I get another radiant smile. "It's agreed then. I'll be your arm candy."

I have the sudden urge to lick him. To see if he tastes as good as he looks.

He leans back to watch the next audition, taking his big hand with him.

I close my eyes and shake my head.

How the hell does he do that?

Damn him!

He's like a goddamned walking love potion.

I quickly grab the key necklace, hoping it’s like an antidote, and slide it back and forth across my chin while we watch the rest of the auditions in silence.

An obsession with bras.

9:30pm

After auditions, I have a little time before curfew, so Dawson leaves the JV game and meets me in his room.

“I think my tryout went pretty well.”

"Speaking of pretty . . ." He kisses my neck hard, unbuttons my blouse, and grins. "This is the bra from the day at the library."

"You have an obsession with bras. What are you, like thirteen?" I laugh, but I love that he likes them.

He throws me on the bed and shakes his head. "I know a lot more now than when I was thirteen."

My phone buzzes with a text and I peek at it over his shoulder.

"Dawson! Ohmigawd! Yay! I got a callback!"

"A what?"

"A callback. From the director! I mean, the drama coach!"

"What does that mean?"

"It means he liked my tryout enough to want me to read another scene tonight, probably with one of the princes to see if we have chemistry on stage."

"Chemistry? Like the kissing parts?"

"It's not just the kissing. It's are we believable to the audience? Am I a good enough actress to pretend like I have feelings for him? Haven't you ever seen a movie where two people are supposed to fall in love but you just can't picture them together? I mean, take Twilight for example. I think when most people read the book they loved Edward. But when the first movie came out a lot of people started switching to Team Jacob because it felt like they had good chemistry." I laugh. "And, well, his abs didn't hurt either."

"But aren't the people who played Edward and Bella a couple in real life?"

"I'm not sure, but I think they were a couple during some of the filming."

"So, some people do fall in love with their co-stars." He hangs his head a little.

I wrap my arms around his neck. "Dawson, I love you. Please don't be jealous."

He pushes me back a little to read my face.

"Is Jake just giving me shit?"

"Yes."

"It's just he has Whitney, and I was a little nervous he'd get you too."

"You're jealous Jake has Whitney?"

He runs his hand through his hair and sighs. "No, it's just he was telling Bryce and Tyrese about other night. About how she was drunk. How hot the sex was. I guess she's different with him."

"Our sex is different than it was with you and her, it would stand to reason that theirs would be different too,” I say, even though I know that Jake was talking about sex with Peyton, not Whitney.”

"Yeah, I guess. Maybe she just wasn't that attracted to me."

Knowing what I know about her wanting his brother instead, I'd say he's probably right. "Not to bring up my past, but I'm not the same with you as I have been before. You make me feel a whole lot sexier."

He tries to pull my bra off. "You are sexier."

“And I have to go. I’ll call you when I get back to my dorm.”

Friday, September 30th

Stranded on second base.

Breakfast

I’m sitting at breakfast with Riley and Dallas.

“So, I’m giving up on boobs.” Dallas says.

Riley is like, “You going gay, dude?”

“Ah, no. But apparently some girl complained to a teacher about it, like I was sexually harassing her or some shit.”

“That’s kinda lame,” I say.

“It’s not like you were touching them or anything. Were you?” Riley asks.

“Naw, I mean, not unless she wanted me to later.” Dallas grins. “But I decided that basically the psychic panty network and the boob guessing were really just pickup lines. Ways to talk to a girl, get her attention.”

I nod my head. “I could see that.”

“So, I have a new approach.”

“Oh, boy, what’s that?”

“I’m going to try a different pickup line every few days.”

“Interesting idea.”

“Maybe we could go off campus and try out a few,” Riley suggests.

“Riley, are you trying to meet new girls? I thought you were crazy about Ariela?”

“I am, but, shit. I told you. I’m stranded on second base. I haven’t been stranded on second base since seventh grade!”

“Which means you like her.”

“Yeah, maybe. We’ll see.”

I turn to Dallas. “So does it start today? What’s your line? Try it out on me.”

“I can’t just say it. I need to work it into the conversation.”

The bells rings, reminding us it's time to head to our first class.

"I'll walk over and refill my coffee. You come up to me and say it.”

He rolls his eyes at me. “Fine.”

“Wait,” Riley says. “I’m going to get coffee with her. I gotta hear this.”

Riley and I wander up to the coffee thermoses, refill our cups, and then turn to walk to class.

Dallas saunters up next to me. He’s wearing a very cute smile. It's the smile I noticed the first day, when I decided to go sit by him. He stops and lays his hand gently on my forearm.

I stop walking and give him a confused look.

He grins at me and says, “I just have to ask. Did you have Lucky Charms for breakfast this morning?”

"Uh, no. Why?"

"Cuz you look magically delicious.”

I can’t help it. I grin back at him and laugh. Because if I didn’t have a boyfriend, I would totally fall for that.

“I didn’t have Lucky Charms,” I say, “but now I wish I would have. You should say that to Katie today. It’d probably melt her panties off.”

Riley hits Dallas on the back as he walks off to his first class. "I thought that was pretty lame.”

"Only because you didn't think of it first." They both laugh, then Riley turns to me. "So I hear you asked Ariela to go shopping with you. Now Dallas and I will be stuck here alone."

"Why don't you go to Columbia with Dawson?”

"Dawson is going to Columbia?" He raises his eyebrows at me.

"Yeah."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Uh, I think so. Should I not be okay with that?”

"Camden is . . . well, he's trouble."

"Trouble, how?"

"I know what goes on there. Cam knows a lot of girls. Gets a lot of girls."

I squint my eyes trying to follow. Then I realize what he's not saying and my eyes get big. "You think he's going to cheat on me?"

"Cam is an awesome brother, but he can be a dick. All I ever wanted was to be like him." He sighs. "Part of why I got kicked out of school."

"You need to tell me what happened."

"I was told to never speak of it again," he says seriously.

"By who?"

"The dean."

"Oh. So you can't tell me?"

"Maybe some other time." He laughs. "It's a pretty epic story, really. I can't believe I'm sitting here saying all this. What the hell did you do to me?"

"What I did to you?"

"Yeah, I'm turning into Dawson. Pussy whipped but getting no pussy."

I smile at him. "You like Ariela. She's going to be so excited tonight. I can't wait."

"It was cool of you to ask her to go shopping with you. I'd like it if you were friends."

"I know. That's why I asked. So you really think your brother is going to cheat on me? He's, um, not really in the same situation as you."