"Oh, I wanna do it, alright."
"Dawson! Behave!"
"Sorry, okay. Love you, Keatie. I'll text you before I go to sleep."
"K, bye."
And then I walked out his door.
Who is stalking me, apparently?
Aiden.
Looking more god like than ever, in a plain white T-shirt that shows off his golden tan skin and a pair of white basketball shorts, with little red stripes down the side.
He grabs my hand, says, "Come here." And I follow him up to his room.
He shuts his door, locks it, dazzles me with a smile and says, "So, only had twelve tonight. But we won!"
"Yeah, you all played great. Really. Riley's really stepping up."
"He is. That and we had a secret weapon."
"What's that?"
"Motivation."
"I saw the clovers on the footballs. That your doing?"
"Yeah. This really cool 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."
"So 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 his ipod to play and pulls me in close. We sway to the music, grind a little, I look into eyes. He gets so close to me. Like before. It's like our faces have a forcefield just around them.
He is toying with my forcefield.
Firing shots, trying to find its weakness.
And what's up with that?
Because I clearly told Kirk, or Scotty, whoever is in charge of that stuff on the starship, shields DOWN! (So many of these scenes with Aiden and Keatyn were not changed, because, well, he is amazing!) 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 stood still when I kissed him. It feels that way when I dance with him. 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.
Oh shit!
Shit!!!
"Aiden!! I'm thirty six minutes late!!!"
I go tearing out of there.
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 in the dorm, downstairs, dealing with being late.
And maybe slightly traumatized.
I have texts, lots of texts: Dawson: Almost done :) Katelyn: You are 12 minutes late for curfew. Where are you?
Katelyn: 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?
Katelyn: I'm freaking out, 18 minutes late.
Katelyn: Text me for god's sake.
Maggie: Katelyn is trying to find you.Where are you?
Annie: Why aren't you in your dorm? Why aren't you answering? She says Dawson doesn't know where you are.
Riley: Katelyn has texted everyone wanting to know where you are. Where are you?
Dawson: Text me when you get in. I'm getting worried, Keatie :( Katelyn: You ARE 27 MINUTES LATE!!!! (First of all, Katie, you need to chill out!) Dallas: Heard you are MIA, have a sneaking suspicion you are uh, tutoring. If so, use Dallas as your excuse. I will always have your back. But you better text me back and tell me. (Secondly, Dallas is wise beyond his years. And a really good friend.) Katelyn: 32 MINUTES!!
Me to Katelyn: I'm in the dorm. Will be up in a few. Getting my ass chewed first. Tell everyone you were texting I'm fine. K?
Katelyn: THANK GOD! And K :) 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 leafed clover. He gave you one before dance tryouts, right? (And observant, too!) Me: Right. And again before my speech. I just decided to like pay it forward. He wished me luck, I knew it was a rough game, I have school spirit, wanted you to win, offered up some more dances, that's where I was.
Dallas: Was it just dancing?
Me: Yes. I have a bf.
Dallas: If you were my gf, I wouldn't want you dancing with Aiden, I wouldn't give a shit about school spirit. (Exactly. Love how he calls her out on this.) Me: I'm a freshman, I'm into school spirit.
Dallas: Then next time, you motivate me:) (But then. LOL. Let's get high and kiss.) Me: So what were we doing, why was I late?
Dallas: You were helping me study for our English test tomorrow and we were both so tired, we fell asleep.
Me: We have a English test tomorrow??!!
Dallas: Yes...go study. love you :) you seriously need to talk me up to Katie, she's cute too. I deserve it.
me: Done :) me to Dawson: Hey, sorry. I'm fine. Was studying with Dallas, fell asleep in his room. Will be in detention for the rest of my life :( Dawson: Aw, it's okay. I was just worried about you. Love you. Night <3 I walk in my room, and if I didn't get my ass chewed enough, Katie starts in on me. And really, I'm not in the mood. I tell her about Dallas, tell her I'm tired, tell her goodnight.
Lay in my bed and dream about greek gods in white T-shirts. Then when I hear her sleeping, I get back up and study for the stupid test.
Friday, September 16th I've got to get more sleep.
7:10 am Social committee meeting. Got to sleep at 3am. Woke up at 6. Put on our slinky away game outfits for dance, and marched my half naked ass down to the meeting room.
And maybe I was a couple minutes late, and Peyton gave me an evil glance.
So bite me, Barbie.
Aiden, however, flashed me that blazing smile and just his teeth are worth getting up for. I sit down next to Brad. He looks at me, whispers, "Rough night?" (Didn't you have that guy in high school? The one worth getting up for? Although, sometimes he didn't know you actually existed, but whatever.) I nod yes. He leans down and reaches in his backpack, pulls out a red bull, and I nearly kiss him.
"Ohmigawd, thank you," I whisper back. "You are so my new best friend."
He grins.
Peyton and Aiden are going on and on about the other plans for our Parisian weekend. They've gotten a lot of buy in and have lots of support and everything is going well, but they don't have a catchy name yet. A slogan.
They are all brainstorming. I'm in a brain fog, half trying to sleep with my eyes open and half listening to the lame things they are coming up with. They say things like, A Night in Paris, A weekend in Paris, I see London, I see France, (which personally I thought was kinda clever) Cougars & Croissants, Berets and Beignets, Viva la France, Bonjour, LaAmore.
And Peyton is going on about how she doesn't like any of those. How it should evoke romance.
I'm still barely awake, I'm sort of daydreaming, and I wistfully think what Aiden told me that day, because it sounded so romantic. And I think maybe I whispered it out loud, "Top of the Eiffel Tower, sunset." (This is the best thing ever. . . ) "What did you say," Brad says.
"Huh, what?" There goes my daydream.
"What did you just say about the Eiffel tower?"
I think, and then say quietly, "Uh, top of the Eiffel Tower, sunset."
Peyton hears and says, "Oh, that's it. That sounds so romantic. Top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset. I love it."
I gulp realizing what I've just done. I don't dare look at Aiden, but I do. He does his thing, where he stares at me, looks into my soul, grabs it and won't let go.
Then he blinks slowly, and his mouth starts that slow buildup to a smile. The little smirk, the smile, the full wattage grin.
And I'm thinking, oh shit.
I've got to get more sleep!!
After the meeting, I avoid Aiden, run out of the meeting to the safety of Riley and my first class.
Riley says, "So, Dallas told me about last night. He seemed a bit suspicious if you ask me. What's going on?"
"What's going on is I'm up doing your history homework half the night, while you snore away. Then I'm so exhausted I fall asleep trying to study for English with Dallas."
"Hmm, okay. So you excited for today?"
"Uh, for the away game?"
"No, baby. They're going to announce student council officers today. Like at the end of this class."
"Oh wow, I forgot about that."
"You must need more sleep. You doing okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"I think you're gonna win. Not sure which office, but definitely win. Dallas and I were doing some polling yesterday after we voted. It was looking good. Well it was looking good til Dallas starting in on his new poll, which was bra colors and trying to guess a girl's cup size." (Dallas and his Panties for the Poor and cup sizes and pick-up lines are awesome. Makes me love him even more because he always can make me laugh.) He leans in toward me, "He's not very good at it. Now me. I am good at it. Pretty sure I am physic."
I fold my hands in prayer and close my eyes.
"What are you doing?"
"Praying that the freshman girls will be protected from your evil ways."
"Naughty ways, maybe, but not evil. You should know, baby."
"I still don't know why I let you call me baby. I should be taking offense to it."
"It fits."
"That and that's what Tommy calls all us girls. I think it's kinda comforting."
"Good. Now give me your worksheet, so I can copy it quick."
Our teacher drones on and on and thanks to the redbull and the cup of coffee I snagged before class, I have enough of a caffeine buzz to keep me awake. Sorta.
The dean comes over the announcements and says, "And now time for Freshman Student Council officer results. Your new President is Benjamin Roberts, Your new Vice president is Keatyn Monroe......."
Riley starts cheering and hugging me, and I don't get to hear who got secretary. I'm feeling pretty freaking happy though. And it's really not a surprise that I came in second to Benjamin, I mean he did promise an ipad in every hand. I think some president ran on that platform sometime in history, like maybe during the depression. Did he promise a chicken in every kitchen, or a cow in every barn or something like that?
Rest of today was a blur.
11:30 pm Rest of today was a blur. Six more classes, lunch, soccer, lots of congratulations. I got my long ass detention waved until tomorrow morning, since I had to get on the bus at five for the trip to the away football game, talked excitedly with Maggie and Katie about tonight's after party, then danced and cheered for the team. We lost though. Bummer.
Now I find myself sitting on the bus with Aiden sitting next to me. Don't ask me how it happened. Clearly the fates have collided or something. I did really try and get on Dawson's bus. But then Aiden had my arm and was guiding me on the other bus, toward the very back, and I didn't resist.
And Dawson's mad at me. He had a rough game, got sacked four times.