Love Me

He nods sadly.

“You have to forgive her, Logan. Let it go.”

“I know. I want to. I’m just not sure what to say.”

“Then let’s script you a new ending. No. It will be a new begi

“I was thinking of bringing her here. On stage. In front of the moon backdrop and telling her how I feel.”

Logan and I work together on the script. Figuring out what he should say.

“What do you think I should wear? Should I still be in my prince costume? Or would that be cheesy?”

“Sometimes cheesy is good.”

We continue our collaboration. Each of us writing down lines, crossing them out, and then rewriting.

“Logan, you can’t say death by paper cuts. That’s not romantic.”

“Okay, well scratch that. What do you think I should say?”

I think for a second. “Oh! I know the perfect line,” I say, quickly writing it down.

“That’s really deep, if you think about it. How did you come up with that?”

I smile. “Someone said it to me once.”

“They were right. It’s almost like coming full-circle. Maggie and I started out together and hopefully we’ll end up together.”

“Full-circle. I never thought of it that way before. So are you going to do anything else? Flowers, maybe?”

“What kind?”

“You know, lots of flowers have specific meanings attached to them. Let me look it up on my phone. Well, let’s see. Daffodils represent new begi

“Love at first sight? No, not really. It was maybe more love at first kiss. Our first kiss was memorable.”

“Tell me about it.”

“She came to my lacrosse game. I scored the wi

I do a little happy clap. “That’s so adorable.”

Logan rolls his eyes at me. “Do you really think this script will work? What if Maggie doesn’t say what she’s supposed to?”

“I think she will say most of it. Or something close. And if not, ad-lib. Just remember the order. Apology. Confess your love. Full-circle line. True love’s kiss. Flowers.”

“I better get up there. Thanks, Keatyn.”

Aiden’s backpack hits the floor, startling me. “What’d you do?” he asks.

“Oh, uh, helped him with a script. He’s hoping to win back Maggie.”

“He’s been miserable.”

“I know.”

Dawson plops down on the other side of me. “Hey, Keatie, can’t wait to see you in that sexy little costume. Giddy up.” Then he goes, “Oh, hey, Aiden. Didn’t see you sitting there. You here to watch dress rehearsal too?”

Aiden curls his hands into a ball. “Yeah.”

I smile at Aiden and run my finger across his fist, hoping it will calm him down.

“I have to go get ready. Enjoy the play, boys!”

Dawson is waiting for me by the stage door. He’s clearly trying to mark his territory. I need to talk to him. I haven’t kissed him since Aiden kissed me with his tongue. And I don’t want to.

“So, what did you think of the play?”

“I thought you looked sexy.”

“What did you think of the rest of the play?”

“It was good. Kinda fu

“That’s why you have a dress rehearsal. The show will be much better.”

“Are you coming back to my room?”

“Actually, yeah.”

Aiden walks up to me with a big grin on his face. I can tell he wants to talk to me.

“Aiden, I’m going to walk back to the dorms with Dawson. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

Aiden looks pissed, but then his face softens and he says, “Vous avez volé le spectacle.”

His comment makes me beam, and blush. “Thank you.”

Dawson grabs my hand and pulls me outside. “What did he just say to you?”

“He said I stole the show.” I seriously can’t stop smiling.

When we get in his room, Dawson immediately tries to kiss me. “I really was waiting for you naked the other night.”

“Um, Dawson?”

He looks at me sexily, expectantly. “What, Keatie?”

“Remember how you said when I felt like stopping that’s how I’d know.”

“Yeah.”

“I feel like stopping.”

He backs away from me. “Really?”

I nod.

“Is it because I’m going to Columbia?”

“It’s sort of because of everything.”

“After last weekend? All the fun we had? All the fun you had?”

“Yeah.”

“You did it with him, didn’t you?”

“No. We’ve only kissed.”

“So the wooing won out over the sex?”

“I guess. I’m sorry, Dawson. It’s late. I’ve gotta go.”

I get back to my room and call Aiden.

“Hey, sorry about that. I needed to talk to Dawson.”

“Is that what you’re calling it?”

“When that’s what I was doing, yes.”

“You were in his room.”

“I’m not going to stop hanging out with him. He’s my friend.”

He doesn’t respond. I can hear him take a deep breath.

“He wanted to have sex tonight.”

“I’m sure he did. That’s all he wants.”

“It’s not all he wants. I was going to tell you something, but never mind. Thanks for watching the play, Aiden. And for what you said. I really appreciate it. I’ll talk to you later. Night.”

“No.”

“No, what?”

“Don’t go. Tell me.”

“I told him no.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

I feel something. An overwhelming warmth wraps around my body. I close my eyes and know immediately what it is. It’s the power of Aiden’s smile coming through the phone.

“Are you smiling right now?” I ask him.

“I have a very big smile right now, “ he replies.

“I’m wearing your jersey tomorrow.”

“I need to give it to you.”

His comment makes me whimper. Because I so want Aiden to give it to me.

“Give me your shirt?” I manage to say.

“Meet me in the morning for breakfast?”

“Sure.”

“You really did steal the show.”

“I love that you said it in French.”

“Well, French is a sexy language. Bo

I get up off my bed. Katie is in the bathroom putting her hair in a ponytail. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah. And I’m so excited. Did you see what I made for Bryce? It’s on my desk.”

I look at the heart on her desk. It’s got hot pink glitter around the edges of it, a football drawn in the middle of it, his number 44, and her name at the bottom covered in more glitter.

“It’s really pretty! This is a cool tradition, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, we didn’t do anything like this at my old school. A

“You know we aren’t really sneaking out. We’re supposed to.”

“I know. It just makes it seem fu

I grab the paper football off my desk and show it to her. It’s got a big green four-leaf clover on it, just like the one he drew on the footballs, his number 1, a cowboy boot, and the word sort.

 “Why didn’t you put your name on it?”

“I did. The cowboy boot. He calls me Boots.”

“Really? Why?”

“Because he didn’t know my name when I first met him and I was wearing cowboy boots.”

“Boots is the name of the monkey on Dora the Explorer. Do you want to have a monkey name?”

“I didn’t at first. Now, I kinda like it.”

“I like when a boy gives you a nickname that’s original. So why the word sort?”

“Sort means fate in French. He once told me that we’re sorta like fate.”