Best Friend Love Sucks 6:30pm Katelyn and I do an extreme makeover on Annie's hair. Then I put her adorable petite, and way too covered up, body in one of Katelyn's tight little school T-shirts instead of the big oversized one she was wearing. She is nervous that it is too tight. I tell her what my mom says. You can have all the brains in the world, but it takes a body to get a most men's attention. (Love that she gives Annie a little makeover.) I throw on a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a little red tank top with leopard letters trimmed in rhinestones that spell out Cougars. And off we head downstairs.
Dawson is waiting for me outside my dorm, sitting on the short brick wall that surrounds the grounds.
"Hey cutie, I just texted you," he says and immediately gives me a sweet kiss. He holds my hand as we walk over to his dorm. (Love how he called her cutie. And how it became Keatie. Really, I can see why readers were torn. Dawson is so sweet.) "Sorry, we were busy trying to get beautiful."
He looks at the three of us and says, "Mission accomplished."
I introduce him to Annie, but he says, "I know Annie, we had a photography class together last semester. You still taking your amazing photos? You were by far the most talented one in our class."
Annie beams, and I giggle. "She was out taking pics today actually and took a few of you and I, um, sitting on the bench at lunch."
"You mean kissing on the bench at lunch?"
"Well, yeah."
He turns to Annie, "Oh, I wanna see those, kay?"
She nods her head. She looks really cute. And I'm thinking about who I could try and set her up with. I'm thinking maybe Bryce or Parker.
But when we get to the dorm and Riley, Bryce, Tyrese and Ace walk out, I notice Ace totally looking her over. And I decide to not play match maker and let nature take it's course.
And nature is taking it's course. Ace, who I thought was sorta a douche really, is acting like a well manner nice guy and talking to her about Greek Mythology.
Which I can't help it.
I makes me think of the god I know personally. (I love how obsessed she becomes with mythology because of Aiden.) I am definitely texting my mom tonight to see if she has some advice. I know she won't sleep tonight. She can never sleep the night before she leaves to go on location. She always worries about forgetting something. Which how could she possibly do that, when she has two nannies, a chef, two assistants, and four full time security guards going with them?
Dawson is sitting on the bleacher behind me, and I'm comfortably leaning back between his legs. He leans down and kisses my collar bone, runs a finger down my arm and whispers in my ear. "You have leopard print on your shirt, that mean you have on the leopard bra I wanna see?"
"Maybe."
"Grrrrr," he purrs softly in my ear.
I'm shocked by how I immediately feel turned on by this.
"Can I see it tonight?"
"Hmmm. I don't know. Leopards are pretty wild, you up for that?"
He kisses down the side of my neck and says, "Yeah, actually I am."
"I think we need to talk first. About Peyton. What you're thinking and stuff."
"I'm really not thinking about her anymore. You sorta have me captivated."
"We were going to find you a suitable girl to date. That girl was not supposed to be me."
"Are we dating?"
"No, I just meant, you know what I mean. Don't give me shit."
"Maybe we should be."
"Should be what?"
"Dating."
"No way."
"Awe, come on, why not?"
"You told me three days ago you're still in love with Peyton."
"Oh yeah, that." (Yes, that, Dawson.) "Yeah, that. If I'm gonna date a guy, get serious, I want him to like me, and not be wishing I was someone else."
"Still. You're fun, and I really haven't thought about her much the last couple days."
"Then you're making progress."
"And hows your progress going?"
I sigh. "He used his special powers to stare at me today."
"You have it bad for him, don't you?"
I look back at Dawson, who is gorgeous, and think, no, I don't. Why would I want a stupid player boy, when I have Gorgeous sitting here next to me?
Yeah, I don't. I want this boy.
This boy who I am going to fix. I'm going to heal his broken heart, remake his image, and I'm not going to give him back to Peyton all shiny and new. I'm going to keep him for myself.
He should probably know that, so I let him know by standing up, turning around, grabbing the front of his shirt, and pulling him into a kiss. The first time I have ever initiated a kiss with him. (Which is quite cute.) Then I say, "I think I'm making progress too."
At half time, Riley plops down next to me.
"Oh. My. Gosh. She is driving me freaking nuts!"
"Audrey?" both Dawson and I ask.
"Yes. Fine. We hooked up. That doesn't mean I want to be tied to her for the rest of my life."
"It's been three days."
"It feels like a lifetime."
"I sure hope you used a condom, bro, or it might be," Dawson slaps him on the back.
"Well that's one thing you taught me. Thank God!"
I laugh. "You should be flattered. You must have been goooood, and she wants more of you."
"Honestly, it was not good. I repulse myself." (Oh, Riley...) "Dude, it's about quality, not quantity." Dawson says.
"Oh, you're one to talk. What was it you called the beach this summer, your whoredom?"
"Shut up," he tells his brother.
"Like your kingdom, only your whoredom? Oh, that's cute." I laugh at him. Tease him. (The whoredom so makes me laugh.) "I was broken hearted, what can I say?"
"Well I don't really care about that. Just tell me HOW TO GET RID OF HER! Seriously, she meets me after class, walks me to my next class. Showed up at my room and left me cookies. Dallas wouldn't eat them, he was afraid she drugged them or something."
"My little bro has a stalker, how cute is that?"
Dawson and I both laugh.
"You're not helping, either one of you," Riley complains.
Finally I tell him, "Well you have a couple options. Ignore her. Tell her. Find someone else, fast."
"Shit, here she comes. Pretend we are talking about something important. And ignore her. Do NOT talk to her!"
She walks up, sits down next him, and, of course, the first thing out of my mouth is, "Hey Audrey, what's up?"
Dawson pulls me back between his legs and snickers. Riley groans.
She says, "Hey. How come your guys weren't at the party Saturday night? It was soooo much fun. I was a little drunk, but we had fun, didn't we Riley? Although, oh my gosh, I was so hungover on Sunday. It was awful. I threw up at church."
"We really didn't need to know that," Riley growls.
"Oh sorry. Yeah well anyways, how are the freshman doing? I got to talking to Katie. Keatyn, you're so lucky to have a cool roommate, and oh my gosh, to have made the dance team, that's like super cool......"
She drones on.....and on....and on.
Riley drops his head down into his hands, like he can't go on any longer.
I look at Dawson, bug my eyes out at him and then at her, thinking this is the time he could actually help his brother. Make them closer.
He squints his eyes at me, trying to figure out what to do. Finally he says, "Hey Audrey, shut. the. fuck. up. We're trying to watch the game."
She gets a shocked look on her face, looks at Riley like he should stick up for her. Instead he says, "Look Audrey, we hooked up, but I really don't want to hang out with you. We're not dating. We're not anything. So why don't you go sit with your friends?"
Then it's me who gets the big eyes. I can't believe he just said that! (He's standing up for his little bro. Harsh, but sweet at the same time.) Tyrese says, "Damn dude, that was harsh," as Audrey is stomping down the stairs.
Riley shakes his head, "I know. I'm not usually that mean. I just couldn't take her babbling on ANYMORE!"
Dawson slaps him on the back and says, "That was legit, bro." Riley beams at the compliment.
And I just felt a little bit of brother bonding. I smile at Dawson and snuggle up between his legs. It's starting to get cold, and this little tank top is not doing it for me.
"You have goosebumps," he says, running his hands down the sides of my arms.
"I know, I should have brought a jacket. It's okay, the games almost over."
"No, hang on. I've got a sweatshirt down in my football locker." He gets up, jogs down the bleachers and disappears. A few minutes later, he comes back up with a big Cougar Athletic hoodie and hands it to me. (Oh, the things we will do with that hoodie later...go, team!) I put it on. It's huge and snuggly on me. He sits back behind me, and I snuggle back up between his legs.
When the game's over, he walks me back to the student center. We get some coffees to warm up. I'm sitting here wearing his hoodie with his last name emblazoned across my back, when Aiden walks in with his friend, Nick.
And just when I thought I was pulling myself out of his forcefield, he takes one look at me. And it wasn't a big look, it was more of a sneaky sideways glance, that if I wouldn't have been watching very closely, I probably would have missed it. And with that simple glance, his powerful eyes pull me back in like a tractor beam. I just want to scream at him, RELEASE ME!! Release me! Let me go!
How can you feel so strongly about a person you have only known such a short amount of time? Especially when during that short amount of time, you have felt equal amounts of love, hate and ambivalence toward him. (Love, hate, ambivalence. Isn't that how love is?) He and Nick give Dawson a "What's up?" Then head back out the door. He pretty much ignored me. Well except for the tractor beam incident.
"I better get back to my dorm," I tell Dawson, "I have a little homework to do."
He looks at me with a crooked grin, "Is it weird that I want to thank you?"
"Depends what you want to thank me for, I haven't done anything."
"Yeah, you have. Last semester was miserable for me, this summer, well you heard how that was, and I was dreading coming back to school to have to be around her and see her and have her hate me. But then she didn't hate me anymore, and that was almost worse. And you, I don't know. It's like you're healing me, a little bit every time I'm with you." (Poor, broken Dawson. Don't you just want to fix him up, too? Kiss him and make it all better? There's something so endearing about his vulnerability.) "Trust me, you're not the only one that needs healing. I still don't know what I'm going to do about Brooklyn. Did I tell you he is coming to surf in a tournament this weekend? It's somewhere in New York, and he wants me to come see him. Spend the weekend with him."
"Hmm, Riley and I were gonna see if you wanted to come with us and some other friends to our house in the Hamptons. Our parents aren't going to be there. It should be lots of fun."
"The surf thing is at Long Beach. Is that anywhere close?"
"About an hour or so further south, I think. Do you want to see him?"
"Yeah. I was thinking if I see him it might sorta help me here."
"How so?"
"You know, knowing what's right, how I feel, that sorta stuff."
"I feel jealous, that's how I feel. Maybe you don't have to see him all weekend, or you could go see him, and if it's not the way you want, you can still come up and party with us?"
"Yeah, that'd be good. If I could leave it like open. I don't know how I'm gonna feel. How he feels. We really didn't talk about it. Well, we did, but it all seemed so abstract then."
We're standing in front of my dorm now. He grabs the strings on his hoodie and pulls me toward him. Straight into his lips. Kisses me and says good night.
I go up to my room. Katelyn isn't back yet, so I call Brooklyn. Maybe talking to him will help me.
He answers, "Keats! How are you?"
"I'm good! What are you doing?"
"Just sitting out on the deck, drinking a beer, watching the waves. I took a header this morning, smashed up my side a bit, so I'm not surfing tonight."
"You okay though? You still gonna do that tournament thing this weekend?"
"Hell yeah. You coming to watch me? Stay with me? And um, hopefully, sleep with me?" (So subtle, B.) "Could you like email me a little more info? Like when I should be there and like will you have time to actually hang out with me and stuff?" (Can you imagine the email? A sexual itinerary?) "Yeah, but I thought you would just come like the whole weekend though. We could spend the whole time together. Why do you need a schedule?"