"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." (Tommy is awesome.) "You're bad."
He laughs. "So hey, I'm glad you called. We just got our premiere schedule and are going to be doing the rounds in Europe mid November, so we thought we'd do Thanksgiving in France. Can you do that?"
"I could but it would be hard. I would be traveling a lot of the time. We're only off Wednesday through Sunday." (Obviously, this got cut because she couldn't see her family.)
"True. Hmmm. Well can you come up here sometime before that? Bring Gorgeous?"
"We do have a bye week when I don't have to dance in a couple weeks. I'll text Marcus the dates. I don't know about bringing anyone though."
"So what will you do over Thanksgiving?"
"I don't know. Haven't thought about it."
"Well, you could go stay at my loft in New York. Or you could take some friends maybe and go down to the place in St Kitts. Hang at the beach. Or go to Malibu." (Even though she ended up at a loft in New York, having her pick it, buy it, furnish it, all that stuff herself was a big deal for her-rather than me just making it one of their homes. Knowing she couldn't go home made her feel afloat. No anchor. The loft in New York gave her that anchor. And became a special place for her and Aiden.) "Yeah, I don't know. I'll think about it. You'd be okay with that? Like me having friends there, no supervision?"
"Well, I might send James or Billy."
Billy is the biggest of the family security crew.
"Uugggg. I want to blend in, Tommy."
"I'll tell you what, you leave the country, you take Billy. You stay at the loft, you can stay by yourself. Just be responsible."
"I can do that."
"Also Pauli and your mom have decided you're not to fly commercial. They're worried about that. Also when we do the premiere over Christmas, here in the states, you're to be on the red carpet with us." (This scene right here is what sparked the stalker idea. Because I reread this and was like why can't she fly commercial? What's happened in their past to make them worry about that? Was it simply because Abby and Tommy were famous, or was there more? Obviously, it became so much more.) "Can I just go slit my wrists now instead?"
"You really should try out for the drama production at school, you're being a little theatrical, don't you think?"
"Haha, maybe. So does that mean I get the jet at my beck and call? I might jet off to Fiji this weekend."
"When it's available you can use it, but I think they got you one of those fractional ownership things to use. So I'm sure Marcus will be sending you info. You know, it's okay to enjoy it."
"Enjoy what?"
"Some of the perks."
"I've always enjoyed the perks, Tommy. Look at the house in Malibu. It's like heaven.
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."
"Kiki, you're silly. No, I'm not. Besides, I played Zeus, I was a god. How's things going with the god anyways?"
"They're not." I sigh. "He told guys that Gorgeous is just using me. I hate him, and I will not be tutoring him in french. Gorgeous asked me to go out with him. I told him no.
Are you and mom ever going to get married? It's no wonder I don't want to commit."
"That or you are in love with the hottie god." (Tommy is a smart man.) "Well there's that. But I can't love a jerk, so clearly I can not be in love with him."
Tommy lowers his voice and says, "Wanna hear a secret?"
"Yessshhhh."
"I'm going to ask your mom to marry me. I have to figure out a cool way to propose, and I was wondering if you would look at a couple ring designs and tell me which one you think she would like best." (Eek!) "Really!!!! I would love to!!!"
"I'll have Marcus email them to you when they're ready. I think we'd get married pretty quick, so be ready.
And Kiki?"
"Yeah?"
"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 laying 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. He and Jake's room connect through a shared bathroom. Dawson has his bedroom door locked, but just about the time he has my shirt unbuttoned 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 horn dog 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, uh, that kinda embarrassed me."
"Really? Oh. I'm sorry."
He gets off the bed, sits in his desk chair, pulls on a shirt.
"Okay, so shoot, whatcha wanna talk about?"
"You were going to tell me about your parents, your family."
"Boring," he laughs. "Well okay, so there's me and Riles, and then we have an older brother, Camden. He's at Columbia. Then a younger brother, Bronson. He's in eighth grade, can't wait to come here next year. Dad is a bond trader, and Mom used to be a doctor, but she finally gave it up after she had her fourth boy. We're pretty close, they live in Manhattan, have the place in the Hamptons. That's about it. How bout you?"
I chicken out.
"He's so easy to talk to, but still. And that fact that even though he didn't want to stop messing around, but did just because I asked and didn't give me a hard time about it, makes me adore him.
And well, I still want him, so smile at him, unzip his shorts, straddle him, and make him forget any questions he might have.
A little bit later, he's all relaxed and lazily kissing my check. "That was amazing. God, you like always surprise me. It's so freaking hot. I thought we were gonna just sit here and talk. Well til 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."
"What's wrong with sex sex?"
"Nothing. I just don't want it to be all about sex."
"Yeah," he says, running his fingers through my hair, "you smell so good."
"You feel so good." I kiss him, rake my fingers hard through his hair, lean my chest into his face.
"You're going to make me hard again."
"Promises, promises."
And well.....he's apparently good at keeping promises.
I heart math homework.
10:15 pm Jake texts me: Don't forget to do your ceramics homework :) So Katie, Maggie, Annie and me are laying on the floor of our room, finishing up our homework.
Well, sorta.
Maggie is painting her toenails, worrying about being introduced to Bryce tomorrow at lunch. Katie is practicing a tricky dance combination that she can't seem to get right. Annie is on facebook, creeping on Ace's profile and yelling out people's statuses. I just got back to my room a few minutes ago, and I'm actually finishing up some math problems. Dawson was supposed to help me with them, but well, you know.
No math got done.
Annie screeches out, "OH MY GOD! Listen to the status Dawson just posted. It says, I heart math homework, then a winky face. What does that mean?"
"It means we were supposed to do my math homework."
"Supposed to??" She raises her eyebrows at me.
Katie says, "You're doing your math homework now."
"Yeah, thats why he hearts it, no homework was done."
Maggie moves over closer to me and is like, "Ohhhhh, what did you do? People are all speculating on if you guys have had sex. You would tell us if you had right?"
"Uh, I don't know, I think that's kinda private personally."
Annie isn't satisfied, "So what did you do then?"
"Just messed around, you know. It was fun. We have fun."
Maggie is like, "Must of been, but speaking of that. Here's a question."
"Hang on. Jake just texted me again."
"Jake?? Peyton's Jake? Why is he texting you??" Annie screeches.
"We have class together, and he gave me some homework."
Maggie is confused. "Homework for ceramics? What? Wait."
Annie yells. "Oh my gosh!! Jake just commented on Dawson's status. He says, Dude, your math homework is hot :) Katie grins, "What does that mean?"
"Oh, he kinda walked in on us, like making out. Well my shirt was kinda unbuttoned, and my skirt was maybe slightly askew, but we were dressed. Well his shirt was off, but it was when I got there. He had just showered. He smelled so gooooddd. So anyways, Jake and Bryce want to know how a girl decides when the right time to sleep with a guy is. Like do you have to be going out? If so, how long? Maggie, you're the oldest of us. What did you do?"
"Well, I dated a guy for a year. He wanted to, I never did it. Then this summer, I did it with a guy I dated for a month. And then since then, it depends on my mood." (I want to hang out in an Eastbrooke dorm and not do my homework but gossip instead. The dorm scenes are some of my favorites. I love how close the girls get and how they care about each other. They are all so different, yet. . . not.) Katie says, "I went out with my boyfriend for like six months before we did."
Annie says, "I'm waiting to do it with someone I'm really in love with."
"Yeah, but if you are in love with him, how long would you make him wait?"