Kiss Me

She hands me a key. “Room seven.”

I wave for Dawson to follow me.

We get into the room, and he pins me against the wall, kissing me. I make him stop. He’s still leaning up against me and unbuttoning my blouse as I start reading loudly off my note cards. “HI, I’M KEATYN MONROE, AND I’M RUNNING FOR STUDENT COUNCIL AND I WOULD LOVE YOUR VOTE. SOME ISSUES I THINK THAT NEED TO BE . . .”

I hear a bit of movement outside the door and know she was listening, got bored, and went back to the Lean Cuisine I could smell when we walked in.

“So, I’m supposed to talk to you about some fines?” Dawson grins.

I grin back at him. Then I pull the pins out of my bun, shake my long hair out, and finish unbuttoning my blouse. I’m wearing a new black lace push-up bra.

He leans down and kisses all around the bra.

I pull his head up and say, “Oh, no. You were bad. You didn’t return your library books and you haven’t paid your fines.”

“I’m really sorry,” he says, but he is so gri

I pull his tie, making him come closer to me. “Well, the truth is, I kinda like rebels.”

“Oh really?” he says, as I push him up against the door, kneel, and unzip his shorts.

“Oh, god, I love the library,” he moans.

“You should. At the library we love stories with, uh, happy endings.”

 And then I proceed to give him a happy ending of his own.

Stop gossiping.

6:30pm

After our fun at the library, Dawson does act like he practically worships me. He keeps rubbing my back with his hand and gazing into my eyes during di

Riley and Dallas sit with us and are talking to me about possible Student Council issues, but Riley keeps looking at us fu

I go up to grab some more ketchup, and Riley follows me. “What did you do to my brother?”

“What?”

“He’s all, like, I don’t know, girly-acting.”

“Girly?”

“Yeah, like all lovey dovey.”

“So? I think it’s cute.”

“You were late for di

“He met me in the library for a few minutes. I wanted him to hear my speech for tomorrow, critique it for me.”

“Your shirt’s still unbuttoned.”

I look down, and it’s not. It’s buttoned just fine. I look up at Riley, who grins at me. “Caught ya.”

“Shut up. We were at the library. Ask Dawes.”

“I just might.”

I walk over to the dessert line and look longingly at it. I probably shouldn’t have any since I missed dance today. And I have so much homework tonight, no way I will have time to work out.

Aiden strolls up behind me.

“Hey, Boots.”

“Hey, thanks for getting my phone out of jail. Oh, and for the candy. It’s really good.”

“Yeah, it is.” He has puzzled look on his face. “So did you get it?”

“Get my phone? Yeah, I just told you . . .”

“No. The candy. The name of the candy.”

“Uh . . . ?” I give him a blank look.

“Did you look up the French word yet? Your lips are my . . . what?”

“Oh, no, uh, not yet.”

He looks a little hurt and he sighs. “Oh, well, just tell me when you do, I guess.”

I decide to forgo dessert and carry the ketchup to the hungry boys. Riley has stolen my spot next to Dawson. He, Jake, and Ace are having a conversation about me, I think. Because it gets very quiet when I sit down on Dawson’s lap.

“What were you just talking about?”

Riley says, “Your speech. I was just asking Dawson what you say in it.”

That boy is too tricky for his own good.

Riley continues. “You told me you went to the library and did your speech for him. But it seems he doesn’t really know much about the speech.” He smirks at me.

He is such a shit.

“Add that to the fact that you look like a naughty librarian today and, I don’t know, it’s just kinda adding up.”

“I did do some of the speech,” I say to Dawson.

He tries to contain his smile. “I know, but you took out your bun. I wasn’t really listening.”

“See,” I say to Riley. “He just wasn’t focused. Obviously, I need to rework my speech. I gotta go campaign. Talk to some people. Hand out candy.”

Dawson gets up, grabs me, and whispers in my ear. “I haven’t said a word, but I can’t freaking stop gri

“So, you liked?”

“Uh, liked is an understatement.”

“Good. Hey, just text me tonight. I really do have a ton of homework. And tell your brother to stop gossiping and get to work on our History project.”

Bliss.

9pm

I get back to my room. Katie is with Jordan “studying” English, and I, excitingly, have the room to myself. I’m going to get so much done. I move all the candy off my bed and remember I still need to look up the word. Your lips are my something.

I grab my phone, put in the word béatitude into my translation app, and up pops a word.

BLISS. 

Oh. My. Gosh.

He thinks my lips are his bliss?! And he left me Hershey’s Bliss candies. That is sooooo freaking adorable. I might cry, it’s so adorable.

Me:  Bliss, huh? The Keats quote. The candies? Pretty clever of you.

Hottie God:  About time you figured it out. So?

Me:  So what?

Hottie God:  Are my lips YOUR bliss?

Me:  Of course not.

Hottie God:  You’re lying to yourself, Boots. 

Me:  Maybe you’re lying to yourself.

Hottie God:  We’ll table that discussion for now. So I was looking over these ideas you sent Brad. They’re good. But there’s one I’m especially excited about.

Me:  Which one?

Hottie God:  You’ll find out tomorrow. I’m busy doing a little campaigning of my own tonight.

Me:  Idk what that means exactly, but okay. Bright and early :/

Hottie God:  No :/ Now it’s :D Because you get to see me.

I don’t respond, but I can’t help but smile as I finish my homework.

Tuesday, September 13th

Outlined by golden rays.

6-freaking-thirty?

Social Committee meeting. Why else would I be up so early? And this meeting started at 6:30. I know we have a lot to do and I’m excited we got the dean’s approval, but really? Six-freaking-thirty?

I sit down in an empty seat next to Brad. Aiden is sitting with Whitney on one side of him and his sister on the other. He gives me a blazing smile and really his teeth alone are worth getting up for.

Brad reaches in his backpack, pulls out a Red Bull, and hands it to me.

“Ohmigawd, thank you,” I whisper. “You are so my new best friend.”

He grins then stands up to speak.

“Well, the good news is we got approval from the dean to start pla

Brad chuckles and Aiden laughs and shakes his fist at Brad.

Is he freaking friends with everyone?

“So, our first weekend will be held in conjunction with the prospective student weekend, which means we’ll have to do it up right. Since we’ve already chosen our first theme, I’ll let Peyton and Aiden take over.

We chose a theme? Who did and when?

Aiden and Peyton both stand up. Aiden says, “We’re going with a Greek theme for our first weekend. Think Greek gods, togas, mythology.”

My eyes get huge. The God of all Hotties pla

He and Peyton go on and on about how they are going to get the art club to draw huge sketches of the gods. The theater tech club to work with the art club making Greek backdrops, which will hang in the student center. The drama club to do a play. We get to wear togas one night. The café will serve Greek food. The Greek mythology class will sell laurel wreaths to make money for an activity they are trying to fund. We’ll have Olympic-style competitions.