The Keatyn Chronicles: Adore Me Read online

  I grab his pinky with mine, wave the wand at him, and wish, “I wish Damian and Peyton will live happily ever after.”

  Damian grins at me, then runs his hand through his hair. “I can't believe I’m excited that you just made a wish for me on a plastic wand. Jesus, I’m in deep. It’s just so amazingly weird, though, how we’re both here, don’t you think?” He stops in his tracks, pulls out his phone, and types something down.

  I know that means he just thought of a song lyric he doesn't want to forget.

  “I better go find Aiden and talk to him,” I tell Damian.

  We go downstairs and see Aiden pacing the beach, his footsteps kicking up sand.

  “Keatyn, if you love him, don't let your circumstances get in the way.”

  “I don't want to hurt him.”

  “You can't have love without risking heartache, and he seems like he's more than willing to take the risk.” I nod, but don’t move, so he pushes me toward the beach. “It’s time to go see if you and Aiden have enough dirt to survive that phone call.”

  I must not look convinced, because he adds, “And if you still want him to get on the plane without you tomorrow, I’ll personally see to it.”

  From the beginning.

  11pm

  “Hey,” I say, for lack of a better line.

  “You've been crying,” he says, sitting down next to me.

  I nod. “I have lot of conflicting emotions.”

  “Did you tell me the truth about when you saw him at your sister’s birthday party?”

  “Yes.”

  He runs his hand through his hair and shakes his head. I realize now that I won’t have to tell him goodbye tomorrow. That he’s going to walk away gladly.

  Hell, he’ll probably thank me.

  “I was just stalking him on Facebook. He doesn’t seem to have a personal page, but he does have a fan type page that he made in August. The first three pictures he uploaded were of you. The two of you.” Aiden lowers his head a little, his eyes shiny. “You looked happy with him.”

  “I was happy with him. Most of the time.”

  “Tell me about him. About the two of you. When we fought that day, you defended him.”

  I feel his pinky grab ahold of mine. It’s a simple gesture, but one that speaks volumes.

  He’s not running away this time.

  “Of course I defended him. You were way off base thinking our relationship was about sex. Do you really want to hear all of this?”

  “Yeah, I do. From the beginning. From when you met.”

  “My mom traveled for her job, so I was tutored. I never went to a real school.”

  “But wait, I thought you met Damian at school.”

  “Not a regular school. We shared the same tutor and depending on where his dad was and where my mom was, sometimes we ended up in class together. Anyway, I was around adults a lot. My mom always said that I was mature and worldly. But I was very naive about some things. Like relating to kids my age. I watched a lot of movies. Read a lot of books. And I had this fantasy school experience in my head.”

  Aiden squeezes my pinky and laughs. “Let me guess, you planned it out down to the shoes.”

  I smile at him. “Kinda. It was the summer I turned fifteen. My mom had been with my stepdad for a while, and we were living on the beach. It was the first time since before my dad died that we had a real home, and I knew this was my chance to go to a real high school. I'd seen the movie High School Musical and wanted that. That perfect high school experience. I wanted to be the most popular girl, date the most popular guy, and if the basketball team had broken out into song during practice, I would have joined in.”

  Aiden touches my face. “You're so adorable.”

  I get tears in my eyes again. Because how could he even say that after what just transpired? He should hate me. “Why do you think that?”

  “I can see the sparkle in your eyes. How excited you were. It's like you believed your life could be a fairy tale.”

  “Well, I used to.”

  “We'll get to that later. Keep going with your story.”

  “So, I got two things for my birthday. They told me I could go to a real high school and they got me a surfboard. My stepdad explained how to surf, then sent me out to do it. I spent hours in the water trying to get it right.” I pause, because I can still see it so clearly in my mind. “And then he walked down the beach and helped teach me. Shaggy blond hair and the bluest eyes I'd ever seen. And it was like bam—I was in love. Fast forward two years. He’d become one of my best friends, and I was living out what I thought was my perfect high school experience. I was dating the hottest guy at school. And I was popular.”

  “That doesn't surprise me. You're in everything.”

  “I wasn't there. My friends considered school activities uncool. I only played soccer. But we had partying down to an art form.”

  “That surprises me. I just can’t picture you a drunken mess.”

  “I wasn't. My perfect boyfriend was the mess.”

  “He's the guy you dated for a year and a half but didn't sleep with?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So he was gay?”

  I roll my eyes at him. “Yes, but I didn't know it at the time. So it’s prom night. I had a beautiful, sexy dress, great shoes, and knew it was the night I’d finally lose my virginity.”

  Aiden tilts his head. “But he didn’t want to because he was gay?”

  “I still didn’t know he was gay, but I guess. He dropped me off at my door after the party and barely kissed me.”

  Aiden laughs. Really laughs. I’m afraid he’s losing it.

  “Why are you laughing? It’s not really funny.”

  “Because our proms were like horrible mirror opposites.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You're going to laugh at my stupidity.”

  I run my fingers across the top of his hand. “No, I won’t.”

  “I did what you wanted. Got a nice hotel room. Even had chocolate covered strawberries and champagne.” He laughs again. “Honestly, I didn’t come up with that. Shark helped me plan it. Said that’s what girls want. What she’d want. I think he’d taken a poll or something.”

  “Who was your date?”

  He gulps and looks at me intently. “It was Chelsea.” He runs his hand through his hair again, like he’s struggling with telling me.

  I want to scream and throw a fit. But after what he just heard and how he’s calmly talking to me about it, I can’t. I bite both my lip and my tongue as he continues.

  “I thought . . .” He shakes his head at himself. “Remember you asked me about my most embarrassing moment?”

  “Yeah.”

  “We’d been hanging out since I asked her to prom a few weeks earlier. We’d done everything but sex, so this was supposed to be the big night. I was going to tell her I loved her, ask her to be my girlfriend, and then we’d do it.”

  “Did you love her or did you just want sex?”

  He shakes his head. “Honestly, probably a little of both. I liked her, but I wanted more. I should preface this by saying that I pretty much thought I was the shit. Up until that point, I had dated and slept with whoever I wanted. I wasn’t like Logan, who was totally in love with Maggie. But after seeing them together, I wanted that. That one person to love me, not just who wanted to hook up with me.”

  “Okay.”

  “So, we’re at the dance. It’s a slow song. The lights are dim. And even though I had planned it out differently, it just felt right. So, I told her I loved her, then and there, and asked her to be my girlfriend.”

  “That’s sweet, Aiden.”

  He rolls his eyes and sighs. “She was sort of drunk, and when I asked, she let out a scream and started laughing hysterically. Then she proceeded to grab two of her girlfriends and loudly tell them what just happened and how she couldn’t believe I didn’t know she was dating— and fucking— two other guys.”

  “And everyone heard?”
/>
  “Yeah.”

  I wrap my arms around Aiden in a hug. “That must’ve been awful. What'd you do then?”

  “Well, it gets worse. Believe it or not, that wasn’t the embarrassing part.”

  “What else happened?”

  He looks at me tentatively. “I’m not sure if I should tell you this, but I need you to know. Especially after what happened with Chelsea. Because if you ever only heard just part of the story . . .”

  I put both my hands on his face, forcing him to look at me. “It’s okay, Aiden. You just had to listen to my ex tell me that he loves me.”

  “That was rough.”

  “I know it was. I’m sorry. Please tell me.”

  “So, Logan and Maggie—I swear, I totally ruined their night—anyway, they took me to an afterparty. We did some shots. Well, I did quite a few shots. And there were a couple of girls there who felt sorry for me.”

  My mind is trying to figure out why he wouldn’t want to tell me this.

  Wait. “A couple of girls?”

  He hangs his head in embarrassment and nods. “Yes. Two. My life was out of control. Eastbrooke was a blur of drinking, girls, and sports. And although my friends were proud of me, I wasn't very proud of myself.” He pauses and looks at me. “You haven’t walked away yet.”

  “I’ve done some stupid things too, Aiden. Things I’m not really proud of. So then you just decided to change?”

  “Sort of. I went back to my hotel room. By then, I had sobered up and was feeling pretty bad about myself. So I sat out on the balcony, drank the champagne alone—straight out of the bottle—and, as the sun was almost ready to come up, I made a wish on the moon.”

  “You what?!”

  “Silly, right? You're supposed to wish on shooting stars. But I was tipsy, couldn’t find any, and the moon was just there.”

  “What did you wish for?”

  “My perfect girl,” he says wistfully, looking out at the moon shimmering above the ocean.

  I feel like I just got punched in the gut.

  Could he have really wished for me?

  Could it be true?

  “Um, Aiden, when was your prom?”

  “It was May 13th. Friday the 13th. Weird, huh? Having Prom on Friday the 13th like some bad horror movie. But I guess that was the only time they could get the venue. Probably because no one else wanted it then.”

  Aiden is speaking. Going on and on about Friday the 13th, but my mind is busy calculating. It was 2:30 when I got in my room the night I made my wish. A three hour time difference would be around 5:30am. Before the sun came up.

  Oh. My. God.

  “So after that, I didn’t date anyone. Didn’t do anything with anyone. Until you kicked a soccer ball at my head.”

  I start to cry.

  I can’t help it.

  Fate is so, so cruel.

  I want to tell him that I wished on the moon too. That he’s my perfect boy.

  But I can’t tell him that.

  Not when I have to tell him goodbye.

  I have to make him believe I’m not it.

  That it’s someone else and that she’s still out there waiting for him.

  And that’s when I lose it.

  I put my face in my hands and start bawling.

  Aiden puts his arm around my back. “Why are you crying so hard? Do you hate me? I’m so sorry. I should’ve told you before, but we were . . . And then everything . . . Please stop crying and tell me what you’re thinking.”

  I look up at him and say the last thing in the world that I want to say to him. “Because I’m probably not the girl you wished for, Aiden.”

  He squints his eyes at me and shakes his head. “Is that because after what I told you, you don’t want to be that girl?”

  “No, it’s not because of that.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “I just don’t think . . .”

  He grabs my hand and places my palm on his chest. “Close your eyes. What do you feel?”

  I close my eyes, only because it will be easier to finish this without looking at him. “I feel you breathing.”

  “Try again,” he says in that voice. The voice that has the power to make me comply.

  “I feel your heartbeat.”

  “No, what you feel is my heart beating for you. Always. Only. Ever. For you.”

  I open my eyes and look at him, shaking my head. “How can you even say that? After everything?”

  “Because I can feel it. And I know you feel it too.”

  “Love at first sight is just a crazy notion made up by hopeless romantics.”

  “There's a lot about us that's crazy, but there’s a lot about us that’s right. You belong with me, Boots.”

  “Because I couldn’t be anyone else’s?” I say before I think better of it.

  I get the blazing love god smile. “So you do listen to what I say?”

  I let out a little chuckle. “Maybe.”

  “I always thought Dawson was the reason you were holding back emotionally, but it was him, wasn’t it?”

  I nod.

  He flips both our wrists over, exposing our fresh tattoos. “Did you know that each leaf on a four-leaf clover has a special meaning?”

  I shake my head and let out a big sigh, trying to stop myself from crying.

  “The first petal is for faith. You need to have faith in us. The second is for hope. The hope that we can get through whatever life throws at us. The third is for love. And the fourth is for luck. We already know that we’re lucky together.

  I notice that he skipped commenting on the love petal.

  But then he grabs my hands and looks into my soul. “Look, this isn’t at all how I wanted to do this. But I love you. A deep-within-my-soul, heartbreakingly beautiful kind of love.”

  I open my mouth to speak, but he holds up his hand. “No. I don’t want you to say anything. And I’m not even saying I love you yet. When I say that, I want it to be perfectly right. Like out of one of your fairy tales. But I need you to know how I feel.”

  I wipe my tears and nod.

  And then we kiss.

  And this kiss kills me.

  A knife straight through my heart kills me.

  Because I feel that way too.

  “You’re still crying,” he says, wiping away my tears.

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, baby. It’s been a rough night. Let’s go to bed.”

  Then he takes my hand, leads me to my turret, takes my dress off, puts his blue linen shirt on me, pulls me into bed, kisses me sweetly, and holds me tight.

  Pretty soon, I notice that he’s breathing heavily; asleep.

  I glance at the clock, counting down the time I have left with him and holding him tighter than I ever have before.

  Sorta like fate.

  3am

  I can’t sleep. My brain is still counting down—ticking and ticking— the hours and, now, the minutes until I have to say goodbye.

  My stomach hurts. My heart aches. I feel sick.

  I still can’t believe he wished on the moon.

  But, yet, I know it’s true. Deep down inside me, I know it’s true.

  And I don’t want to leave him.

  But I know I have to.

  I know it’s the only way.

  I stare at him sleeping next to me.

  Knowing it will be the last time.

  I close my eyes and try to soak him in. The feel of his body curled into mine. His strong hand protectively holding my leg. The smell of his neck. The pace of his beating heart.

  As I start to cry, I hear music. The same chords gently strummed across a guitar over and over. A soft, dreamy voice.

  I slide out of bed, being careful not to wake Aiden, peek out the window, and see Damian sitting down by the water with his guitar.

  I throw a robe around me and tiptoe out of the room.

  “That’s pretty,” I say, sitting down next to him. “Is it new?”

  When he
replies, I see the boy I used to know, who was a little unsure of his talent, not the confident man he’s become. “I’m working on a song for her. I feel like I know everything about her but yet I don’t know the most important thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “How to make her mine. She’s gorgeous. Sweet. My dream girl. When I walked up the beach, I felt like . . . I don’t even know; it’s hard to put into words. That’s why I’m having a hard time with this song.”

  He studies me closely. “Are you and Aiden okay?”

  I shrug, not knowing what to say.

  “He had a chat with me. Like the talk Tommy had with me the night before I took you parking.”

  “We didn’t go parking.”

  “You and I know why you wanted to go up there.”

  “Research for a role.”

  “Exactly. But Tommy didn’t believe that. He basically told me if I touched you, he’d fuck me up.”

  “He wouldn’t say that!”

  “He didn’t say that, but that was the message. Trust me.”

  “He's really protective of her. They've been through a lot together.”

  “I know about everything.”

  “Like what?”

  “She told me all of it. Listed every reason why I shouldn’t like her. What happened with her mom. Why she ended up at school. Why Aiden went there. Her affair with the teacher. Her friend threatening her. Her partying, activities, and the names and addresses of every boy she ever kissed.”

  “Why would you need their addresses?”

  “So I can write each one a thank you note for being a dick to her.”

  “You really have been talking.”

  He nods. “And I told her everything about me. My past, the tour, and even the groupies. Now if I could just put in words how I felt when I first met her.”

  I think about how Aiden made me feel when I first met him. “Did you feel like she spoke to your soul? Or like she was a magnet that you couldn’t help but be pulled toward?”

  “That’s exactly what it felt like. Hang on,” he says as he writes the words magnetic and soul into the notes app on his phone. “She probably thinks I’m a freak because I can’t stop staring at her, but I feel like I’m looking at my future. And that smile.” He stops again and adds smile and future to his list.