Kiss Me

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Good luck with your boy issues.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

Oh, shit. My bad.

7:30pm

Dawson is lying 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. His room and Jake’s co

And it sorta breaks the mood.

Well, my mood. Dawson is still in full horndog mode.

He’s kissing my neck. Ru

Finally I say, “Um, Dawes?”

And he’s like, “What, Keatie?”

“Can we just talk for a minute. Start over maybe? Sorry, that kinda embarrassed me.”

“Really? Oh. I’m sorry.”

He gets off the bed, sits in his desk chair, and pulls on his shirt.

“Okay, so shoot. Whatcha wa

“Tell me about your parents, your family.” Shit. Why did I say that? He’ll ask me about mine next to be polite.

“Boring,” he laughs. “Well, okay, so there’s me and Riles, and I told you about Camden. He’s a freshman at Columbia. Then we have a younger brother, Braxton. He’s in eighth grade and can’t wait to come here next year. Dad is a bond trader. Mom used to be a doctor, but she finally gave it up after she had Brax. We’re pretty close. We live in Manhattan, have the place in the Hamptons. That’s about it. What about you?”

I’m really impressed that even though he didn’t want to stop messing around, he did, just because I asked. He didn’t even give me a hard time about it.

And that makes me adore him.

It also makes me want him.

I smile at him, unzip his shorts, straddle him, and make him forget any questions he might have.

A little bit later, he’s lazily kissing my check. “That was amazing. You always surprise me. It’s so freaking hot. I thought we were go

“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, ru

“You feel so good.” I kiss him, rake my fingers hard through his hair, and lean my chest into his face.

“You’re go

“Promises, promises,” I flirt.

And, well . . . he’s apparently good at keeping promises.

I heart math homework.

10:15pm

Jake:  Monroe. Don’t forget to do your ceramics homework :)

Katie, Maggie, A

Well, sort of.

Maggie is actually painting her toenails. She’s also texting both Logan and Parker, two of her exes. Katie is practicing a tricky dance combination that she can’t seem to get right. A

I just got back a few minutes ago, and I’m finishing up some math problems. Dawson was supposed to help me with them, but, well, you know.

No math got done.

A

“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, that’s why he hearts it. No homework was done.”

Maggie moves over closer to me and is like, “Oh, what did you do? People are all speculating on if you guys have had sex. You would tell us if you have, right?”

“I don’t know. I think that’s kinda private.”

A

“Just messed around, you know. It was fun. We have fun.”

Maggie is like, “Must have been, but speaking of that, here’s a question.”

“Hang on. Jake just texted me again.”

“Jake? Whitney’s Jake? Why is he texting you?” A

“We have class together. We’re getting to be friends, I think. And he gave me some homework.”

Maggie is confused. “Homework for ceramics? Wait. What?”

A

Katie grins. “What does Jake mean?”

“He kinda walked in on us making out. Well, my shirt was partially unbuttoned, and my skirt was maybe slightly askew, but we were dressed. I guess, Dawson’s shirt was off, but it was when I got there. He had just showered. He smelled so good. So, anyway, 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, for how long? Maggie, what do you do?”

“Well, freshman year, I dated a guy all year. He wanted to, but we never did. Summer before my sophomore year, I dated Matty. We waited a month, then did it all the time. It was a really good summer. We broke up when I had to come back to school. I had a couple different boyfriends here last year. I did it with Logan and Parker. I forget how long we’d been going out. Probably a month or so. This summer, I met a guy my first day back home. We dated for a week, then did it. Then quit seeing each other like two weeks later. So I guess it just depends on my mood.” She laughs. “Or how drunk I am.”

“I went out with my boyfriend for six months before we did,” Katie tells us. “He’s the only person I’ve ever been with.”

A

“Yeah, but if you’re in love with him, how long would you make him wait?”

“How long you going to make Dawson wait?” she fires back.

“No, it’s not about me. I’m supposed to get a general consensus.”

“I’m going down the hall to ask people,” Maggie says. “I’m bored with history. This sounds way more fun.” She takes off with a pencil and a notebook.

A

“Yeah, that is kinda fu

“He said Effing hot. Wow.”

“Wow, what?”

“I think you’re stealing some of Whitney’s thunder. She just posted My Jakey is the best bf ever. Thanks for a great night, baby.”

“Did he comment on it?”

“Not yet.”

 “But Ace just commented on Dawson’s status. He said Let me know if you can’t handle the math homework by yourself. Oh, I don’t like that. Oh, and Dawson didn’t like that either. He said Not cool, Ace. And then Ace said Jkjk. This is exciting! Oh, wait, Jake just said Dawes looked like he was handling things just fine. Dawson replied Hell yeah. Jake said back, You’re a lucky man.”

I text Jake.

Me:  So what’d you do with Whitney that made her night so great?

Jake:  Honestly, I have no fucking idea. We got some sushi, made out a little, she rubbed her hand on the outside of my pants. What? Are we in freaking seventh grade? I’m not even commenting on her stupid status. 

Me:  I’m pretty sure she hates me.

Jake:  I’m pretty sure she does too. You were all we talked about. 

Me:  Shit. 

Jake:  Don’t worry, Monroe. Jakey loves you. 

Me:  You barely know me.

Jake:  I know enough to know you’re not a bitch. 

Me:  Truth?

Jake:  You a closet bitch? You waiting for the right time to come out?