Jillian Dodd - Hate Me

I do Annie’s eyes in neutral tones, shading and highlighting in all the right places. I add a swoop of black liner and three coats of mascara to her long lashes.

Whitney studies her face, adds a pale pink blush, a little bronzer to the hollows of her cheek, and highlighter to the top of her cheekbones. Then she dabs on a pretty peach lip gloss. “What do you think?” she says to me.

“I think you look gorgeous, Annie. Natural and pretty, and your eyes look huge!”

“Can I see now?”

Whitney shakes her head. “No, wait until Peyton does your hair. Get the full effect.”

I touch up my makeup while Whitney does Katie’s eyes.

About an hour later, our hair is full and sexy and our makeup is done to perfection.

“What are we supposed to wear?” Annie asks, holding up a pair of pajamas.

“If your goal is to make Ace drool, I’d suggest yoga pants,” Whitney says.

“Yeah, boys love yoga pants.” Katie laughs. “They make your butt look amazing.”

I go in my closet and grab a pair for Annie to try on.

“You have a great figure, Annie. Here, wear this long sleeved V-neck with the pants,” Peyton says, tossing a shirt at her.

We all get dressed and let Annie look in the mirror. “Oh my gosh!” she says, studying herself. “I look so pretty! No offense, but I was afraid you’d put a whole bunch of makeup on me and I’d look ridiculous. I look like myself, only better. My eyes look so much bigger. You have to show me how you did that.”

“So, you feel good?” Whitney asks her. “Because more than likely Ace will bring Chelsea. You have to be able to handle it. Although, I don’t think you’ll have much time to worry about it. I think plenty of other guys will be vying for your attention.”

Annie stands up straight and tall and says, “Bring it on.”

Which makes Katie, Maggie, and me giggle.

Peyton points at Whitney. “We’re going to head over there now so we can greet everyone. Annie, you should wait a bit and then make a big entrance.”

“With a boy,” I say. “A hot boy.”

“I don’t really know any hot boys.”

“I do,” Whitney and I both say at the same time. We look at each other and say, “Jake?”

“Yeah. Let me call him.” I dial Jake’s number. “Hey, favor for you. Would mind escorting Annie into the party tonight?”

“You trying to piss Ace off?”

“Basically, yes. And Chelsea, too, if she’s there.”

“My pleasure. What time?”

“Can you come to my room and just hang out? We want her to show up fashionably late.”

“Make a big entrance? ”

“Exactly.”

“I’m on my way, Monroe. And I have vodka.”

I call Aiden and tell him I’m ready to run to town for snacks. I’m just heading out when Jake comes in. He stops dead in his tracks and stares at Annie.

He blinks a few times before he says, “You look fantastic. I mean, you always look pretty, but wow.”

Annie does a cute little pirouette for him. I love how tight fitting yoga pants and a little eye shadow have given her more confidence.

I look at Jake and pout. He rolls his eyes at me. “You look nice too, Monroe. But Annie, here. She should wear those pants every day. They’re like BAM. And her hair looks crazy good.”

Annie gives Jake a huge smile. “Thank you. I hope I have that effect on Ace.”

“Ace will definitely be wondering what the hell he was thinking.”

“Okay, so, you two hang out for a bit. I’m going to get snacks and will be back soon.”

I run out of my dorm and find Aiden standing next to his car with the passenger door already open for me.

“Well, look at you,” he says, looking more at my body than my face.

“You’re supposed to look at my face when you say that,” I tease, planting my lips on his.

He grabs my ass firmly. “Forget the fashion show. You should just walk around and let me watch.”

I smile and laugh at him, loving how sexy he can make me feel with one touch.

Well, two touches, if you count both his hands.

“I’m wearing workout clothes, Aiden. I’m not even dressed up.”

He nuzzles my hair and nibbles on my neck.

“Stop that. It tickles,” I screech.

“You really want me to stop?” he asks, his lips grazing my neck.

“No, but everyone is expecting snacks.”

He kisses me, then says, “Oh, yeah. I sorta forgot about that.”

We get in his car and head off campus. A few seconds later, Aiden has my hand on the stick shift and is roaring through the gears.

“You like to go fast.”

“I’d like to go faster, just to see how fast she can go—without getting a ticket, of course. My dad and I always talk about taking her out on a track. We just haven’t yet.”

My eyes light up, realizing that would probably be the best birthday gift I could give him.

We stock up on junk food and head back to school.

He parks and pulls me onto his lap. “I’m in withdrawal. I haven’t gotten to kiss you nearly enough today.”

I know we need to get the snacks to the party, but it’s hard to think about such frivolity when a godly, powerful tongue is controlling you.

I love his lips. His tongue.

How he bites down on my lower lip sometimes and pulls at it with his teeth.

But he’s not doing that right now.

These kisses are long, hot, deep, full-on tongue kisses.

The kind of kisses that make me want to throw him up against a wall and strip him naked.

Make him model for me.

Do lots of naughty and sexy things.

These kisses make me want to be a very bad girl.

Do the kind of things I’ve only read about in books.

I mean, it’s dark. We’re not parked near a light.

Why not?

Aiden’s ringing phone interrupts my thoughts. He pulls it out of his jacket pocket, looking as annoyed by the sound as I feel.

“Hey, sis,” he says. “Uh, yeah. Sorry. Traffic. We’re headed that way now.”

He puts the phone back in his pocket and touches my lips. “Your lips are definitely my bliss.”

“Oh really?”

“Absolutely. Come on. Annie is about to make her big entrance. We don’t want to miss the fireworks.”

Right before I open the door to the cinema room, Aiden gives me a sexy smirk. “Although, I bet there were more fireworks in my car.”

As I hand Peyton the bags full of junk food, I notice Ace and Chelsea standing in front of the big screen. The TV is turned on but the fashion show doesn’t start for a few more minutes.

All of a sudden, Ace’s eyes get huge. I don’t need to look to know that Annie and Jake just walked in. But when I do turn to look at them, I’m surprised too.

They’re holding hands and laughing.

I start to worry about the vodka.

Oh, please tell me he didn’t get her drunk.

But as I study them more, I realize that both their eyes look focused and clear. And when Annie pulls me into a hug, her breath smells more like Jake’s cinnamon gum than alcohol.

Ohmigawd!

I grab her hand and pull her away from the food table. “Have you and Jake been kissing?”

She blushes and looks up at the ceiling.

“Annie! Why?”

“Why not?”

“Um, I don’t know. Because you’re supposed to be in a mourning period or something, maybe?”

“If I recall, when you were mourning your relationship with Dawson, you got drunk and kissed, like, five guys in the same night.”

“Are you drunk?”

“No, we didn’t drink. We were just talking and he kissed me. Just once. Sort of tentatively. Like, he kissed me, then moved his head back and gave me this grin. So I figured, what the heck? I leaned over and kissed him. Once. Pulled back. Smiled. Then he kissed me again and didn’t stop until Peyton called. I was a little irritated when the phone rang. I was like, Ace who ?”