Date Me

Aiden flicks my pouty bottom lip with his finger. “Come on. Look at you. You flash that little pout and boys fall at your feet.”

“They do not!”

“Okay, how long did you date Dawson before you had sex?”

“One. That is not one of your questions. And, two. It’s none of your business.”

“Fine. How about the Keats guy?”

“That one I will answer. I knew him for almost two years before we did.”

“That wasn’t the question. Once you got together, how long did you wait?”

Shit. He made me wait. All of about 8 days.

“Eight days.”

“And the virginity friend?”

“That doesn’t matter. I dated a guy for a year and a half before him and we never did it!”

“Was he gay?”

Shit! How the hell did he guess that? Has the stubble on his face added to his power? Has he mastered mind reading?

I try to clear my mind of all thoughts.

He grins at me. “I can tell by your face the answer is yes.”

“No, he just wanted to wait until he was married.”

“Bullshit.”

“Fine. He may have been gay but I didn't know it.”

Aiden bumps my elbow with his. “I bet that drove you nuts. Did you try and get him to?”

“Yes. And it sucked. Being turned down after a year of dating someone sucks.”

“What did you do to try and seduce him?”

“Lingerie.”

Aiden leans his chin on his hand on top of the armrest separating us. “What did it look like?”

I push his elbow off the armrest, completely catching him off guard and causing his chin to drop down.

Cheerleader Bachelorette. Bad Prince. You’re up.

I give him a smirk, set my homework on the floor, and go up on stage.

The Bad Prince, Logan, and I run through our lines. He tells me that he’s a prince and about the contest. What he fails to tell me is that he has a brother who happens to be the guy I had the most amazing date ever with. He tells me it will be good for my career. That reality shows are all scripted anyway. That even if I’m not chosen to be the princess, I’ll get lots of jobs from the show. I decide to do it. Then he kisses me. And, tonight, Logan actually takes me completely by surprise and kisses me. Wraps his arm around my waist, pulls me in tight, and lays a fat kiss on my lips.

I manage to stay in character. And my character likes his kiss. He’s handsome, and, come on, he’s a freaking prince! Of course I’m going to be fine with a kiss. Even though it’s not a true love kiss—but, then again, the true love kiss guy still hasn’t called.

“Ok,” the director says. “Let’s try that kiss again. Keatyn, I think I’d like to see a little more body language from you. This guy is a prince. I’d like you to lean your body into him. We want this kiss to be very different, visually, from the sweet kiss you had with the Good Prince.”

I nod my head. “Got it.”

Logan says his last line. Then he grabs my waist. This time, I don’t fight it. I push my body into his, slide my hand around the back of his neck, and pull his face toward mine as I kiss him.

“Yes! I like that! That will really make the audience question your intentions. Is she a scheming slut or the sweet true love girl? Love it.”

“Thanks,” I say to the director. To Logan, who still doesn’t really seem to like me much, I ask, “What do you think?”

He grins at me for the first time ever and replies, “I think we could do better than that with a little more practice.”

I walk off the stage and sit back down in my seat. Aiden isn’t here, but his backpack is sitting on the floor. I’m still trying to figure out what Logan meant by that. Does he really want to practice for the play’s sake?

I will admit, he makes a really good Bad Prince. The girls in makeup decided to add a dark he

Aiden sits back down next to me.

“Where were you?”

“I’ve been surveying some of the other cast members and talking to Logan.”

“Learn anything exciting?”

“Not yet. You need to finish telling me about trying to seduce the gay guy.”

“What else is there to tell? It didn’t work. But he was a great boyfriend. Never looked at another girl. Treated me like a princess. And he was my favorite person to shop with.”

“You haven’t shopped with me yet. And don’t worry, I’m definitely not gay.”

“I liked the shoes you had on at the dance. They were different. You’d be fun to dress.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. You kind of look like a life-sized Ken doll. All blond and lean. You wear clothes well.”

“Thank you. I think when the play is over and you have a free weekend, we should go shopping together.”

“We could stay at my loft. I have extra bedrooms.”

“I heard about your loft.”

“From who?”

“Peyton.”

“What did she say?”

“She said it’s you. Over the top cool but completely casual and comfortable. She said you must have the coolest parents ever.”

I smile. What she said almost makes me want to cry.

Aiden studies me. “Your eyes are all shiny. Did I say something wrong?”

“No, that's just exactly how I hoped it would be.”

“Being here without your family is hard on you, isn't it?”

“Yeah, but at the same time it's like I'm able to grow up. Like I've had to grow up. Do things on my own. I picked the place out completely by myself, bought it, and had it furnished.”

“You bought it? Not your parents?”

I lean closer to him and speak softly. “No one knows this. But when my parents moved it created some problems. Like, they couldn't just sign school notes every day.”

“That’s understandable.”

“So I had to get emancipated. Legally, I’m an adult. And my grandpa gave me my trust fund early. The loft was one of my first purchases.”

“Peyton said that place had to cost $20 million.”

I raise my eyebrows and shrug my shoulders. “It's a really nice trust fund. But I haven't gone crazy. My car and the loft are the only things I've bought. And Grandpa always told me real estate is a good investment.”

“You respect your grandpa. Is he the one that gave you the boots you wore the day you did your speech?”

“Yeah, he is. He lives on a simple ranch. Lots of land and a nice home, but compared to his net worth, very simple.”

“That's how the place in Napa is. Lots of land. The house is big. But it's very causal and comfortable.”

“I love places like that.”

“You’re an interesting girl. Like, the more I find out about you, the more I want to know. And I need to know more in order to finish the sex survey.”

“I’m pretty sure we’re done with the sex survey.”

“No, we’re not. There are questions you didn’t respond to.” He flips back a couple pages in his notebook. “Okay, so the Keats guy you knew for two years, but once you got together, you waited eight days. What about the virginity guy?”

I close my eyes. “A day. But there were extenuating circumstances.”

“Such as?”

I hang my head. “The Keats guy upset me. And . . .”

Aiden’s hand brushes my knee as he leans across me.

I look up at him. I expect to see judgmental eyes, but I don’t. They are soft and caring. Like he wants to know.

“And what?” he says gently.

“I was tired of waiting for love.” I sigh big. “The Keats guy and I got together. Like, we kissed. We hung out. It felt different. He quoted me poetry and I was so happy. Then there was this camping trip I was supposed to go on with him and his friends. They left without me. I thought he was hooking up with other girls. That was the first time he sort of broke my heart.”