Date Me

Riley shakes his head. “No. It's not him. If it was, he would have broken into your dorm last night and surprised you.”

“You're probably right. I don't think he would have waited. But maybe he needed time to plan. Maybe he wasn’t sure I was there. Maybe he sent someone to break in. Either way, now he knows.”

“I keep going back to Whitney. I'm telling you, that girl is evil. I think she was looking for dirt.”

“I’m not worried about her. Hell, I used to be her. Kinda. At my old school.”

“You were Queen Bitch?”

“No. That job was taken by my best friend. But I could be mean sometimes. I got caught up in the whole popularity thing and I really didn’t like the person I was becoming. I swore to myself that when I came here that I wouldn’t be popular. That I would never sit at the popular table in the cafeteria.”

“And my brother has been dragging you straight to that table, hasn’t he?”

“Yeah, but I’ve realized it’s not the table that matters. Just because I sit there, doesn't mean I have to be like Whitney.”

“You are nothing like her. So follow along with my reasoning here. We have major security at school. If this guy broke into the office, he had to get on the campus first. Our campus is extremely secure. If someone broke in, got past the guards, the whole school would have been on lockdown. That’s why I think it was done by someone who was already at school.”

What he says actually makes sense, but I’m not convinced. “I hope you’re right.”

“Come on, our movie is about to start. Let’s get some popcorn.”

We eat popcorn and I get to spend a couple of hours with my mom and Tommy.

Screwed our way around school.

5pm

Dawson: Where are you? I heard you get called to the office. Is everything okay?

I have similar texts from most of my friends.

“What am I going to tell them, Riley?”

“Maybe you should tell them the truth.”

“You won't tell me the truth about Homecoming and why you got kicked out of school.”

“That's cuz it's embarrassing. Epic, but embarrassing.”

“It's been two years.”

He give me a big dramatic sigh and then says, “Fine, I'll tell you. So, freshman year, I come to school thinking I'm the shit. I'd had sex a few times that summer and felt like I was joining my brothers for what was going to be four years full of nothing but girls and sports. So Homecoming weekend rolls around. By this time, I've been with two older girls at school, which has done nothing but up my cockiness.

“You know, the Cave has traditionally been a place that only juniors and seniors get to go to. I talked Cam into letting me come to a party with him. He handed me a flask and told me to find someone to share it with. I shared it with this gorgeous junior. Maybe it was the combination of the fact that I was pretty big for my age and the alcohol we’d shared, but I had her convinced that I was Cam and Dawson's older brother and a college freshman. That even though I had gone to a different school, my parents made me come to support my brothers.

She bought that and proceeded to tell me how she hated that her dad came to Homecoming. How she hated him showing her his old stomping grounds and telling her long, boring stories. She also mentioned she hated her dad, although I forget why. Then she told me she had the perfect revenge. She dragged me to every place he took her that night. The bleachers at the football stadium where he played in the band was the first place we had sex.

“There were about four more places, many of which I only vaguely remember. Which is a surprise because I remember thinking she needed to shut the fuck up about her dad because dads are sort of like cock-blocking.

“We drank more, lost our clothes, and screwed our way around school.

“One of the things her dad was the most proud of was the alumni band float. He always helped plan it. Came in early to work on it. Had even designed that year’s and would be riding on it.

“All I remember is her being really pissed at that point. About her telling me this was the place she wanted to defile. How awesome it would be to watch her dad ride on the float we'd done so many dirty things on. That's all I remember until I was woken up that morning by her father, who had come down with some other band alumi to make some last minute adjustments to the float.”

Riley laughs.

“We were both completely naked and passed out on the float. The float was half trashed and I was in a whole lot of trouble. They threw us each a coat and dragged us to the dean’s office.”

“Talk about a walk of shame,” I say with a giggle.

He nods at me and continues. “I was somewhere between still drunk and majorly hung over. And if getting caught wasn’t already embarrassing enough, our parents sat in while the dean questioned us. By this time, most of our clothes had been recovered and turned in by various people. Granted, in retrospect, the girl was obviously pretty messed up and had some serious daddy issues but I was drunk and horny enough not to consider that at that time.

“She started crying. Thinking she'd get out of it that way. She told them all how I got her drunk and took advantage of her. When they seemed skeptical, she pulled out what she thought was her get out of jail free card. She told them that I was a nineteen-year-old college freshman and that she was underage. That I forced her. The dean stopped and looked at me. Sized me up. Glanced back at my dad. My dad and the dean were in the same graduating class, and I think they have plenty of their own stories because the dean sort of smirked at the girl when he informed her that I was actually a freshman at Eastbrooke.

“She just started going psycho. Yelling at her dad. Screaming at the dean. At me. She tried to attack her dad.

“My parents dragged me out of the room and told me they were extremely disappointed.

“My mom marched off, but Dad slapped me on the back and said, You know you're going to be expelled.

“I was like, Really?

“And then he told me that was the best story he's ever heard and how he hated her dad’s pompous ass.”

I’ve been trying to hold in the laughter, but I can’t anymore.

“See, you're laughing.”

“Because it’s fu

“At the time, it was pretty embarrassing. Can you imagine sitting in the dean’s office hung over as fuck, listening to the dean explain in detail your being naked on a float. I couldn't even find my pants. I was half frozen.”

“I’m glad you told me your story, but I really don’t want to tell people mine. Maybe in a few years when it’s not so fresh. And if I’m still alive.”

“You really think he wants to kill you?”

“I think he will keep me for a while. But eventually, yes, I think he would.”

“So we’ve seen three movies and I’ve eating two tubs full of popcorn, two boxes of candy, and three slushes. Do you think we can go back?”

I check my phone for the time. It’s after six o’clock. Vincent’s flight doesn’t leave until seven, but he should be there by now.

I text Garrett.

Me: Any word?

Garrett: He’s at the airport.

Me: Oh, good. That’s a relief.

Garrett: I’ll let you know when he’s on the plane.

“Am I going to get in trouble at school for skipping?”

“I think if you do, you should say you were upset about what the dean told you. That you left to handle some financial stuff. To check your account or something.”

“That’s a good idea. Can we go in the mall for a bit before we go back?”

“Are you dragging me to the shoe department?”

“We can go wherever you want. Do you want to look at clothes for you?”

“Not really. Let’s go with the shoes. They seem to make you happy.”

“That they do.”

I try on a bunch of shoes, buy a couple new pairs, and am paying for them when I get a text from Garrett.