. Library it is.
I’m sitting on the floor of my dorm. Our usual hangout spot, looking at all the signs they have made and feeling bad that they did all that work. There wasn’t really anything else to do during the day, they complained, so it was fun.
“And we even got Carson and Logan and some of the guys to help us, ordered chinese, it was fun.”
“Yeahhhhh and Carson and Katie KISSSSSEEDDDD!!!!!” (Poor Katie. I deleted her kissing Carson, I think.)
“Wait, what about Tyrese?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Katie tells me. “He’s fun, but he doesn’t seem to want to be serious, and I want a serious boyfriend. Carson is a cutie and Logan is a hottie, like really a hottie. And so is Dallas. I think he might have been flirting with me.”
“Well as soon as this campaign is over, I’m taking you all out for Mexican or something.”
Annie says, “So I just put this on facebook, it’s kinda mean, but I don’t care. It says, Gossiping with the girls in Keatyn’s room, hearing ALLL about her and Dawson’s weekend in NYC.”
“Tell me you didn’t tag him.”
“Oh, I did.”
Maggie asks, So, how was meeting his parents? Riley told us you met them.”
“It was good. They liked me, I think. We talked, I mean I can talk to anyone, have good manners, I wasn’t worried. Well, I was worried, I want them to like me. It was so cute when Dawson said, Mom, Dad, this is my GIRLFRIEND, Keatyn Monroe. I about died. Then his mom kept trying to figure out who I remind her of. Some one on TV she thought.”
“I know who you look like,” Annie says. “We watched Running with the Angels this weekend, and we decided you remind us of Abby Johnston. Like you sorta look like her, but it’s like your more your motions, gestures, the way you tilt your head. Her voice and mannerisms are so much like yours, it’s crazy.”
“Weird,” I say. (This is just stupid, really. The whole premise of her running to the East coast to figure out who she is. And lying about it. I would so hate her if I found out. At least in the published version, she lied with good reason. This was just… wrong.)
Now would be the perfect time to tell them. It really would, but I don’t.
Annie coos, “Sooooo, you and Dawes all alone, did you, you know, did you sleep with him?”
“Well of course I slept with him. He says I like to snuggle. He makes me feel so safe and happy, and did you see the cake and how he asked me to homecoming?”
“Yeah we saw, and sleeping isn’t what we meant.”
Maggie blurts out, “Ohmigawd, did you have sex or what?”
“Look, I don’t want to disappoint you guys, but I don’t really think it’s anyone’s business, and I don’t want it getting around school either way. So I’m gonna have to say no comment.”
Annie looks at me, trying to size me up. “That means you did it.”
“No it doesn’t. It means I don't’ want people talking about whether we did or didn’t, so I’m saying no comment either way.”
Katie huffs, “Okay, so you did some stuff, right?”
“Yeah, I can say we did some stuff.”
Maggie starts to play along, “And was that stuff, whatever it was, good, fun?”
My eyes get all dreamy, I know, but I can’t help it.
“It was very good, very fun. He says he loves me. Says he’s never breaking up with me. I can probably also say that he looks extremely good naked. He is seriously hot. All of him.”
“Ahhhh,” Annie giggle screams.
Maggie continues, “So did he tell you those things before or after the good and very fun stuff?”
“No, that was like when he asked me out. I haven’t told him I love him yet. But’s he’s said it to me quite a bit. I just worry that he hasn’t settled things in his mind with Peyton yet. I’m afraid when he does it’s going to end badly for me.” (Ha. Maggie is tricky and trying to pry it out of her. Also, this scene did end up happening, just a little differently.)
“I don’t think that will happen,” Katie says sweetly, touching my arm. “Her and Jake are going strong, like she was making out with him.”
“Jake doesn’t seem to be very happy with how things are going. And why aren’t they in his room, doing private stuff yet? I’m not talking sex, but even just like good making out, under the clothes kind of stuff.”
“Maybe she wants to make him wait. I heard she’s pretty prude, even though her and Dawes did.”
“I got the impression that it wasn’t that great sexually between her and Dawes. I really don’t know how it couldn’t be though, he is so hot.”
“Does he make you hot?” Katie is raising her eyebrows up and down at me.
“Oh, yeah, very. Okay, so I will tell y’all one thing.” They all move in a little closer, rapt with anticipation. “At the game the other night, when I had on his big sweatshirt, he put his hands inside it and was like just sweetly rubbing my sides, my stomach and then pretty soon his hands were, uh in my underwear, rubbing me. Oh my gosh, that was like the hottest thing. Being there with all you around, and no one knows. I have to think of a way to do something like that to him.”
Annie is shocked at me, “I can’t believe you let him!!!” (Me either, but . . .)
“Weren’t you afraid someone would notice?” Katie asks.
“Did y’all notice I didn’t get up to cheer when Aiden made that great catch?”
“Oh yeah. That’s why. We thought you were boycotting Aiden’s catch.”
“Then when whoever scored, I was um, really happy about it.”
Maggie grins at me, “That is soooo bad!! I totally want someone to do that to me. I bet it felt like naughty. I wanna feel naughty. I’m sorta tired of being the good girl all the time. Well not that I’m that good.”
We laugh, “I think it’s fun to be naughty like sometimes. And speaking of that, I want to do something like that back to Dawson. Any suggestions?”
“You could do something to him at a game like under a blanket or throw a sweatshirt across his lap.” Maggie says.
“Hmmmmmm.”
My phone buzzes with a facebook update.
Dawson said, Had an amazing weekend in NYC with his amazing girl <3
I suck at Facebook status, I just decide, because I can’t ever think of anything to write.
“Okay, so I gotta go to the library, Aiden is having some french crisis.”
Annie says, “French kissing crisis??” (This is sorta funny, considering they still have not had a tongue kiss.)
“Shut up. I have a boyfriend and a date to homecoming. And he’s hot. Really, really hot. Y’all think he’s hot, right?”
“Yeah, he’s the hottest guy at school. If we didn’t love you, we would totally hate you for it.”
I threw a sweatshirt over my head, but left my shorts on to run over to the library. It’s like I just got all comfy and unpacked. I don’t care that my hair is in a ponytail, and I’m going to see the God of all Hotties.
I really don’t.
But fine. I did stop to brush my teeth.
And maybe put on a swipe of lipgloss.
I vote for letting him die.
8:14pm
He’s sitting back in a corner. Our corner, it seems, behind some stacks. One of the more private tables in the library. He told me it was so we could quietly talk without bothering anyone.
I think he’s just trying to be sneaky. Like maybe there is some time warp continuum, or a valley of the gods under a secret seal below the carpet. Maybe the table rests on it, and when he needs his aura recharged by the gods, he just sneaks down there. Or maybe he goes down there to see his mother, Aphrodite. Come to think of it, that’s probably why Aiden messes with me, he’s got that spitefulness of his mother, who thinks love is some cruel, manipulatable joke.
Whatever.
Okay. Tutor face on.
�
�Hey, Boots,” he says to me. “How was your weekend?”
“It was good. Really good. Dawes asked me to Homecoming, and I got to meet his parents.”
“Good for you, okay, so, I don’t get this at all.”
So we go over the workbook pages, and I think maybe he does need to go get his aura recharged or something because he doesn’t make fun of me and Dawson. He doesn’t slam me in anyway, not even when I am playing with Dawson’s class ring, which I am wearing on a long chain, in front of him.
“What’s wrong with you?” I finally ask him.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re like being nice to me. It’s kinda scary.”
“I’m always nice to you.”
I look at him, eyebrows raised, calling bullshit.
“I just thought it would be nice if we could try and be friends, so I guess, yes, I’m trying to be nice.”
“That’s cool.”
“Well it may be cool, but it sucks. I wanna hear your weekend with Dawson sucked. I wanna hear that his parent’s hated you. I want you to tutor me in my room, so we can have some privacy. I hate that you have a boyfriend, and I hate that you have a date.”
“Ha! There’s the Aiden I know and love.”
He cocks his head at me, grins, “You love me?”
“It’s a saying. It doesn’t mean anything.”
He leans a little closer toward me. Thank God there is a table separating us.“Still there’s lots of sayings out there. You picked that one. You’re just trying to tell me you love me, it’s okay. I already know.”
My phone buzzes on the table and up pops a text.
Dawson: I miss you
Aiden says, “Wow, if only it were that easy.”
“What?”
“I vote for letting him die.” (I love when he says this! It’s like the first sort of humor we see from him.)
“Oh my gosh! You are so mean! I think my work here is done anyways. See ya, Aiden.”
My heart mated with his.
9:22 pm
As I’m walking over to Dawson’s dorm for a quick good night kiss.
Hottie god: I miss you
Me: I’ll be right there baby........Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!
Hottie god: You’ll be sad when I’m dead.
Me: Doubtful, I’ll have more free time. Actually, I do have something I wanted to talk to you about, if you promise to be nice. 5 min at your room?
Hottie god:<3
So I go kiss Dawson, for about 6 minutes straight. Try to keep him from attacking me for the millionth time this weekend.
Not that I minded at all. This weekend was amazing. It really was. He is so sweet and soooo hot.
Then I head up to Aiden’s room. I knock. “Entrer,” he says. (obviously enter in French)
“So, I turned on the twinkle lights just for you. Just getting ready to start the ipod. I think you owe me something like ten dances.”
“I will give you your dances, if you will do something for me.”
He looks shocked. “Uh, sure, what?”
“I want you to get on the social committee, help me do some cool stuff, and help your sister stop hating on me.”
He thinks for a quick second. “Done.” Then he hits play, stands in the center of his room, draws me toward him with his eyes.”
I slide into his open arms, and we dance to slow songs. I close my eyes and breathe in his godly scent—warm musk mixed with an intoxicating bit of clove and possibly some golden glitter and fairy dust. (Has she ever described the way Dawson smells? In Stalk Me, she did talk about how Brooklyn smelled. He was a combination of salt from the ocean, weed, and Calvin Klein Eternity, if my memory serves me right.)
As was the case before, dancing with Aiden is practically other worldly. As good as sex is with Dawes, I can’t help but wonder how it would feel with Aiden, it’s as if the dance is just a preview of how amazing it could be. And as we’re standing there together, swaying slowly, I swear my heart just jumped out of my chest, mated with his and came back to me. (OMG. This makes me laugh. She makes me laugh in this scene.)
WTF!?
Did I seriously just think that? My heart MATED with his? Oh baby Jesus, it is time for me to get out of here.
Is he burning some kind of incense? Did he put some hallucinogenic mushrooms in to the gatorade he let me have a sip of? What the hell is wrong with me? (Love spell. Hottie god powers.)
I pull back just a little and break the spell.
Well, I broke the spell until he smiled at me. He had his eyes closed when he first looked toward me, then he slowly opened them, offering me just slivers of dazzling green. When he saw me looking at him, his mouth, that gods be damned for creating it mouth, curled into a sweet grin. “I love dancing with you.”
“It is nice.” I say like an idiot.
Of all the words I could use to describe the way I feel when I am dancing with him and all I can come up with is the word most overused by fourth graders?
“So how do I get on this committee, and what are you going to make me do?”
“We’ll get Miss Praline to nominate you, then we’re gonna do some really cool social things.”
He’s still holding me in his arms. And I really don’t want him to let go.
“It’s almost curfew, you better go,” is what he says, but he tightens his hold on me.
I make myself blink. It seems to help fight his powers. Breaking the spell for a moment or something.
“Yeah.” I say, a little too breathlessly. But what I’m thinking is kiss me.....please Athena, Zeus, Apollo, whoever, make him kiss me. (When you start praying to the greek gods . . .)
No, wait. I have a boyfriend. I think.
Yes. I do. (Yes, you do.)
But he must have read my mind.
He leans in and gets as close to my lips as possible, without touching them. “Too bad you have a boyfriend, or I’d be kissing you now.”
I swallow hard. Because I had momentarily stopped breathing, a pile of spit had collected in the back of my throat. It was either swallow or choke.
I say, “I do,” and as my lips move to speak the words, they just brush against Aiden’s, and the feeling is more electrifying than if I had actually kissed him.
I pull back, shocked.
“I really have to go,” I murmur, and then get the hell out of there and to my dorm.
But I’m seven minutes late.
Which is like a half a second in god years, so you wouldn’t think it would be held against me, but it is. I now have seven minutes times three of detention. Twenty one minutes of detention.
Where I am supposed to sit and think about why I am there.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
Monday, September 12th
It’d be way hot.
Ceramics
Jakes complaining. “I can’t even get her to go down on me. She used her hand. We’ve been going out for like two weeks and dating for like three.”
“Yeah, I heard she doesn’t like to do that. Thinks it’s gross.”
“She didn’t with Dawes either?”
“Um, I think only when she was like super drunk.”
“Time to get the girl super drunk, I think.”
“Can I ask you all a question?”
“Sure,” Bryce says.
“Like what is something a girl could do to you, like possibly in public that would make you really hot. Like worship her.”
Jake laughs, “So you wanna make Dawes worship you?”
I look a little embarrassed, even though I’m not. “Uh, maybe.”
“Road head. A girl does that to me, goes way up in my book.” Jake says.
Bryce says, “Yeah, but sex somewhere like risky is fun, or it could just be messing around, but somewhere that feels risky.”
“Anywhere around school that feels risky, but isn’t really that risky?”
Jake con
siders that for a moment, scratches the side of his face and says, “Yeah, I’ve always thought the private study rooms at the library. I tried to get girl to do stuff with me once, but we just kissed, and then she got too nervous.”
“Any other thoughts?”
“I have dirty dreams about a girl coming in the boys locker room during half time to help motivate me for the second half,” Bryce confesses. “But I think that would be impossible. What about the football field at night, the bleachers, the cave?”
“Maybe.”
“Some people go in the cars that are like parked at school. If it’s dark, no one would notice. Dawson does have his car.”
“Have y’all ever done any of that? Or anything you thought was like really hot?”
Bryce grins, “Football field, late a few times, but the best was the bathrooms by the concession stands.”
Jake looks at him, shocked, “Who was that and when???
“That Amanda chick that got kicked out and sent to rehab. It was fun, but she was kinda skanky.”
I ask, “So was the fact that she did you in the bathroom what made her skanky?”
“No, it was the fact that she did everyone in the bathroom that made her skanky.”
“So Jake, if like Peyton tried that on you, since you’re going out, would it be hot, or skanky?”
They both agree.”It’d be way hot.”
I’m never putting my hair in a bun again.
Lunch
Today I officially start campaigning for Student Council office. We got up super early today (as in we started this at 6am) and were hanging signs all over school. Then right after that I had to meet Brad and the dean at 7:30 to discuss our ideas for the Social Committee. He loved the ideas, especially about raising money for different charities, letting school clubs get involved and just kind of making it about all students and interests, not about popularity. We haven’t figured out all the details, but so far he likes it. We’re going to meet with our group tomorrow morning at 7am (groan) and figure out our first theme and weekend. And then we will start pulling together ideas for what groups can help.