Date Me (18 page)

“Oh, wow. I’m sorry.”

“It sucked. Cancer sucks.”

“Is your mom, um, like, is she okay?”

Aiden brightens. “She is. Her having cancer definitely changed our lives, though. We lived in Atlanta when we found out. They didn't give her long to live and the thought of losing her really affected my dad. He realized how short life can be. He told us that love is the most important thing in life. As part of her treatment, Mom made a list of all the things she wanted to do when she beat cancer. One of the things on her list was something my parents always said they wanted to do when they retired. Buy a vineyard in Napa Valley. Dad decided not to wait until Mom beat cancer to do it. Within a month, he had sold his business and our house in Atlanta, and he had bought her a vineyard. They made Peyton and me make lists too. Peyton was having a hard time with it all. She was mad. Mad that Mom had cancer. Mad that Dad made us leave all our friends. On her list she wrote that she wanted to go to boarding school. I don’t think she really meant it, but they thought she did, so they sent her here Freshman year.”

I realize now why Peyton turned to the teacher after she and Cam broke up. Why she was more worried about upsetting her parents than telling the truth. It must have been terrible to have Whitney hold something like that over her head. Much worse than my being a stupid virgin.

I was really, really shallow.

Aiden continues. “I loved California. I could play soccer pretty much year round. I had made some friends. Liked school. But then one night she called me bawling, and I decided she needed me more than Mom. When I got here, Peyton still looked perfect on the outside, but on the inside, she was hurting.”

“Because of the breakup?”

“Because of everything, I think. So when Cam broke her heart, he changed my life too.”

“It was really sweet of you, Aiden.” Now I understand why Aiden seems more mature than most boys his age. He’s lived a lot already. We kind of have that in common. We came here for reasons other than ourselves. “So do you wish you weren’t here?”

“Not at all. Even though I came to take care of her, I ended up loving it. With us being only a year apart, people used to think we were twins. We did everything together. I liked us being back together, if that makes sense. I made Varsity soccer right away and the girls seemed to like me.”

I laugh. “That's cuz you're hot.” Shit. I didn’t mean that. Why did I say that?

“You think I'm hot, huh?” he says with an easy grin.

“I mean, not me, but I’ve heard that a lot of girls think that.”

He raises an eyebrow at me.

I roll my eyes at him and laugh. “Fine. I think you are a nice looking boy.”

He stares at me for a beat then looks back out at the sunset. “One of my favorite things about Napa is watching the sun set. We’d sit outside, have a glass of wine, and talk. Mom said that no matter how bad a day she’d had, the sunset was comforting because it meant she’d made it through another one.”

“Your mom must be amazing.”

“She is. And that’s why I like sunsets. They’re, like, hopeful.”

“My family used to do the same thing. Watch the sunset together. Only we had a house on the beach. How is your mom doing?”

“For now, the cancer is in remission and she and dad are working through their lists. Traveling all over the world.” He gets a pained expression on his face. “She decided though that if it comes back, she won’t fight it. She won’t go through chemo again.”

“That’s got to be hard on you. My dad died when I was eight.”

He reaches out and touches my pinkie with his. “I’m sorry.”

We both sort of sigh, lost in our own thoughts, look out at the sun, and don’t say anything else until it slips below the horizon.

Rough to handle.

10:35pm

Katie and I are getting ready for bed when Garrett calls me.

“I just wanted to let you know that your mom cut her trip short and is safely back in Vancouver.”

“Why did she cut her trip short?”

Garrett sighs. “You told me that you want to know everything, right? Even if it’s rough to handle?”

“Yes.”

“When she woke up this morning, there was an envelope pushed under her hotel room door.”

“And what was in it?”

“A photo of you. From that day on the beach when you let him take your picture. You were blowing a kiss.”

I shudder remembering the kiss he shot me yesterday and know that the photo was not really meant for Mom.

Is was meant for me.

I try to sound unaffected. “He already sent us that picture.”

“Yes, honey, but this one was different.”

“How so?”

“It was stabbed numerous times with a very sharp object. All that was left intact was your face.”

My stomach lurches and all I manage to say is, “Oh.”

Katie says to me, “Hey, I’m gonna hop in the shower.”

I nod to her, wait for the shower to turn on, and then say to Garrett, “Poor Mom.”

“Poor Mom? Poor you, if he finds you. You need to tell me everything that happened on Saturday.”

I give him the run down.

“So it was a completely chance encounter?”

“Yes. You told me Mom was planning a trip, but you didn't tell me where she was going. I had no idea.”

“I didn’t tell you because I was afraid you'd try to see her.”

“I’m sorry about the Brooklyn thing, Garrett. I wouldn’t have gone to see her. You know what was really weird though? He didn't call me Keatyn. He called me Abby. He’s never called me Abby before.”

“He’s getting worse. More out of touch with reality.”

“Did he leave when Mom did? Are you following him?”

“We were. We tracked down his hotel. He might be out of touch with reality, but he’s still not making any mistakes. He didn’t stay at the same hotel as your mom and he had what appeared to be a business dinner tonight. Since neither you or your mom are in the city, I saw no need to continue surveillance. He's scheduled on a flight to LA tomorrow night at seven. We’ll make sure he’s on it.”

“Even though I know I’m safe here, I’ll feel better when he's back in California.”

“You and me both.”

You need to chill.

1:30am

Everyone is still in a party mood and looking forward to this week, so we all meet up at the Cave.

I’m sitting between Jake and Dawson, sharing a joint and getting chewed out by Jake.

“So you invited Peyton but not Whitney on your little shopping trip? How is that any different from what she did to you?”

“For one, I didn’t take her boyfriend with me and lie to him. For two, Peyton invited herself. And for three, my loft only sleeps so many people. So, I couldn’t have invited Whitney because she doesn’t really go anywhere without Rachel and the minions. I mean, do they follow you into the bedroom?”

Jake squints his eyes at me. “That’s mean.”

I roll my eyes at him. “It’s different, Jake. I didn’t purposely exclude her. I didn’t invite everyone else in front of her and then tell her she wasn’t worthy of going.”

“Dude,” Dawson says to Jake. “You need to relax. We’re supposed to be partying.”

I look at Jake. “Are you mad because you think I excluded Whitney or because I didn’t invite you to the Mission: Impossible party?”

“The party sounds like it was a lot of fun.”

I feel bad. “Maybe we could all hang out sometime.”

Dawson giggles. “Fuck that. I’m not hanging out with her.”

“Dawson, be nice!”

“What do you expect, Jake? Keatie is right. Whitney wouldn’t have gone even if she was invited.”

“Maybe not, but I would have.”

“It was a couples’ thing that wasn’t planned in advance. It was completely off the cuff. We were supposed to have a girls’ weekend. Shop, drink wine, watch romance movies. Then we started doing shots and felt like a party. We only invited our Homecoming dates.” He keeps staring at me. “Next time I’ll invite you. Okay?”

“Thank you. And we need to talk about Homecoming. What are you planning?”

Dawson looks at me. “We haven’t really talked about the details, but I’ve made a few plans.” He leans over and kisses me. It’s a sexy kiss, full of tongue.

“We were talking about planning Homecoming?” Jake says, interrupting us.

“We’re just doing what everyone is,” I say. “The day’s festivities. Dinner. The Dance. Coronation. Then changing and going to the club.”

“Are you riding one of the buses to the club?”

I nod my head yes at the same time that Dawson shakes his head no. “We have to go to the after-party, Dawson. You’ll love my outfit.”

“I love everything you wear.” Then he says under his breath, “And everything you don’t.”

I kiss him again. Smoking makes me want to kiss. So I kiss him.

He pulls me over onto his lap and I kiss him some more.

Jake gets a frustrated tone in his voice and interrupts us again. “So how are you getting to the club?”

Dawson pulls his lips away from mine. “I got a limo for Keatie and me. Just the two of us.” He grins at me. “I also got us a hotel room.”

I run my fingers through his hair and snuggle up closer to his chest. “Really? That sounds fun. I like just the two of us.”

Jake lets out an audible sigh.

“What?” Dawson says to him.

“It’s hard to carry on a conversation when you keep making out.”

“Fine. Keatie, stop attacking me.”

I giggle, then do just that. Attack his neck with kisses while he tries to carry on a conversation with Jake.

“What are your plans, Jake?”

“I just thought we’d party together. It’s our senior year. We’ve gone to every Homecoming together.”

“We will be partying together. At the dance. The after-party. You and Whitney are welcome to come in the limo with us to the club if you want. We’re stopping at the hotel first. Changing. Which might take awhile. Going to the after-party. Then back to the hotel. I booked it for two nights, so we wouldn’t have to check out at noon. We’ll crash. Get room service. Enjoy some private time. Then head back to school after dinner. Did you book a room?”

“No. Whitney is taking care of all of it.”

I can tell that Jake is bummed. I stop kissing Dawson’s neck. “What about dinner? We could sit together.”

“Whitney already has planned the seating arrangements too.”

“Do you get to plan anything?”

“Sure, from the list she gave me.”

“She likes to plan,” Dawson says.

“Yeah, well sometimes it takes the fun out of it.”

I hand Jake the joint. “Here. I think you need this.”

Monday, October 3rd

I thought you’d never ask.

8:20am

I’m in history class with Riley when I get called to the office. I smile, grab my bag, and figure that Peyton got me out of class again.

When I get to the office though, I don’t see her.

Instead the Dean’s secretary says, “Miss Monroe, the dean will see you now.”

The dean will see me now? Why does the dean want to see me?

What did I do!?

I walk into his office.

Be calm, Keatyn. Don’t look guilty.

The dean looks up from his desk. “Sit down, Miss Monroe. There’s something we need to discuss.”

“Yes, sir,” I say as I fidget with the zipper on my handbag.

“This is a delicate situation,” he tells me. He’s got a little bead of sweat on the upper corner of his forehead, where his hairline just barely recedes.

Is he nervous?

“We pride ourselves on security here at Eastbrooke, but it appears that someone was in our office last night. We believe that your file was accessed.”

My eyes get huge, my thoughts immediately racing to the rehabs that were broken into. To Vincent being in New York City.

Vincent tracked me from New York.

He had me followed, and I didn’t know it.

He knows I’m here.

But if he knows I’m here, if he broke in last night, why didn’t he come and get me last night while I was sleeping?

Didn’t Garrett say Vincent was too smart to do it himself? That he probably hired someone.

Does that mean he’s on his way?

I clear my throat. It’s obvious that the dean expects me to respond. “Were there other files accessed?”

Please say yes.

“It appears to have been just yours.”

I try not to panic.

I need to know what Vincent knows. “What exactly is in my file?”

“The basics. Your school transcripts. Current class schedule. Parking pass. Dorm assignment. And, well, the financial arrangements regarding your tuition.”

That’s why he broke in. He knows I’m here, but he needs to know what dorm I’m in. Tonight, he’s coming to get me. Or maybe he’s waiting for me inside my car. Hiding in the backseat, waiting for me to drive off, then he’ll overtake me. Or maybe he wanted me to know he found me. Maybe he’ll make me wait. Make me crazy with wonder as to when he’s coming. Maybe he’s playing with me. Garrett said that stalking is all about control.

What am I going to do? Where am I going to go? I just started building a new life here.

“Thank you for letting me know, sir. Is there anything else?”

“No, we just needed to make you aware of the situation. Particularly since your financial data may have been compromised.”

“Thanks,” I say.

He has no idea. He’s worried about money. About getting sued.

I’m worried about someone grabbing me and never being seen again. I grab the locket around my neck and pray that whatever they installed in it actually works.

I think I’m going to need it.

“You should probably take a few minutes to check your account and then head back to class,” the dean says as he shoos me out of the relative safety of his office.

My mind is reeling.

I imagine Vincent waiting for me outside.

I remember Garrett telling me to go where people are.

I can’t go to my dorm room. He could be there. I can’t go to class. He knows my schedule. I have to be unpredictable. I have to do something he couldn’t have planned on.