Date Me

Me in sunglasses dancing.

Me doing a slutty dance in front of the kitchen counter.

Some of just my ass.

Then Dallas pulling me into the bathroom, like we're joining the Mile High Club.

I get behind the camera and film the boys together, pretending like they are trying to get me to come with them.

Then us all doing shots.

Finally Riley says, "I think I have enough," then pulls out his Mac, uploads all of the video, and starts editing it.

By the time we start our descent into Miami, I'm tipsy and the video is complete.

Naughty, fun, and complete.

We watch it one more time and laugh hysterically.

“Dawes is go

“He probably won’t even see it. He’s probably all enthralled by Whitney.”

"Whitney is nothing like you, Keatyn," Riley tells me. "She's a cold-hearted bitch."

"You have no idea," I say. Shit. I shouldn't have said that. I immediately look guilty.

“What? What do you know?"

"I can't tell you."

"You can tell me and you will," Riley says very sternly.

I grab Dallas and whisper what I know into his ear. He looks at me and says, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Peyton told me."

Dallas tells Riley what Whitney did. How she slept with his brother, and when she couldn't get him, settled for Dawson. How this was supposed to be their year.

"You can't tell Dawson," I say. "It would kill him. We talked one day about Peyton being pretty and he said he could never like her because she'd been with his brother. How that would be sick. He has no idea."

Riley shakes his head. "I can't believe Cam never told me."

"Dawson was a freshman when it happened, so maybe you were too young or something."

"He's had plenty of time since then. And why the hell didn't he tell Dawson? They didn't have sex for months after they started going out. He should have told him."

"Yeah, probably.”

Riley leans over and kisses me on the cheek.

I’m half tempted to kiss him back.

Riley uploads the finished video to YouTube then links it to Facebook. Pretty soon, his phone starts buzzing like crazy. "People are seeing the video and commenting!"

Dallas messes with his phone. “Holy shit, we have 67 likes already!”

“Uh, oh,” Riley groans.

“What?”

“My brother is not a happy camper. Look what he just texted me.”

I look.

Dawson: WHAT THE FUCK?

“Reply!" I almost scream. "You have to reply. I want to know what he’s go

Riley: What?

Dawson: Saw the video. You’re dead.

Riley: No, you’re dumb. You should be here with Kiki, not kissing the bitch's ass.

Dawson: Are you showing our texts to Keatie?

Riley: No.

Dawson: I wanted her back for so long. Now finally she’s begging me, saying baby please and all that shit. And I just feel like I need to see.

Riley: Then get off Facebook and go hang out with her. You finally got what you wanted. Enjoy your weekend, bro. I know I am :)

Dawson: You kissed her. I hate you.

Riley: Only on the cheek.

Dawson: FML

Riley: This is what you wanted, remember?

Dawson: Now I don’t know what I want.

Riley turns to me and Dallas, “What should I say?”

Dallas says, “Tell him you think he should watch the video again, then go hang out with Whitney.”

Riley: I think you should watch the video again, bro. Then go hang with Whitney.

Dawson: Can’t watch the video again. Threw my laptop across the room. It's broken.

Riley: Borrow Jake’s. Baby’s already got over 100 hits, and it’s only been online for about 10 minutes. Every guy at school is sitting around simultaneously thinking what a dumb fuck you are and thanking you for being one. I’m out.

Surf the crowd with me.

11:40pm

We’re dropped off at a beachfront mansion and are told that Mr. Moran is in flight and will be arriving late. To make ourselves at home.

When I go in the bathroom to pee, I realize I’m getting my period.

Seriously, Mother Nature? Do you really need to kick me while I’m down? But then again, not getting it would be way worse.

I’m exhausted, so I tell the boys I’m going to bed. I change into a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top and snuggle up under the covers.

I can’t seem to sleep, though. I keep waking up then dozing off. Then waking up again.

This time I wake up because someone is bouncing on the bed.

“Hey, Keats,” Damian says sweetly. “How’s my girl?”

I jump into his arms and try not to cry. “God, I’ve missed you.”

He gives me a squeeze then pushes me back and studies my face. “How are you doing, really?”

“I’m okay, sorta. I’m really glad to be here. To see you. How are you? You look tired. Too many late nights with groupies?”

He gives me a little grin then sprawls flat out across the bed. “Honestly, I’m exhausted. I had to fly commercial, and you know I can never sleep on a plane. I’ve been up for the last twenty-seven hours. So, tell me what happened.”

I tell him all about Dawson. How crazy and amazing the physical side of it was. How that part was so different than it was with B. How I still haven’t talked to B. About the music video we made on the way here.

“That I have to see. Pull it up.”

I pull it up on my phone.

“Damn, girl. Did Dawson see this?”

“Yeah. He said he threw his laptop across the room.”

“You are so going to be in our music video. You look very hot.”

I smile. “Thank you. You don’t think I looked silly?”

“Not at all. You looked like, well, like you became the part.”

“Is that good?”

“It’s very good. Have you ever thought about acting, Keats? I know you’ve always liked writing scripts, but I think you would be an amazing actress. You’ve always been able to shift seamlessly from one situation to the next and fit in. I think that’s why you were having trouble at school. You can play any role you want and convince people that you are the surfer girl, the popular girl, the star’s daughter, the rebel. You really don’t let a lot of people see the real you.”

“You’ve always seen it.”

“Yeah, I know. I love you. All of the yous.” He laughs at his own joke.

“Can I tell you a secret?”

“I don’t know? Is it a good one?”

“This is hard for me to admit. I’ve always wanted to be an actress, but . . .”

“But your mom is good at it and you’re afraid you’ll fail?”

“Exactly. And be an embarrassment to the family or something. But, at school, no one knows. So I tried out for the school play. I mean, it’s nothing big, but I got the part that I wanted. And it feels like I have a little part of my life back.”

He studies my face. “Being off by yourself is good for you, isn’t it?”

“In some ways, Damian, it’s incredibly freeing. But I miss my family and I miss my friends.”

“Do you really miss your friends? Like who do you miss?”

“I miss you. And even though I kinda hate B, I miss him. Surprisingly, I miss Vanessa and RiA

“I’m proud of you.”

“And what about you, Mr. Rock Star? Getting all famous.”

“It’s pretty cool, but it’s tiring. I also understand what you used to talk about. How you played a role at school and sometimes it felt fake. I feel that way sometimes. Like people are all screaming my name and acting like they love me, but they don’t even know me.”